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From Balcony to Backstage: New Tempo at White Oak community strikes chord in Woodland Heights By STEFANIE THOMAS editor@theleadernews.com
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Multifamily developer Marquette Companies welcomed the first residents to Tempo at White Oak this month, marking a major step in the firm’s long-range vision for a new mixed-use destination north of downtown. The six-story, 304-unit luxury community anchors the emerging White Oak District, a four-block-bysix-block, pedestrian-friendly zone
planned for Keene and Main streets in Houston’s Woodland Heights. “At Tempo at White Oak, we’ve designed a community where creativity and music are woven into everyday life, and residents can easily experience the energy of living in one of the city’s most vibrant emerging entertainment districts,” said Chris Yuko, managing director of development at Marquette Companies. “There are not many, if any, new market-rate apartment developments in this vicinity,
which puts Tempo in a great position to ate their own soundtrack. Additional meet the demand for an elevated living amenities include a resort pool with experience near downtown Houston.” submerged seating, a sky lounge with unobstructed downtown views, a Music-inspired design fourth-floor bar, separate cardio and Located at 2623 Keene St., directly functional-training studios, a pickleacross from White Oak Music Hall, ball court, a fenced dog run and an Tempo’s concept riffs on its neigh- interior walking-path courtyard. bor’s concert calendar. A stadiumApartments range from 515-squarestyle outdoor lounge overlooks the foot studios to two-bedroom layouts venue’s lawn stage, while a lobby of 1,340 square feet. Units feature performance corner and adjoining reSee MILESTONE P. 2 cording studio invite residents to cre-
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Review: “Amplified” at ARTECHOUSE is a must-see
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Pet of the Week: Meet Jaz, the survivor Photos by Stephanie Shirley
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Behind a charming historical Heights retail storefront on E. 11th St. are thousands of square feet dedicated to preserving Texas culture.
After 15 years, Republic Boot Community Co.’s flagship purchase seals Events a Heights legacy Community Calendar: Juneteenth celebrations, Pride events, and more
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Local business is our business. Send us your story of interest news@ theleadernews.com Inside Today: A 9-year-old girl was killed in the Heights • Page 10
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City moving forward with traffic plan for 11th By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com
Protected bicycle lanes are coming to 11th Street in the Heights, where drivers will have fewer lanes to maneuver along one of the neighborhood's most popular thoroughfares. That is by design, according to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who announced Tuesday that the City of Houston will move forward with its long-debated plan to transform traffic on 11th Street in the interest of safety and to make the road more multimodal. Bike lanes will be added on
both sides of 11th between North Shepherd Drive and Michaux Street, where there will be one vehicular lane in each direction with a center, left-turn lane along the stretch between Yale and Studewood streets. The plan also calls for bike lanes along Michaux between 11th and Stude Park to the south as well as protected crossings for pedestrians and cyclists at intersections such as 11th and Nicholson Street, where the Heights Hike-and-Bike Trail crosses 11th, and Michaux and White Oak Drive. There now are two vehicle lanes in each direction on 11th
between Shepherd and Michaux, and no center turn lanes. "With four lanes for cars, the street encourages fast driving," Turner said in a 4-minute, 30-second video released by his office. "That speed results in 10 percent more crashes than the average road across the state of Texas. Those crashes are at nearly every intersection between Michaux and Shepherd. Eleventh Street is not safe for the neighborhood." David Fields, the chief transportation planner for the city, said Photo by Adam Zuvanich construction is estimated to start A cyclist waits to cross 11th Street at its intersection with NicholSee 11th Street P. 5
son Street. The City of Houston is adding protected bike lanes on 11th and reducing the number of vehicle lanes.
By Adam Zuvanich
Show them the money. Houston ISD teachers are getting significant pay raises.
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Photo by Mark Lear An eastern screech owl named Owlouette loves on Beaker, one of her offspring, in the backyard of Oak Forest resident Mark Lear.
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Top talent. Evelyn Garcia of "Top Chef" fame brings her brand of cuisine to the Heights.
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Joy for Julep. A Washington Avenue cocktail bar won a James Beard Award this week.
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THE INDEX. Church........................................................... 4 Classifieds ................................................. 7 Coupons ...................................................... 7 Food/Drink ................................................ 9 Opinion ........................................................ 3 Public Information......................... 10 Puzzles ......................................................... 3
Bullet train project in limbo with CEO’s resignation azuvanich@theleadernews.com
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Big art, small studio. An artist with ties to the Heights will display her work on Almeda Road.
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Students engage with a NAO robot designed to be interactive, intuitive, and friendly.
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Chris Conrad brought his international experience and perspective home to the Heights with a mission of preserving a special part of Texas history and culture.
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Republic Boot Company, the family-run maker of bespoke cowboy boots favored by Houston notables, has swapped rent checks for a deed. The artisan brand confirmed it has purchased the 10,578-square-foot retail strip at East 11th and Studewood, the site of its flagship showroom and workshop since 2019. Real-estate brokers involved in the deal say the price ranks among the year’s larger commercial transactions inside the Heights. “Taking ownership of our flagship retail location in the Heights not only represents a significant milestone for Republic Boot Company but also pays homage to my father’s legacy,” owner Chris Conrad said. “We are excited to reaffirm our presence in the Heights community while planning our expan-
sion into other markets. We look forward to serving our loyal customers and new clients alike.” Like so many of the discreet hidden gems in the historical Houston Heights, residents driving past could easily blink and miss the storefront and all the treasures that lay behind it. And, what a tragedy that would be. Conrad, who is a fifth generation Houstonian and whose grandparents were raised in the Heights with a local lineage dating back to the early 1900s, founded Republic Boot Co. in 2011. He is a former energy industry executive who traveled extensively internationally. The inspiration for Republic Boot Co., he said, was a direct result of those travels, the people he met and a heightened understanding of their perceptions and expectations about Texas
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In Greater Houston, 41 percent of children enter kindergarten unprepared—a staggering statistic with longterm implications for the city’s economic and social future. But one local organization is working to change that. Since 1987, Collaborative for Children has been on a mission to ensure every child in Houston, regardless of zip code, is ready to thrive from day one of school. With a laser focus on the ages 0-5—the most formative years of a child’s life— the organization delivers critical resources and support to early childhood educators, parents, and communities to bridge the kindergarten-readiness gap. “Our work is about more than just early education,” said Jamie K. Sanders, Heights resident, CPA, and Executive Board Member. “It’s about building a stronger Houston—one child at a time.”
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Owl-watching becoming popular pastime By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com
There are loving displays of care and affection, inspirational moments and harrowing scenes that can end up being upsetting. Eating is a big part of the action as well, with the stars of the show making the most of the ingredients they have available. There’s also an eclectic soundtrack, with rustling, rattling, whinnying and hooting. The feed from the camera in the backyard of Oak Forest resident Pam Berry – set up inside a wooden owl house that her boyfriend built and affixed to an oak tree – creates a nightly show that’s a cross between “The Bachelor,” “The Voice,” “Survivor” and “Chopped.” But Berry says it’s more entertaining than any reality show, because what she’s watching is actually real. Call it “Chronicles of Eastern Screech Owls, The Nesting Edition,” which offers a unique glimpse into the lives and annual mating rituals of nocturnal birds that are common in the Houston region. “It’s better than TV,” Berry said. “Sometimes we’ll put the video up on the TV and watch it for a while.” Berry and her boyfriend, Spring Branch resident Scott
Photo by Mark Lear Three owlets stick their heads out of the owl house in Mark Lear’s Oak Forest backyard earlier this year.
Sherrill, who works as a handyman in the Garden Oaks, Oak Forest and Shepherd Park Plaza area, both have owl boxes equipped with cameras in their backyards. Sherrill said he’s constructed a couple dozen or so of the small wooden structures for other local residents, in the hopes the bird
The yearslong effort to construct a high-speed railway between Houston and Dallas appears to have stalled, at least for the time being. Carlos Aguilar announced last weekend in a LinkedIn post that he had resigned as CEO of Texas Central, the Dallas-based company behind the quest to connect the state’s two largest cities with a bullet train. His departure comes as the Texas Supreme Court considers a case that will determine whether the company has the legal authority to exercise eminent domain - likely a critical factor in its ability to acquire the land needed for the proposed railway - and amid questions about the project’s financial viability. Carlos Aguilar “While I could not align our current stakeholders on a common vision for a path forward, I wish the project the greatest success and remain convinced of the importance of this venture for the safety and prosperity of all Texans,” Aguilar wrote. “... Texas and the U.S. deserve the best transportation options and I am convinced that in time, these will become a reality.” Texas Central did not respond to a Tuesday email seeking comment, nor did representatives of a Dallas-based public relations firm that has worked for the company. A call to the phone number listed online at texascentral.com, cited as a hotline for the bullet train project, was answered with a recording that said, “The number you dialed is not in service at this time.” It is unclear who is leading the company, if anyone, as there was nothing listed under an “Executive Leadership Team” header on the Texas Central website. The site also said the company has no current job openings. A string of news releases on the Texas Central website ends with an announcement dated Sept. 21, 2020. That’s when the company said the Federal Railroad Administration had issued a series of safety and operational standards that
See Owls P. 5
See Railway P. 5
Carter comes home as new principal at Hamilton By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com
Erika Carter has never lived in the Heights, but she’s long considered Hamilton Middle School to be home. It’s where she started her teaching career more than two decades ago and spent the first 13 years of her tenure with Houston ISD. First Carter served as an English Language Arts teacher at Hamilton, then as the department chair, a grade-level team leader, a teacher specialist, a Title I coordinator, an assis-
tant principal and a summer school principal. She still kept tabs on the Heights campus after leaving to fulfill other roles at other HISD schools and, when she learned about an opening in the principal’s office, Carter said she jumped at the chance. She started this week as the new principal at Hamilton, 139 E. 20th St. “It’s very much a full-circle moment,” Carter said. “It’s always been a bit of a secret dream of mine to be able to be the principal at Hamilton. Having done so many of the
Erika Carter
positions there and learned so much and the community poured into me as a first-year
teacher, I always wanted to give back to it.” Carter succeeds Robert Michaels-Johnson, who she referenced as having retired. Michaels-Johnson declined an interview request made through the HISD Press Office, which did not answer emailed questions about the length of his tenure, his accomplishments or the nature of his departure before press time Wednesday. Hamilton received recognition last fall from Texas nonprofit Children at Risk, which ranked the Heights campus as
the seventh-most pandemicresilient middle school in the Houston region. A total of 107 Houston-area schools received that distinction, signifying that at least 75 percent of their students were classified as economically disadvantaged, they received A or B performance ratings for the 2018-19 school year and had maintained or improved their academic performance since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. “It’s an outstanding feat,” See Carter P. 4A
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Good God, Nadine’s debuts with Gulf coast comfort, frozen cocktails and garden party vibes By STEFANIE THOMAS editor@theleadernews.com Good God, Nadine’s — part cocktail lounge, part Southern garden party — swung open its doors at 33 Waugh Drive (just south of the Heights proper) on May 27, giving the area a new spot for “big flavors, strong drinks, and good energy,” according to co-owner Billy Trainor. Conceived by Trainor and business partner Kyle Wiebe, owners of Verdegreens Farms, the 4,000-square-foot venue blended three settings: a moody, art-filled interior
bar with brass and tile accents; an air-conditioned, French-door patio; and a fully alfresco garden under striped fabrics and tropical greenery. Gin Design Group layered deep greens, navy, saffron and burgundy with vintage furniture and mid-century-meetsSouthern-Gothic touches to drive home the “eccentric-aunt” personality the owners envisioned. The drinks menu, built around frozen and craft cocktails plus wines on tap, led the concept. Highlights included the citrus-and-herb “Houstonian,” the floral “Queen Charlotte,” the rice-clari-
fied “Mango Sticky Rice,” and a frozen Serrano Pineapple T&T finished with pineapple-serrano syrup. Trainor and Wiebe’s kitchen, run with a pan-Gulf mindset that pulled from Creole, Cajun, Caribbean, Mexican, Vietnamese and Deep-South traditions, pushes “playful, elevated” comfort foods. A rotating raw bar, nightly Blue Plate specials such as Meatloaf Wellington and Pho-Spiced Pork Chops, and shareable dishes like the Prawn Party trio joined staples such as hand-cut beef-tallow fries, smashburgers and classic po-boys.
“We wanted to create the kind of place where you instantly feel at home — whether you’re in flip-flops or dressed to the nines,” Trainor said. “No silver cloches, no pretense…great hospitality comes with laughter, maybe a little profanity, and a vibe that invites you to stay a while.” Good God, Nadine’s plans to operate daily from 4 p.m. to midnight with happy hour every day from 4-7 p.m. and an allday Sunday brunch set to launch soon. Additional details are available at goodgodnadines.com or on Instagram @goodgodnadines.
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