Inside Today: Our new Family Time section has summer ideas • Page 1B
��������
����� Join us
May 18 @ Noon American Legion Post 560 @ 3720 Alba
SATURDAY | May 18, 2013 | Vol. 59 | No. 29 | www.theleadernews.com | @heightsleader
THE BRIEF. sponsored by
���������������
Heights church sold for retail, dining Buyer owns Yale St. Pharmacy and former Harolds buildings
������� ���
by Charlotte Aguilar charlotte@theleadernews.com
Help for 290 commute, Metro opens HOT lane
Metro is opening its latest HOT lane on U.S. 290 on May 20 to allow solo drivers the chance to use the high occupancy vehicle lane by paying for a toll tag. Carpools, vanpools and motorcyclists will still ride for free. Tolls for the 290 HOT commute will range from $1 to $5, depending on the time of day. Toll tags honored in the HOT lanes include the Metro HOT Lanes Tag, Harris County EZ Tag, TxDOT’s TxTAG or the Dallas NTTA Toll Tag. Metro expects traffic in the HOV lane to increase from about 7,500 vehicles a day to 9,000 with this conversion. The HOT lanes are already being utilized on I-45 south, Highway 59 south and I-45 north. They feature a camera-monitoring system that allows for quick response to any emergency. To learn more about the HOT lane or to purchase a Metro HOT Lanes Tag, go to http://www.ridemetro.org/Services/HOTLanes.aspx.
Braun Enterprises has bought two of the Baptist Temple Church’s oldest buildings – one 101 years old – to be demolished for new retail and restaurant space in a thriving commercial area of the Heights. (Photo by Charlotte Aguilar)
see Braun • Page 5A
by Cynthia Lescalleet For The Leader
M-F 11am-9pm Sat 11am-5pm
3401 W. T.C. Jester 713-957-1100
Good taste & health: Share your recipes
2A 3A 4A 6B 4B 4A 7B 5A
old’s space indicates that the church property could draw the same attention.” No selling price for the Baptist Temple property was
Developers trying again with Yale St. apartments
MON-FRI • 4PM - 8PM ALL DAY SATURDAY
THE INDEX.
W 19th St
The proposed Alexan Heights apartments on Yale Street north of I-10 will be the subject of a public hearing at 2:30 p.m. May 23. (Trammell Crow Residential)
DAILY SPECIALS HAPPY HOUR
Public Safety Hipstrict Topics Obituaries Coupons Puzzles Sports Classifieds
W 20th St
ONE GAME SHORT
COME BY AND CHECKOUT OUR
Have your transformed an arteryclogging classic recipe into something tasty but nutritious? It’s time to share those secrets. The next edition of The List, publishing in The Leader on June 1, will focus on the area’s healthy eating options under the title “Good for You.” While menus abound with locally grown foods and an increasing number of options for better nutrition such as salads, meatless burgers and vegetarian/vegan choices, we know some of the healthiest cooking around is being done in home kitchens. So we’d like you to share your recipes combining good taste with good health with fellow readers. Send them to news@theleadernews.com by May 25 or drop them off at our office at 3500 E. T.C. Jester, Suite A, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Yale St
������������������
10570 NW Frwy • 713-680-2350
The Baptist Temple Church in the Heights has sold its two oldest buildings at the southeast corner of Rutland and 20th Street to a commercial developer to be demolished and turned into retail and dining space. The original church sanctuary, built in 1912, and a larger sanctuary, built in the 1940s, were sold to Braun Enterprises, which will demolish them to create retail and restaurant opportunities, according to a press release announcing the sale. Braun already owns the Yale Street Pharmacy building and the old Harolds building just a stone’s throw away on 19th Street, which is being into a Torchys Tacos, Heights General Store and third business. “We look for opportunities in areas that are good or getting better,” said Dan Braun, president, in a statement. “The area around 19th and 20th Streets has not changed much in the last 20 years, but we love the demographics and the neighborhood. The strong interest in our Har-
W 21st St Rutland
s ’ e n e l r a D
From faith to food
The St. Pius X baseball team had six unanswered runs scored against it in a 6-1 loss to Argyle Liberty Christian in the TAPPS 5A State Championship Game on Tuesday in Belton. For full coverage of the SPX to the state title, see PAGE 7B. (Photo by Michael Sudhalter)
Protests mount to new nightclub by Michael Sudhalter michael@theleadernews.com The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) and the ownership of a local Northwest Mall nightclub that’s under construction could be headed to court over the establishment’s mixed beverage license. Several residents from Timbergrove and Spring Branch protested the TABC license of Chela’s, 444 Northwest Mall, which would replace the defunct SRO Sports Bar. A TABC investigation was to be delivered Tuesday, but it must be reviewed by TABC officials and its legal department to determine whether the protest will proceed. The residents’ concerns stem from Chela’s ownership by the same individuals, J. Larkin Stallings and Mario Anzaldua, who owned El Chaparral, a nightclub located in the Northwest Mall parking lot that experienced a considerable amount of violence at the club and around it.
Residents are protesting a new nightclub, Chela’s, in the Northwest Mall because its owners once owned El Chaparral, which brought a significant amount of crime to the same area. (Photo by Michael Sudhalter) Among the violence at El Chaparral included an off-duty Houston Police Department officer, who was providing security at the club, being shot. Another incident involved violence
spilling over to a nearby Shell gas station shortly after the club closed for the evening, in which a man was killed.
see Protest • Page 5A
Developers of the proposed 366-unit Alexan Heights apartment complex on Yale Street have indicated they’ve obtained a change in deed restrictions that could allow them to move forward with the project without a variance from the city. Neighbors of the planned development, between 6th and 7th streets and north of I-10, are receiving letters from Trammell Crow Residential about a public hearing before the Houston Planning Commission, to be held at 2:30 p.m. May 23 at City Hall Annex, 900 Bagby St. The developer is required to mail out an Adjacent Property Owners Notice of Public Hearings Without Variance to nearby landowners, some of whom have openly expressed concerns about the additional traffic the development will bring to Yale. The deed restrictions involved single-family homes within the proposed complex — properties that the owners did not want to sell and that TCR was able to design around. TCR’s earlier request for construction with a variance failed before the Houston Planning Commission. An advance copy of the new notice was part of a TCR/Maple Multi-Family Land TX letter to District C
see Apartments • Page 5A
FBI releasing few details in takeover of 34th Street bank A man somehow broke into a Wells Fargo branch at 34th Street at Highway 290 shortly before 7:30 Tuesday morning in a “takeover style” robbery in which he was physically aggressive toward employees but didn’t harm them, the FBI says. According to FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap, the man “verbally threatened” and “restrained” the workers, but she said she couldn’t comment on reports that he had tied up two women tellers and locked them in a vault before he escaped with an untold amount of cash. Neither could she comment on news reports that the man had spray-painted the lenses of surveillance cameras to avoid having his image made public. The robber is described as a light-skinned or white man, between 5-feet-10-inches and 6-feet-1 tall and medium build. He was wearing a red shirt, gray pants and black shoes, and his appearance was concealed, Dunlap said, by a straw fedora hat, dark-shaded aviator-style sunglasses, and a red bandana tied over the bottom half of his face. He also carried a black backpack. As always, Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of the suspect. Tips can be offered at 713-222-TIPS and can be made anonymously.