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Saturday, March 30, 2019 • Vol. 64 • No. 13
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Environmentalists oppose land bridges at Memorial Park that would connect the north part of the park with the south. Another part of the project involves moving baseball fields on the south side of the park to the north – where there are softball fields, tennis courts and a golf course – which would make the south side even more of a natural area for wetlands and wildlife. “If they move all the sports facilities to the north and the south is nature area, why spend so much time and money constructing large bridges for people to go from the north to the south and vice versa since they
By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com The idea is to separate parts of Memorial Park while at the same time bringing the land together. Susan Chadwick likes the former objective. She doesn’t understand the latter. Chadwick, the president and executive director of an environmental advocacy organization called Save Buffalo Bayou, is opposed to the land bridge project in the heart of Houston’s signature park. Part of the Memorial Park Master Plan
Rendering from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers website This rendering by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects shows two land bridges to be built within Memorial Park.
approved by the city council in 2015, and funded by a $70 million grant from the Kinder
Foundation, it features the construction of two earthen land bridges over Memorial Drive
Photo by Betsy Denson The Garden Oaks Baptist parking lot sale has been in flux for months, but more progress has been made toward finalizing its sale to Gulf Coast Commercial Group.
jasonk@greenwoodking.com GREENWOOD KING
PROPERTIES
Developer closing in on church lot
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By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com Photo by Adam Zuvanich Heights resident and restaurateur Gary Mosley looks back toward Frasier Street while standing on a city trail and facing land owned by a subsidiary of LSR Communities, which wants to transform the property into a condominium complex.
Grounded condo plan aiming to take flight DEW
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Forget the two-story house and the swimming pool that sits next to it. Never mind the deck or the playground or the big backyard, which features HI KE shade trees and small hills that slope toward an ad5TH 1/2 /B IK jacent gully. ET R The most valuable piece of Gary Mosley’s propAI L 5TH ST erty might be a corner of his lot he doesn’t really use SITE – except to keep away a slab of concrete and several unwelcome, would-be neighbors. The southeast edge of Mosley’s homestead in the 4TH 1/2 Heights blocks what could be an extension of East 5th Street across the gully, through some woods and toward the Heights Hike and Bike Trail to the east. He has used that piece of his property, along with repeated efforts to rally the support of his neighbors, to 4TH ST help prevent the development of a nearby complex of condiminiums. A subsidiary of Canada-based LSR Communities, which owns a 1.3-acre plot of land along the trail, IH 10 Proposed Condos has made repeated attempts to construct a drive from the end of 5th Street and is trying yet again. 40 Proposed rom e f et idg Stre Viewpoint at the Heights LP also owns a piece of the Condos r Parking B 5th land immediately to the east of the dead end and has tried to buy the corresponding piece from Mosley, Parking Spaces who refuses to sell. Source: Houston Planning Commission Graphic Design by: Martha Buhler Mosley, a father of three daughters, considers a Mosley, a local restaurateur who has lived there since 2004, bridge that would run along his fence line to be an has spent the last 15 years fighting the planned development immediate danger. “I’ll do everything in my power to defend and pro- next door. He keeps winning, while LSR Communities, which tect the safety of my family and my neighbors and their young kids,” he said. See Tract P. 4A THR
INSIDE.
GRANBERRY
339 W 19th St, Houston, TX 77008
WHITE OAK
OXFORD ST
THEHEIGHTSTHEATER.COM
By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com
FRASIER
See the NOW Lineup OPEN O PEN page 9A
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Off the beaten path. How important is location to a restaurant’s success?
Page 9A
See Park P. 4A
Man on a mission
Jason Knebel (713)232-9712
427 W. 20th St. Ste. 503 Houston, TX 77008
will be doing different activities?” Chadwick wondered. “I don’t see the point of what they want to do. “Even if they had a point,” she added, “we’d be opposed to it.” Of greater concern to Chadwick and another Houston environmentalist is the project’s potential impact on the waterways that flow into Buffalo Bayou, which is the park’s southern border. The project, which will impact 1.52 acres of wetlands and 1,485 linear feet
The sale of the Garden Oaks Baptist Church parking lot, which a developer plans to convert into a shopping center, remains on track and could be finalized within the next two months. Patrick Barry with Gulf Coast Commercial Group said the company has applied with the city to re-plat four lots on the North Shepherd Drive property for commercial use. Upon approval, it plans to close on the property by May. “We’ve already gotten all the signatures we needed in order to release the existing deed restrictions, and now we’re in the platting process with the city of Houston,” Barry said. The path to completing the sale has been more than a year in the making as the church and Gulf Coast entered into agreement in February 2018. Gulf Coast plans to build a 17,200 square foot retail development, called Lot 14 Shopping Center, at 3201 N. Shepherd Dr. In 1973, Section One of Garden Oaks allowed the church to convert four lots from residential use to religious use. Gulf Coast needed permission from Section One residents for a zoning change converting the use of those lots from religious to commercial. “I think Gulf Coast worked with the committee very well,” Garden Oaks Civic Club committee co-chair Carrie Arnett said Tuesday. “There were some bumps along the road and some processes for collecting signatures I think could have been a little cleaner See Church Sale P. 4A
Killen’s to take over Hickory Hollow property Let’s dance. A local dance studio fared well at a recent statewide competition.
By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com
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THE INDEX. Church/Calendar. ............................. 5A Classifieds.............................................. 7A Coupons. ................................................. 6A Food/Drink/Art................................... 9A Obituaries.............................................. 6A Opinion. ................................................... 3A Public Information......................... 2A Puzzles...................................................... 3A
Photo from Killen’s TMX Facebook page Houston-area chef Ronnie Killen, best known for his popular barbecue restaurant in Pearland, plans to open Killen’s at 101 Heights Blvd. That was the former location of Hickory Hollow, which closed in January.
Ronnie Killen is coming to the Heights. Zach Wolf, director of leasing for Braun Enterprises, confirmed Monday that Killen will open a restaurant in the space formerly occupied by Hickory Hollow at 101 Heights Blvd. Braun purchased the property in August. Killen, a Houston-area chef, is best known for Killen’s Barbecue in Pearland. “This building has a
unique history and it is important to Braun Enterprises to try and preserve that,” Wolf said. “We are thrilled to be bringing Ronnie Killen to the inner loop. The Hickory Hollow was an institution for 40 years and we know Killen’s will continue that tradition.” Killen told the Houston Chronicle that the restaurant, to be called Killen’s, will offer “upscale comfort foods” and the “best of what we do at our other restaurants.”
Along with Killen’s Barbecue, which opened in 2013, he also owns Killen’s Steakhouse, Killen’s Burgers and Killen’s TMX in Pearland, along with Killen’s STQ in Houston. Killen owned his first restaurant, Killen’s Kountry BBQ, at age 23. He opened Killen’s Sports Café when he was 28. According to the Chronicle, Killen has a five-year lease on the Heights Boulevard property with an option to buy at the end of that time.