txn4art

Is this actually in the works or just a proposal?

Although the previous renovation job on Meyerland Plaza is outmoded, I don't think many of the stores there are suffering for lack of customers. Even people who live in million dollar mansions shop at places like Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, SteinMart, etc. Anyone who wants upper-end merchandise will find plenty of options just a short drive away in the Galleria, Highland Village and adjacent shopping districts.

Is this actually planned?

Sears has been there more than 50 years. When was the lease renewed?

True, but one still has interesting experiences at Disco Kroger, among other places in the area.

I shop there weekly, usually during the day. The clientele varies -- sometimes ordinary in appearance and behavior, sometimes not. These are incidents I observed during recent months: A middle-aged woman stopped in the cookie aisle, opened a package and stuffed her mouth full of sandwich cookies until her cheeks bulged out. She then carefully rolled up the package with the remaining cookies and hid it behind other items on the shelf. She looked at me and continued her shopping. A couple of 20-something men felt compelled to stop their cart and kiss lovingly in the middle of every aisle. They happened to be ahead of me at checkout and entered the debit card pin number with their hands clasped It took three tries with all those fingers getting in the way. While waiting in line at checkout, the guy ahead of me complained to the cashier (also male) that his feet still hurt from the heels he wore for a performance two days prior. The cashier agreed that heels were torture but necessary. I chimed in and suggested several things to make their shoes more comfortable. The guys hadn't thought of them and appreciated the information. Yogurt is in two places at Disco Kroger. Premium Greek and organic yogurt is on the wall in the produce department; all other yogurt is in the dairy case between fruit juice and eggs..

Dare we hope that a grocery store (HEB or Kroger) is included in the retail mix?

I'm delighted to see a conservation center is part of the plan. MFAH once owned a handsome Carl Milles fountain that suffered internal damage due to corrosion and was no longer on view. According to a former museum staffer, "no one could be found to repair it. so they got rid of it". I've always wondered if this is true, or if it still languishes in a dusty storeroom corner somewhere.

When I was teaching in HISD, a colleague told me that she once attended a social event event in a Riverside home and was astounded to see that it had an actual escalator installed between the first and second stories. She said wasn't the add-on chair type, but a moving stairway similar to those in commercial buildings. It sounds fanciful, but perhaps others have heard of this.

Wow...that must be a distraction during Sunday services, weddings, funerals, etc.!

It's been decades since I've spent any time out-of-doors in downtown Houston and the sound of the chimes seem to float over high over the city. Back then, the only churches that were truly considered as being "downtown" were Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Christ Church Cathedral, First Methodist Church and Annunciation Catholic Church. For a variety of reasons, church bells usually don't sound every hour.

I'm amazed that it still exists! If memory serves correctly, there was the famous Westminster chime on the hour, followed by a repeated bell note striking the hour.

Security seems to be lacking at grocery stores, even in what one would consider "good" areas of town. My vehicle was broken into in the parking lot behind Trader Joe's on Shepherd in the middle of a weekday afternoon. That shopping center (a Weingarten property) has no cameras and no security patrol, as I found out later. On another occasion, I was shopping at Costco on Richmond and a woman managed to distract the staff and push a cart loaded with items past the cashiers and out the door without being stopped. Amazingly, I recognized her as a notorious shoplifter who had been arrested at the Galleria Lord &Taylor store when I worked there. And let's not forget the petty theft incidents I've seen at Disco Kroger on Montrose. One of the funniest was the woman who opened a package of Oreo cookies, stuffed her mouth full of them like a squirrel, and then hid the damaged package behind others on the shelf. This may not sound like much of a misdemeanor, but shrinkage adds up and grocery prices go up.

Another sign on the building is for Joseph Finger, the architect who designed Houston's City Hall as well as other local buildings in the Art Deco style.. The small metal decorations and the light fixtures on the edge of the canopy in the old photo are interesting details.

Are you familiar with Houston's East End and what Frank Liu's companies have built recently in the area? What do you think would be the best redevelopment plan for the former Finger's site?