lcc179

Does anyone know what is going on with the demolition of a Washington Ave. lumber and hardware store between Detering and Lester? With the completion of the demo, it looks like the entire block will be clear for new contruction. Will this be more residential (right on Washington), strip center, or mixed use?

It looks like it's going to be two new bars. I saw two TABC notices in that area. One was "Patio Pub" and the other was "Kung Fu Saloon" (apparantly there's one of these in Austin?). Don't know much besides that. That lot is huge though, so not sure if all that extra space will be for parking.

I thought that thing next to Benjy's was wine storage.

He mentioned that the guy said wine storage on the 2nd floor. I originally heard wine storage only too, so if it is true that they plan on putting a restaurant on the 1st floor, then that is great news!

Does anyone know what's going on right next to Benjy's? They tore down the warehouse there and it looks like they are starting to develop something. Maybe another parking lot?

I moved to the Washington Avenue corridor because it was less expensive than Midtown while allowing me to be close to Midtown. As has been pointed out Midtown has parking garages, better sidewalks, a grid street pattern while Washington Avenue is a three mile stretch of poorly maintained sidewalks and little to no parking for the volume of people that go there in the evenings. Now that Washington Avenue has developed, I like it in different ways than I like Midtown. I'm being somewhat selfish because I can walk to Washington, but I like the grit. I like the mix of old and new. The morning after Ike some friends and I walked down Jackson Hill to the Allen Pkwy and then over to the Sabine bridge and back up to Washington Avenue. The street has a lot of character and potential.

I also live off Washington and agree that Midtown has a better infrastructure to be urban with its grid and sidewalks. I used to rent a townhouse in Midtown before I bought a place on Washington and I would walk to the restaurants and bars in Midtown all the time. Granted, it was mainly Post Midtown Square but the sidewalks and having a nice in between place to walk by made it alot more friendly to walk around. Washington is a long stretch with empty lots in between the establishments making it less friendly to walk up and down.

With that said, I feel more general excitement around the Washington area. This may be due to it being the new "it" spot for bars and lounges and may go away once a different area is the new trend. But places like Washington Centre will help sustainability along with the numerous other non-bar projects that are happening.

"It will be a place where people will want to come to have a good time instead of wanting to be seen having a good time," Andrew Adams says. Unlike other high-end bars in the area, Adams says The Washington Ave. Drinkery is designed as an unpretentious, laid-back bar.

-Houston Business Journal

Owned by the guys that own The Corkscrew. Also, a 24 hour taco restaurant being put in by them next door to corkscrew.

As opposed to "Come experience Houston's premier nightspot and newest place to be seen" from Reign's website..

I'm excited about Drinkery and the place next to Eight with the beer barrel for the entrance. Washington needs more laid back places.

Any updates on this? I talked to someone there this past weekend and they said they would reach a decision I think today (or was it tomorrow?).

It is really nice to have around. I was just there on Saturday and thinking it was so nice to walk in and buy quality beers and walk out without the rush of the Midtown location.

If I'm not mistaken, I think if they do end up closing it down, it will only be the liquor portion of the store, so the beer/wine/grocery section will remain open.

The barrel place will be Taps House of Beers, I guess this will be similar to the Ginger Man in Rice Village.

The douchiness from the place across the street probably comes from the Escalade with 28" wheels...so 200-LATE!

haha...jk, couldn't resist. I am excited about all of these places opening on Washington, douchey or not.

Taps House of Beers is still on? Nice! I thought they weren't opening anymore and it was going to be Busty (Rusty?) La Rue's. It'll be nice to have a relaxed place with many different kinds of beer.

If you're going to be reselling at some point, go single-family. A residential lot inside the loop will appreciate or hold its value much better than any structure that sits on it.

If, on the other hand, you like the idea of renting out, then a townhouse is probably a better idea.

Just curious, I know that a freestanding home is considered single-family and a townhouse has shared walls. But do yall consider those houses that are freestanding in Rice Military on 2500 sq ft lots but are literally 3-4 feet apart Single Family?

I know alot of people on this board dislike the 3 story townhomes (I personally like them), but this one takes it to a whole nother level:

http://www.urbanliving.com/developments_de...=FLOORPLANS#mid

Has anyone ever seen anything like this? I understand that they put the living area on the 3rd floor to have higher ceilings, but this has got to be the least practical design I've ever seen in a townhouse. When guests come over, they have to go up 2 flights of stairs past the bedrooms just to get to the living area? And the deck is off the hallway stairs?

Seriously, what were these guys thinking?

I think that new one is Manor

Oh yeah, that one also kept the original building. But there's actually another one west of the Manor, diagonally across the street from LaRou's.

It's got a terrible name, but I'm glad they're at least incorporating the old structure into the build-out.

It's a pretty cool looking facade in my opinion.

I agree. One good thing about all the new bars on Washington are that they are all using the original buildings (Ei8ht, Busty LaRou's, and that new one across the street from them).

which one is that

West of Shepherd/Durham and North of Washington, right across from the Urban Living building. There's 2 opening up right there but I think it's the one with the rooftop deck.

Heard through a friend that Ei8ht on Washington will have its grand opening on Thursday..

On a happier note, the condo unit at snover and rose has finnaly sold after being abandonded for over a year. They are ripping out cabinets and carpet and I couldn't be happier!

They just put a listing up for one of the units:

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...mp;backButton=Y

I wonder what is going on here? Havent seen any construction on the place in over a month. I was very curious to know who would buy one since they are all of 15 feet from that gorgeous building they are calling reign lounge. Reign has a huge second story patio. Imagine the noise in the townhomes. They are located on washington and jackson hill. On a happier note, the condo unit at snover and rose has finnaly sold after being abandonded for over a year. They are ripping out cabinets and carpet and I couldn't be happier!

What makes it more humorous is the people who are building the townhomes are the same people who are opening Reign. I wonder what they were thinking when they did that? Based on their townhomes though, it looks they are trying to appeal to the young urban hipster that makes alot of money who may want to be close to the party.

I think the Jackson Hill development on their website is supposed to be that place:

www.ikondevelopments.net

If you get a chance, check out 4402 Gibson on their site. I am really liking the architecture. It's really unique and the multi-level roof decks look pretty cool. Also, check out the section on the elevator (no cables and works with compressed air).

I searched information for Tremont builders but came back with mostly info pertaining to Tremont Tower. I was hoping someone could shed some light on their reputation these days, or if anyone owns one of these townhomes already. They are located at 24th and Beall. One of the most unique floor plans I have ever seen in a townhome.

Looks like they got Urban Living to represent them:

http://www.urbanliving.com/developments_de...development=344

Just curious, what makes the floor plan unique to you (not questioning you, just wanted to know your opinion)? Is it the 2 story living room with the overlooking loft?

What's the latest with Washington Centre? They started work on it awhile ago, but I haven't really seen any work being done in awhile..

it's a strange situation. They still have some listings on HAR but it doesn't seem that they starting any new projects. They also haven't come close to finishing their project in Rice Military. I noticed yesterday that they're having an open house for the project but I don't know if they've finished any of the units. They may have finished a couple but there are six or so units that are just rotting in the plywood stage.

My guess is they're tapped out and hoping to sell some existing inventory so they can afford to complete the other units. Either way, not a great situation.

diggity,

Have you shown any of their existing inventory to clients (6 pack on Floyd, Museum District ones)? Do you know of any particular reasons their properties aren't garnering any interest? Just curious since I am seeing other new constructions getting bought around them.

ive been to the dubliner, which is across the street from pearl bar in the space that used to be chaise lounge, a few times now. they have a nice little porch and appear to be douche-bag free.

Cool, I didn't even know the Dubliner opened yet.

I wish there was a place on Washington that had a decent happy hour and cheaper drink prices. I'm getting killed with these $80 bar tabs every night!

I haven't been myself, but my friend was telling me about a good happy hour special at Candelari's every Mon-Fri from 3-7. It's something like $2 domestics, $3 house wine, some other specials I forgot, and if you order drinks you can get a 2 topping 12" pizza for $5.

BTW, how are the Dubliner and the Usual drink prices?

there is the Usual on TC Jester north of Washington. only "real" beer bar in the area.

I've actually been meaning to try that out, but haven't gotten around to it. Thanks, it's good to hear that it's laid back.

Only thing is, it's not really walking distance from me as much as the places going up at Reinerman and Washington. I'd like a casual bar where I can walk to, but I'll definately check out the Usual sometime soon.

I was driving by Reinerman and Washington yesterday after work around 630pm and saw workers putting up 2 x 4's on the facade of the building at this corner. I then was walking by there around 930pm later that night and people were still there working on it. This is supposed to be a Bronx Bar right? Are they trying to get this open quickly?

Right next door 2 more bars (Ei8ht and I forgot the other one) are supposed to open, correct? I guess this block will kind of be like the West Washington version of the 3 bar triangle at Wash/Heights (Social, Porch Swing, and Kobain), except more pretentious. Hopefully, the bar that I forgot the name of will be more relaxed. I'd really like a laid back pub in the area.

Name drop a few well known names and that makes the area upscale, that alone is a riot. Everyone that is reading this, I urge you to take a drive around Dowling to where this event occurred when sun is going down, then cruise around until around midnight. How many brave souls are walking around? How many freaks creep up from nowwhere?

I just dont believe in sugar coating & its too bad developers dont like my honest assesments but that's life like the song goes. Back to topic though. Any idiot that is scoring or trying do a to pick up gets what they deserve at that insane hour. I bet HPD says the very same thing. Now students, shall we turn the page now...

Not sure if you meant Landry or HHN for name dropping a few well known names, but no one said this area is upscale or insinuated that HHN makes this area upscale. HHN was one of the first builders in the East End when it was really sketchy and in the very beginning of the gentrifying stages.

It is just ironic how you blame this story for stereotyping this area, but yet you call the people in this area stupid. What adds even more to the irony is your stereotype of what someone would be doing in this area at 2:30.

It's actually been reported that Landry was getting fast food at the time. The game that night was in New Orleans and their plane didn't land in Houston until 12:30 AM. Add the time it takes to get your bags, say bye to your teammates, and drive home, I'm guessing he got home around 1:30. I'm sure he was hungry after a game (which he worked his butt off in) and flight home. Maybe he didn't have anything at home or didn't feel like cooking, so being out at 2:30 makes sense. The only thing he was scoring was food..

Here we go again another unknown originator of topic vanishes after they post these flaky stories.

Wow, you and frheard should form a club for easily offended touchy East enders. I replied in post 5, so I did not vanish.

Article reads:The incident happened in the 2900 block of Leeland, a short distance southeast of downtown, at about 2:30 a.m., Houston police said.

Anyone stupid enough to be in that area of town that LATE at night, well, that tells all.

Like sevfiv said, that is a block away from where Landry lives (where there are a bunch of HHN townhomes). I guess anyone who buys around there is stupid since they are in that area all the time. Who's really giving this area the bad stereotype now?

This is a rare occurrence that just happened to happen to someone famous. Had it been anyone else, it wouldn't have made the paper. If this one instance is going to deter you from buying over here(this happened a block from me) then you made the right decision. You clearly don't have the intestinal fortitude to handle living in a transitional hood. Like I said, this type of thing is rare over here and this is the first time in 3 1/2 years I've heard of anything like this happening around here. Not saying it doesn't of course, but this could have happened anywhere in the city.

Defensive much?

When I say I was going to buy a townhouse there, this was over a year ago. I ended up buying elsewhere because of proximity to work. It had nothing to do with me having the "intestinal fortitude" that you clearly have to handle it. If I was working in downtown, there's a high possibility I would've bought there. I was not trashing your hood, merely reporting news that I think people would want to know.