LEADER LISTING The Leader • Saturday, December 28, 2019 • Page 1B
Boulevard Realty celebrates another banner year in both sales and social responsibility By Boulevard Realty
Contributed photo Boulevard Realty broker and owner Bill Baldwin commissioned a mural highlighting Houston neighborhoods from a local artist for the co-working space housed in the firm’s office at 927 Studewood St.
Jellyfish Sushi opens at Ella Plaza Jellyfish Sushi & Grill replaces Flying Pho at 3434 Ella Blvd. Classic and specialty rolls as well as salads, hibachi entries and noodles and rice are on the menu. Dine in and take out is available. Early reviews of the restaurant have been positive. New tenant at Heights Mercantile Outdoor Voices, an Austin-based active wear brand, opened in Heights Mercantile at 645 Heights Blvd. It is the first location for the store in Houston with 10 other shops in the country, including locations in Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.
Contributed photo Aztec/Shaffer, LLC, renewed its lease at 601 W. 6th St.
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Bryan Clary and Zack Hiller were college roommates who wanted to find a way to work together. The answer as Clary announced on Facebook recently is William Price Distilling, which will occupy space at 970 Wakefield Dr., the former site of an engine repair company. “We’re taking over the lease in February,” Clary said. Clary said he and Hiller have received their Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Their federal permit from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is being processed. Clary said there will be significant renovation of the building, with the addition of a cocktail lounge and a tasting room. The cocktail lounge will two stories to show off the 20-foot stills from Scotland that will be added. “Our goal is to make a flagship bourbon and we’ll sell our souls to get there,” Clary said. They also will make gin and vodka, sourcing rum, rye and some bourbon from Kentucky.
“Our success with over $240 million in sales and hundreds more home sales under our belts over this past year, the lion’s share being in the Heights, is something that fills us with immense pride and gratitude, but it is the fact that those numbers allow us to pay it forward that makes us all even prouder and more grateful” proclaims Baldwin, adding, ”To us, it is all in a day’s work, and we will continue that work throughout 2020 and for many years to come.”
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By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com
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Distillery to open on Wakefield
ed in 2006 to create opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities to achieve their potential, as well as the FestEve! Night for the Arts benefiting the Community Artists Collective, an organization that has been fostering artists and promoting art in Third Ward for over 30 years, which Baldwin also co-chaired. Meanwhile, the Houston Relief Hub, initially formed by Baldwin and volunteers after Hurricane Harvey, was revived intermittently throughout the year to provide donations and support for Furloughed Federal Workers affected by the 2018-2019 Partial Government Shutdown, Hurricane Barry, and Tropical Storm Imelda.
816 Arlington, $1+ Mil Amanda Anhorn, 713.256.5123
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embarked upon his own run for City Council in a heavily crowded race. In addition to those endeavors, Baldwin co-chaired a fundraising event for the Houston Aphasia Recovery Center with his partner Fady Armanious, was appointed an inaugural Board Member for the Freedmen’s Town Conservancy, and shepherded both the expansion of Market-Based Parking through City Council and the Walkable Places Framework through the City’s Planning Commission. While its niche is as a hub and incubator for community engagement, the company also engages in traditional corporate social responsibility, sponsoring the H.E.A.R.T. Luncheon to raise funds for the program found-
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borhoods, which has been strategic for Baldwin. “We want to see all of Houston’s neighborhoods both thrive and maintain their unique character, so we consciously promote the same level of civic engagement that we have in the Heights to other neighborhoods,” explains Baldwin, adding, “Education and empowerment are really how we want to measure our impact and success as an organization.” For his part, Baldwin has steadfastly added to his track record of philanthropy and neighborhood advocacy throughout the year, even as he has delivered weekly free educational courses for Realtors, political candidates, and neighborhood groups and
GREENWOOD KING
With continued year-over-year growth and a now firmly established Studedwood headquarters that has become as familiar to the community as its founding location on Heights Boulevard, Boulevard Realty ends 2019 celebrating the ongoing success of a model that puts long-term investment in the community first. According to the firm’s broker/owner Bill Baldwin, that is the true role of the Realtor and real estate brokerage today. “When you live in a highly desirable neighborhood like a Heights, Timbergrove, Garden Oaks, or Oak Forest, it can get tiresome that the real estate industry often treats our neighborhoods as if it’s only increased home sales that puts you on the map,” expresses Baldwin. “The reality is that decades of work in community strengthening and preservation goes into the anatomy of what we consider a ‘great neighborhood,’ and we see it as our duty to be a part of those efforts in addition to and as an extension of our duty to represent home buyers and sellers here with the utmost skill and experience.” In 2019, that is precisely the sort of work Baldwin and his team of 60 agents continued to do in their homebase of the Heights and beyond. The real estate veteran sees this neighborhood focus as key to both their past and long-term success. Locally, the firm continues to support the neighborhood associations that it believes still maintain the fabric of the historic communities where it does business. Boulevard is the longest sustaining Platinum Sponsor of the Houston Heights Association and recently came on board once again as a Gold Sponsor of the Lights in the Heights, organized by the Woodland Heights Civic Association. The reach of the company’s advocacy today, however, extends far beyond the Heights into other neigh-
721 Sue Barnett, $500s Jason Knebel, 713.232.9712
Contributed logo William Price Distilling will make spirits on Wakefield Drive.
Outdoor Voices was founded in 2013 by CEO Tyler Haney. It designs and sells women’s and men’s athletic apparel. Aztec/Shaffer signs new leases, including on West 6th According to a news release from Colliers International, Aztec/Shaffer, LLC, which is comprised of Aztec Events & Tents and Shaffer Sports & Events, renewed and signed new leases totaling 250,697 square feet in Houston. Aztec Events & Tents renewed its 125,697 square foot Houston lease with its landlord at 601 W. 6th St. In addition, Shaffer Sports & Events has relocated its warehouse business from
Birmingham, Alabama, to Houston and into a renovated multi-tenant, 125,000 square foot location at 10901 Tanner Rd. Aztec Events & Tents is a party rental and tenting company with a 30-year history in Houston, providing services for events such as the Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four as well as the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. “Our organization’s consolidation of our two key divisions will enable our company to serve our national clients more efficiently and being located in the same marketplace will allow us to leverage our resources,” said A. Kelly Williams, managing director of Aztec/Shaffer.
4510 Walker, $400s Jenny Puls, 832.304.3139
1717 Gardenia, $800s Amanda Anhorn, 713.256.5123