We were hoping that the nearly posthumous landmark designation and demolition-delaying rain spells might have given Weingarten Realty that last little bit of time to ruminate over their plans to demolish the River Oaks Shopping Center - unfortunately, according to Cherry Demolition, the bulldozers move in Tuesday to begin the demolition and make way for the big box anchor Barnes and Noble plus a four story parking garage. We were sad to see places like......

So, short of some kind of miracle — we're not sure exactly what kind, but we're thinking maybe a midnight ghostly visit to Weingarten Realty CEO Drew Alexander, a la A Christmas Carol — the north section of the River Oaks Shopping Center will be coming down in the next few days, to be replaced with a new retail strip anchored by a Barnes & Noble megastore. And in case you've forgotten, B&N's moving into......

...for demolitionToday, Houston City Council voted to designate the River Oaks Shopping Center, River Oaks Theater, Alabama Shopping Center, and Alabama Theater as historic landmarks, though it will not afford the structures any protection from Weingarten Realty's current and future decisions to demolish them. According to Historic Houston, there were three dissenting votes from council members Michael Berry (big surprise), Addie Wiseman (who tagged this measure last week), and Pam Holm. Save Our Landmarks invites......

Trees were cut down yesterday in order to make room for improvements in drainage and electrical systems for the replacement of part of the River Oaks Shopping Center, according to Weingarten Realty. After the property was recommended by the Houston Planning Commission to become a designated landmark (and don't forget the numerous letters, emails, and 25,000+ signature petition urging Weingarten not to demolish), Weingarten is still going forward with its big-box plans. While we hoped......

The city's Planning Commission on Thursday recommended landmark designation for the River Oaks Shopping Center and Alabama Theater/Bookstop, meaning the two structures are a step closer to preservation — or as close as Houston ever really gets to preservation, which is far enough away to be sure the city doesn't piss off any developers with deep pockets. As we noted when the landmark designation process began back in April, the next step in designation......

Save our Landmarks, one of the groups trying to save the River Oaks Shopping Center and Theater and the Alabama Theater/Bookstop, sent out an e-mail update about the River Oaks situation yesterday. Here's a overview of what's going on. Weingarten Realty Investors, which owns all three properties, on Monday began the process to get approval to demolish the curved section of the River Oaks center on the north side of West Gray — the portion......

In her column today, the Chronicle's Lisa Gray proposes a new idea to get the attention of Weingarten Realty Investors, the company that's planning to demolish the historic River Oaks Shopping Center, and of Barnes & Noble, which Weingarten is trying to lure into abandoning its Bookstop store in the Alabama Theater building in favor of a new megastore in the redeveloped River Oaks. The idea: Let's put our money where our mouths are. This......

The Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission voted yesterday to begin the landmark designation process for the River Oaks Shopping Center, River Oaks Theater and Alabama Theater/Bookstop, the three significant Art Deco structures that have been in the news since news broke last summer that Weingarten Realty Investors could be planning to demolish them to make way for new development. The move toward designating the buildings city landmarks comes without Weingarten's approval — the first......

According to the Greater Houston preservation Alliance, the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission might try to extend its preservation power in a new way: since 1995, the Commission has had the power to designate historic landmarks without owner consent, but has yet to do it. With the endangerment of the River Oaks Theater, River Oaks Shopping Center, and the Alabama Theater by Weingarten Realty Investors, the HAHC will discuss beginning the process of designating these......

Since Weingarten Realty Investors announced its plans Friday for the redevelopment of part of the River Oaks Shopping Center, Houstonist has gotten several e-mails from readers asking about the future of the other sections of the center. Specifically, we've heard a lot of questions about the fate of the River Oaks Theatre because of media reports including an article in the Houston Business Journal headlined "Theater safe as Weingarten plans $15M redevelopment at River Oaks......

Weingarten Realty Investors released news today (via BusinessWire - login required) that $15 million will be used to redevelop the northeast corner of the River Oaks Shopping Center. Two new multi-story buildings are going to replace what is currently on the site, but they assure that the curved facade will remain, and the new pieces will be architecturally sympathetic (kind of reminds us of the Royalton's Gulf Publishing frieze...). The release also mentions that "[Patty]......

Today, Preservation Texas named five Houston-area sites to its list of 2007's Most Endangered Places in the state: the River Oaks Shopping Center, River Oaks and Alabama theaters, the West Mansion in Clear Lake, the Capitan Theater in Pasadena and unprotected neighborhoods in Galveston. This year's list focuses on historic movie theaters, but all the sites made it for a reason — unfortunately: All of them are in imminent danger of being lost through demolition......

Flip the Script: The Devil Made Me Do It In conjunciton with the Houston Grand Opera's (HGO)Gounod´s famous opera Faust, the Museum of Fine Arts features a lecture tonight in Brown Auditorium discussing films that share the same theme as the German-based, French-sung, English-subtitled opera: Selling your soul to the Devil. (Houstonist wonder's if Weingarten Realty Investors will serve as sponsors for the performance) Many film writers are inspired by classical stories. Join us as......

Today's online article in the River Oaks Examiner further shows that Weingarten Realty Investors is continuing its murky stance about what's going on at the River Oaks Shopping Center. It started as a meeting of concerned homeowners who live on Brentwood Drive, just north of the River Oaks Shopping Center, and ended with about the same statement that Weingarten has been notorious for dropping - "We did give them an update on where we were,”......

The River Oaks Shopping Center is hosting an event this Friday and Saturday promising free wine tasting, hors d’ooeuvres (extra “o” for extra emphasis?) and live jazz music. Cleverly named the “Art, Jazz, & Wine Event,” there will also be an array of Audi autos to peruse while enjoying the festivities, courtesy of Momentum Audi. We assume that somewhere there will be some sort of art thrown in to the mix, too. We can’t remember......

That's right - it's finally out. Today's Chronicle reports how Drew Alexander of Weingarten Realty Investors really feels about the shopping center and theaters. According to Alexander, Landmark would probably not be able to pay their rent when the lease came up for renewal, blaming it on market rates. An upscale highrise with sidewalk dining, however, would fit the bill perfectly. Also conceded was that the company is considering high-rise development for not only the......

Almost six weeks after the initial report about ideas for the River Oaks shopping center, the real estate company has released a more specific statement regarding the rumored demolitions. In a letter obtained by the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance, it was stated that: “Weingarten Realty has a long term commitment to retail shops and restaurants along West Gray and as a result, we are considering the addition of a key retail anchor . . .......

The Houston Chronicle's Ultimate Houston weekly Reader Picks poll allow folks to chime in opinions on the best of four categories. This week, polls are for ultimate Mexican restaurant, place to hear live music, bookstore, and Houston Texan. Ninfa's on Navigation, McGonigel's Mucky Duck, the Alabama Bookstop, and David Carr are in the lead, respectively. A couple weeks ago we found out that Barnes & Noble is planning to shut down the Alabama Bookstop, after......

The city's Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission voted to send a letter to Andrew Alexander, CEO of Weingarten Realty Investors to encourage saving the endangered art deco buildings. There was no mention of Commission involvement as far as doing more than expressing epistolary concern because, well, they really can't do anything more. Since the buildings aren't listed as landmarks, and do not geographically fall in a historic district, there isn't even any hope of......

The Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission will meet at 2:30 this afternoon to discuss possible steps to take in order to help save the River Oaks Theater and shopping center. The main discussion will be whether or not to try and designate the theater and shopping center as historical landmarks. While the National Register of Historic Places provides historic recognition, it does not protect a building from being demolished by its owners:Listing in the National......

Many may know Rice Village as a unique shopping area with a variety of stores, many different restaurants and cuisines, away from freeways and without big box-type establishments. Long time tenants are worried, though, that impending development in the area will run them out due to higher rent, which has increasingly occurred in the last few years. As reported by the Chronicle's David Kaplan:For 58 years, the quirky store has fit snugly in Rice Village,......

Now that everyone has had time to marvel at the thought of the River Oaks Shopping Center/theater (a couple of the few remaining art deco structures in this city) on the dark side of the wrecking ball, let Houstonist shift your attention several blocks away to the Alabama Theater. When Weingarten Realty and Pete Kaldis Realty teamed up in the early to mid-'80s to buy the property and adaptively re-use it, the theater, which was......

Houstonians are banding together in what seems like an unprecedented collaboration for historic preservation. In actuality, many of us have always cared, but this time we have some notice. A sketch from Hermes Architects shows clear plans to demolish the current location of Black-eyed Pea restaurant with an anchor (Barnes & Noble), and the implementation of a three-level parking garage that would run along the back side of the center. According to the Chronicle:......

We've tried to think of something memorable to say in celebration of getting 10,000 signatures on our petition opposing the demolition of the River Oaks Shopping Center and the former Alabama Theater this afternoon, but all we can come up with is, "Wow." Thanks to everyone who has signed the petition and passed it around to friends, neighbors, concerned Houstonians and even people in other parts of the country who don't want to see......

Houstonist has never been much of one to mess with petitions, but we figured the possible demolition of the River Oaks Shopping Center (and the Alabama Theater) was as good a reason as any — better than most, in our book — to get started. So we're sponsoring a petition opposing Weingarten Realty Investors' plans to tear down the River Oaks center. If you missed the news this weekend, check out the Chronicle article. Here's......