Porsche River Oaks: Auto Dealership At 4007 Greenbriar Dr.

[SkylineView]

Sonic Automotive to build a "big beautiful dealership" across the highway from Audi.

 

LINK

[kennyc05]

I bet it's their EcoPark used car dealership. 

[KinkaidAlum]

I want to NIMBY it since this is my exit but it'll be better than that "lumber" yard. That place has become a dump and vagrant hangout. 

[BeerNut]

12 hours ago, KinkaidAlum said:

I want to NIMBY it since this is my exit but it'll be better than that "lumber" yard. That place has become a dump and vagrant hangout. 

Don't forget about the Magic Island building.

[capnmcbarnacle]

I knew the lumber yard's days were numbered and I, for one, will miss it.  It was old school and had everything I needed.  Home Depot is no substitute.  Given the land value, it was only a matter of time.

[cloud713]

On 5/11/2017 at 1:31 PM, capnmcbarnacle said:

I knew the lumber yard's days were numbered and I, for one, will miss it.  It was old school and had everything I needed.  Home Depot is no substitute.  Given the land value, it was only a matter of time.

 

Theres a lumber yard north of i10 in the heights that has a big variety of specialty woods, etc.

[capnmcbarnacle]

On 5/13/2017 at 3:01 AM, cloud713 said:

 

Theres a lumber yard north of i10 in the heights that has a big variety of specialty woods, etc.

Thanks for the tip!  I'll check it out.

[Twitter1]

Any updates on this transaction?

 

From today

 

[Highrise Tower]

 

[houstontexasjack]

The site is becoming Porsche of River Oaks. Stahlman Lumber closed yesterday (2-28-2020). Saw the sign on the drive home today.

Edited March 1, 2020 by houstontexasjack

[astrohip]

9 hours ago, houstontexasjack said:

The site is becoming Porsche of River Oaks. Stahlman Lumber closed yesterday (2-28-2020). Saw the sign on the drive home today.

Wow, I had not heard that. There's a million (ok, slight exaggeration... half a million) Porsches in the inner city. I know my wife has to drive to Momentum Porsche way out the SW Fwy. She will be thrilled to hear this.

 

I used to drive by Stahlman at least twice a day when I lived in Southampton. I'll have to make a point and drive by soon.

 

Thanks for sharing and updating us!

[Specwriter]

Last week I noticed the "marquee" on the front of Stahlman Lumber (facing Greenbriar) read that it was moving to Stafford. It seems appropriate to have a Porsche dealership in that location. There are several Porsche's in West U. and Southampton and many, many Audis. I wonder who patronizes the Porsche dealership way out the North Freeway. People in the Woodlands perhaps.

[Specwriter]

On 5/13/2017 at 3:01 AM, cloud713 said:

 

There's a lumber yard north of I10 in the heights that has a big variety of specialty woods, etc.

cloud, are you talking about Clark's Hardwood Lumber Co. at 700 E. 5-1/2 Street? There is also Houston Hardwoods at 4910 W. 34th. These are not traditional "lumber stores" where one gets Southern yellow pine 2x4s etc. They have more exotic species generally. Years ago there was another specialty lumber store (also in the Heights IIRC) called All Woods/Schroeder. The corporation was dissolved in July of 1991.

I visited All Woods Schroeder and Houston Hardwoods to get certain species for projects. They had/have some wonderful stuff. When I was a child living with my parents a neighbor was a buyer for All Woods Schroeder. He made many trips to South America and a few to Africa.

[jgriff]

9 minutes ago, Specwriter said:

Last week I noticed the "marquee" on the front of Stahlman Lumber (facing Greenbriar) read that it was moving to Stafford. It seems appropriate to have a Porsche dealership in that location. There are several Porsche's in West U. and Southampton and many, many Audis. I wonder who patronizes the Porsche dealership way out the North Freeway. People in the Woodlands perhaps.

I live in upper Kirby and drive all the way to Porsche north Houston because Sonic dealerships are the worst. I’ve bought 7 Porsches since 2007. Sonic is so bad I’ll drive 15 miles up 45 to avoid them.

[jmitch94]

12 hours ago, jgriff said:

I live in upper Kirby and drive all the way to Porsche north Houston because Sonic dealerships are the worst. I’ve bought 7 Porsches since 2007. Sonic is so bad I’ll drive 15 miles up 45 to avoid them.

 

Also Porsche of North Houston is awesome and now is attached to the Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, McLaren dealership. 

[cloud713]

13 hours ago, Specwriter said:

cloud, are you talking about Clark's Hardwood Lumber Co. at 700 E. 5-1/2 Street? There is also Houston Hardwoods at 4910 W. 34th. These are not traditional "lumber stores" where one gets Southern yellow pine 2x4s etc. They have more exotic species generally. Years ago there was another specialty lumber store (also in the Heights IIRC) called All Woods/Schroeder. The corporation was dissolved in July of 1991.

I visited All Woods Schroeder and Houston Hardwoods to get certain species for projects. They had/have some wonderful stuff. When I was a child living with my parents a neighbor was a buyer for All Woods Schroeder. He made many trips to South America and a few to Africa.

Yeah, Clarks. Ive only been once, but they had what we needed when doing some cabinet work trying to match the right wood/grain.

[Highrise Tower]

Article with rendering.

https://communityimpact.com/houston/heights-river-oaks-montrose/impacts/2020/03/11/stahlman-lumber-co-closes-longtime-greenbriar-location-to-make-way-for-porsche-dealership/

Quote

Stahlman Lumber Co. closed down its business operations at 4007 Greenbriar Drive, Houston, as of Feb. 28 and was in the process of moving out in early March. The company, based in Houston for over 75 years, operates another lumber yard at 13913 Greenland Drive, Stafford. The lumber company sold its Greenbriar location to North Carolina-based Sonic Automotive in 2017, county records show, and signs posted at the location show renderings of a Porsche River Oaks dealership. A request for comment from Sonic Automotive was not returned. The 2.4-acre site was valued at $9.3 million by the Harris County Appraisal District in 2019. 281-499-1611.

 

[JBTX]

That's a little disappointing. I know most of these dealerships aren't exactly paragons of design, but that she's a little...sad 

[Highrise Tower]

1 acres was set aside for sale or lease.

https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/4007-Greenbriar-Dr-Houston-TX/14606052/

 

 

 

[Highrise Tower]

This will be 5-Stories. Should have a big presence from the freeway.

https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/TABS/Search/Project/TABS2020022633

 

[astrohip]

This made me think, based on the "River Oaks" spread discussion in the other thread... is this the first recorded use of "River Oaks" in a name/description that is actually south of 59? 🙄😒

[zaphod]

 

13 minutes ago, astrohip said:

This made me think, based on the "River Oaks" spread discussion in the other thread... is this the first recorded use of "River Oaks" in a name/description that is actually south of 59? 🙄😒

 

River Oaks Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge is south of 59 on Kirby. I couldn't tell you when they adopted that name of its always been called that but its been around a while from what I can tell.

 

But yeah, they should have kept the Sonic name as seen in the property flyer hotlinked above. Sonic the Porsh-ah has a better ring to it.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by zaphod

[astrohip]

18 hours ago, zaphod said:

 

 

River Oaks Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge is south of 59 on Kirby. I couldn't tell you when they adopted that name of its always been called that but its been around a while from what I can tell.

 

But yeah, they should have kept the Sonic name as seen in the property flyer hotlinked above. Sonic the Porsh-ah has a better ring to it.

 

 

Thanks, I forgot about that (don't know how, I drive by it all the time 🙄). They've been there a loooong time, well before the Helfman family owned it. I think it used to be owned by Bud Adams (the Oiler's owner), and in all fairness, is just a short hop down Kirby from RO. Bud lived in RO, and probably wanted to play off that name/location. Not sure if it was ever located anywhere else.

[thedistrict84]

They’re starting demolition on the Stahlman Lumber main building.

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

Surprise find of the day, a tower crane base at the Sonic Porsche dealership. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise since they used a tower crane to help build the Audi dealership across the highway. Looks like a built in place parking garage instead of a precast. That timeline seems like it might be hard to keep though.

[astrohip]

I drove by this the other day. It was from the freeway, so I didn't have much time to look, but I thought I saw part of the old structure still standing. In the back left corner (SE corner).

Are they saving part of it? Or were my eyes freeway confused?

[samagon]

On 5/13/2017 at 3:01 AM, cloud713 said:

 

Theres a lumber yard north of i10 in the heights that has a big variety of specialty woods, etc.

 

On 5/14/2017 at 9:02 AM, capnmcbarnacle said:

Thanks for the tip!  I'll check it out.

late reply, and off topic, sorry.

Clarks is great for exotics.

if you aren't looking for exotic woods, and just want good prices, compare Houston Hardwoods up off 290 and 34th. 

[hindesky]

I didn't want to finish my ride without checking to see if the tower crane has been installed, I wasted the effort.

The part of the lumber shed still remaining. I wonder what their plan is for it?

[astrohip]

14 hours ago, hindesky said:

The part of the lumber shed still remaining. I wonder what their plan is for it?

That's what I was referring to, in my post a couple above yours. Curious about it.

[Specwriter]

14 hours ago, hindesky said:

The part of the lumber shed still remaining. I wonder what their plan is for it?

 

That is curious. Perhaps the structure is being saved to become the area where Porsches are delivered to their new owners (do people own Porsches or do Porsches own their people?) I could see it housing amenities like a gift shop and perhaps even a biergarten! Woo-hoo!

"Congratulations on your purchase, Sir / Madame. Enjoy a mug and bratwurst as we perform a final detailing on your new car but remember to partake responsibly. Prost!" And in these days of the pandemic, "Zum Wohl."

I do not think it would meet the contemporary needs of a service garage though.

[Highrise Tower]

Building permit issued.

[hindesky]

The tower crane is being erected today. Talked with a worker from Consolidated Crane who was installing it and he said it was going to be a luffing tower crane due to the close proximity to the 2 high voltage power lines next to the project. He also said they had another crew at the Pearl Rosemont project.

I assume they kept this part of the lumber yard temporarily for a lunch room but will probably demo it.

 

 

[zaphod]

This is a random question and I doubt anyone knows the answer, but did this place have a railroad siding for lumber delivery and was it by chance what kept the old branch along Westpark east of the junction still intact for so long?

I am not sure where the eastern end of those tracks was originally but I feel pretty confident in guessing the line was cut back when the southwest freeway was built, given that the abandoned right of way intersects with the freeway at Montrose Blvd. That would have been way back in the 1950s or 1960s then.

However the section around West U was still there up until the year 2000 I think, as a kid I remember seeing a train parked on it back in the 1990s. My Dad mentioned something about the circus train using it to stop across from the Summit, too.

 

Edited February 16, 2021 by zaphod

[Ross]

3 hours ago, zaphod said:

This is a random question and I doubt anyone knows the answer, but did this place have a railroad siding for lumber delivery and was it by chance what kept the old branch along Westpark east of the junction still intact for so long?

I am not sure where the eastern end of those tracks was originally but I feel pretty confident in guessing the line was cut back when the southwest freeway was built, given that the abandoned right of way intersects with the freeway at Montrose Blvd. That would have been way back in the 1950s or 1960s then.

However the section around West U was still there up until the year 2000 I think, as a kid I remember seeing a train parked on it back in the 1990s. My Dad mentioned something about the circus train using it to stop across from the Summit, too.

 

The old rail line ran along what is now the SW Freeway RoW up to a rail yard between Hutchins and what is now Emancipation, North of Pease. YOu can see that on this map http://www.harriscountyarchives.com/Maps/imgZ.html?img=houston1907_Full and it is visible on the 1944 aerials on Google Earth(the application, not Google Maps).

Not sure why the rails stayed there for so long, other than to  keep the right of way open for the railroad. The circus trains did use the tracks until they were removed, at which point the circus used the Eureka yard that's under the TC Jester bridge near White Oak Bayou

[zaphod]

I looked again in Google Earth with historic aerials on and noticed it.

Also it looks like there was an intact siding going into Stahlman lumber. However its not apparent if it was used recently.

[astrohip]

15 hours ago, Ross said:

The old rail line ran along what is now the SW Freeway RoW up to a rail yard between Hutchins and what is now Emancipation, North of Pease.

I worked at a company that used that line & yard. We were at (roughly) Polk & Dowling, and there were trains being switched thru there all the time. We had a siding that came to our building. We had one large supplier that shipped by rail (Magic Chef appliances, for you old-timers). The switch yard lines were only about 30-40 yards west of our building, so we got the horns. All. Day. Long.

I lived in Southampton back then, and the only time I ever saw a train on those SWFwy tracks was the circus, once a year, which always made the news. Then at some point, they shut down. Although the humps on Shepherd & Greenbriar are still there.

It would be very common for lumber yards to use rail. I was in the building material distribution business, and rail was often used. Still is. Look at all the lumber you see on rail cars tothis day.

Edited February 17, 2021 by astrohip

[hindesky]

I could see the crane boom from Rice. It's a lot more boom than what I thought it would be but needs to be able to reach the whole project.

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by hindesky

[rechlin]

With a crane that close to the high voltage power lines, is it possible to set some kind of "lock out" for certain orientations in the crane operator's controls so he doesn't accidentally hit the lines?  Or is there no protection so one must always be extra careful there?

[hindesky]

33 minutes ago, rechlin said:

With a crane that close to the high voltage power lines, is it possible to set some kind of "lock out" for certain orientations in the crane operator's controls so he doesn't accidentally hit the lines?  Or is there no protection so one must always be extra careful there?

I don't know about current tower cranes but the old ones I operated didn't have that feature. Current models of RT cranes do have an option that the operator can set to stop you from booming down too much or from swinging in a certain part of a turn. I'm guessing that modern tower cranes probably do now though. So many things on cranes have computers that can control a lot of functions.

[hindesky]

From Friday.

[cityliving]

[takeshi]

On 3/1/2020 at 10:20 AM, jgriff said:

I live in upper Kirby and drive all the way to Porsche north Houston because Sonic dealerships are the worst. I’ve bought 7 Porsches since 2007. Sonic is so bad I’ll drive 15 miles up 45 to avoid them.

I'm in Montrose but same here.  This new dealership will only be 2 miles from me but I'll still be going to North Houston.

Edited April 23, 2021 by takeshi

[jmitch94]

Porsche of North Houston is one of the top performance Porsche dealers in America and is a treat to visit. I see this being a mommy-mobile dealer with mostly the SUV's and sedans. I am excited to see this flanking the Audi dealers across the freeway though. 

[Specwriter]

With the Mercedes-Benz dealership just down the freeway and a Volkswagen dealership lurking somewhere on Richmond this will be German automobile central. I don't believe Volkswagen does this (I haven't looked at one lately) but the other three need to get rid of  touch screen poking up on top of the dashboard instead of integrated in it. It looks like someone Velcro'd his iPad to the dash. IMO it is not a good look for a supposedly high-end automobile.

I do like that the appearance of the most recent Benz "dashboard." That is two LCD displays together across at least 2/3 of the fascia but i can see the $$$$ if or when they need to be replaced.

[texas911]

Does anyone remember the Porsche dealer on Bellaire Blvd by Stella Link? Where Union Kitchen was?

[TrainTrak]

Unrelated sidebar: I used to wait tables there 15 years ago when it was called Nick's Pasta Place.  What a mess that place was.  Anyway, some of the regulars would tell me about how the building used to be car dealership and a hot dog stand before Nick bought it and turned it into an Italian restaurant.

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[hindesky]