Remedies

I think I found this from Zillow, though the pictures are from bcsrealtor.com.
Even today, there's almost no restaurants west of Harvey Mitchell Parkway and north of Dowling Road (where Harvey Mitchell Parkway goes to an east-west road). There's Gate 12 near Easterwood Airport...the Stella Hotel restaurant...Poché's Seafood...the fast food places near the West Bryan Walmart, and in 1996 all of those did not exist. That was the year Remedies opened at 4660 Raymond Stotzer Parkway in a converted house (originally built in 1965), just about a quarter mile to the east where The Country Kitchen once operated. (For several years, I thought that the locations of the two were one and the same, when I started working on the post for The Country Kitchen, that was what I had in mind). Despite its obscurity, Remedies operated as late as 2004. It would make occasional appearances in the Eagle's Dining Guide, health reports, and in reports of private meetings not open to the public. The fact that it was reservations only suggests that it was never open unless there were reservations and it was weekends at best. A Practical Guide to Bryan-College Station (Second Edition) describes it as this, and perhaps the best description other what the dining guide gave ("Small, intimate fine dining served in a European manner. Their specialties are special tenderloin cuts of all meats").

The area's most exclusive restaurant requires reservations – one to two weeks in advance is recommended. With steaks and seafood prepared for taste as well as show, this five-course experience provides a night to remember.

But between the fact that it was so exclusive, and the fact that it was in a rather isolated part of town, not many people even knew about it when it was open.

In 2006, Lin's TV & VCR Service (later Lin's TV & Appliance) moved to the location from College Station Business Center and operated there until around the end of the decade when it moved to Bryan. After that, at some point was renovated into a traditional residential house (three bedrooms and two bathrooms), though Zillow lists both 4660 and 4660B (one of these seems to be the old commercial component), though both of these look to be the same.

Editor's Note: There's a whole lot of stuff I've done since we last met, including a huge update to the Northpoint Crossing article (Learn about the former Circle K! See what we found out about that 1940s building! Discover how the Dutch Kettle and the Kettle are related!), some updates to various commercial developments McDonald's & Blockbuster also got its first update in a decade.

But there's more "in network" to see. Numbered Exits has gotten several new posts, though most of them tend to be recycled content that has previously appeared on Carbon-izer before (except Loews Midtown Motor Inn). Tennis World, profiled over at The Houston Files is brand new.

Northpoint Business Park

As it appeared in 2011. Can you see the defunct rail spur?
Not to be confused with Northpoint Crossing (which, as of this writing, is to undergo a major rewrite), Northpoint Business Park at 2870 North Harvey Mitchell Parkway's history began in May 1979 when NL Industries announced the construction of a plant for its Atlas Bradford pipe and tube division¹. The 137-acre site had lofty plans with its initial operations being able to thread 22,000 tons of tubing annually, with 100,000 tons anticipated by 1984. It opened in 1980 and was had a brief period of success with 400 employees, a downturn in oil prices forced layoffs and by September 1982 only had 115 employees, when it NL Industries announced it would close for "12-18 months" until the oil price recovered, retaining 10 employees to serve as "caretakers" for the mothballed facility. Ultimately, these employees were let go as NL Industries abandoned the plant entirely and put it up for sale in 1987.

In 1994, local developer Kenneth Neatherlin's company, Neatherlin Commercial Group, purchased the plant from Dresser Industries² but requested the city to help pay for cleanup costs. I'm not sure if Northpoint ever offered up the old railroad spur as part of its features. It looked disconnected even in 1995.

It's more or less been that way since. When I was younger, there was something in suite 300 (the building and side closest to the entrance, at least from what I can tell, I believe U.S. Well Services takes up residence there now) that I vaguely remember in the parking lot having a bunch of things that I could best describe as nautical flags but it's been too long. I can't find a good PDF layout of the property, this (archived from here) is perhaps the best example. I'm not sure if it had an address in the Atlas Bradford days, but it is 2870 North Harvey Mitchell Parkway now. There's tenants like Groundforce Building Systems in suite 200 and Plygem New Alenco Extrusions in suite 400, but none of these are particularly noteworthy, there's nothing truly big and memorable that took up residence here. The only real big change was selling part of the lot so Sleep Inn could build a hotel that faces the highway.

1. NL Industries no longer owns Atlas Bradford, and it has gone under a variety of other owners since. It was spun off in 1989 as part of Baroid Corporation (the oil and gas side of NL Industries), which in turn sold it to Energy Ventures in 1992, incorporating it into their Grant TFW (later Grant Prideco) division. In 2000, Energy Ventures (by this time known as Weatherford International) spun off Grant Prideco as an independent company. In 2008, most of Grant Prideco's Tubular Technologies and Services division (except for XL Systems, which they kept) was sold to Vallourec out of France.
2. Baroid was spun off from NL Industries with Atlas Bradford (see footnote 1) but when Baroid sold Atlas Bradford to Energy Ventures, they retained the site. Baroid was sold to Dresser Industries in December 1993, and the official deed to the current ownership is from "BAROID MANAGEMENT".

Editor's Note: So, the next "guaranteed" post is on September 21st, but don't go away. Check out Pyne Hall Apartments on The Houston Files, an updated version of what was on Carbon-izer until just a week or so ago. McDonald's & Blockbuster received its first update in over a decade. As I mentioned in the main article, pay attention to the Northpoint Crossing article. While it got a small update to account for some defunct tenants, it's going to get a major update soon.

Former Edelweiss Floral Shop

This is from Loopnet but archived here as these pages have a nasty habit of disappearing after a while.
As I mentioned in my recent Numbered Exits post on Super 8 in Hope, Arkansas, I'll be updating the "blog family" (Brazos Buildings & Businesses, Numbered Exits, and The Houston Files) three times a week (Monday-Wednesday-Friday), though it's spread between the three sites (and might be off by a day). This doesn't count post re-dos, of course, the post covering La Bodega was overhauled and had the Church Street Blues & Barbecue post merged into it and the Northpoint Crossing article will be overhauled in the near future.

Today we're returning to the Rock Prairie corridor which I haven't had a post about since 2020. This building was built in 1999 for Edelweiss Floral Shop, a locally-owned florist which closed in 2002.¹ The building spent some time vacant later (I have in my notes it was "Brilliant Illusions" in 2004-2005, based on tax records, though there's no newspaper presence). In 2006, gift shop Baskets on the Brazos moved in. Baskets on the Brazos has its own history, which I haven't yet told of.

In 1986², Pop-abilities Unlimited opened at 3737 East 29th Street, featuring gift baskets, gourmet popcorn, chocolate, balloons, and snow cones. If you follow Carbon-izer.com, it was one of the sponsors drawn onto Jim Wodark's Camptoons map. In 1995, it merged with Baskets on the Brazos, though it seems it was more of a buyout than a merger, considering that Baskets on the Brazos was a much newer business (this was its first storefront) and like any "merger" where one is clearly more dominant, the older company disappeared. The business was renamed as "Baskets on the Brazos/Pop-abilities". A 1998 phone book I have said they had a second location at "3952 S Texas Avenue CS" (likely in this retail center). From what I can determine between tax records, this article, and other archives, is that the business didn't move to Villa Maria (I can't find anything on it, though it's possible a 2001 phone book or directory could disprove that) but did revert to the Pop-abilities name before it was purchased in 2003, moved to 1200 Briarcrest Drive Suite 1000, and renamed as Baskets on the Brazos from the article says, killing the Pop-abilities name for good, before new ownership of Baskets on the Brazos (in 2006) moved it to 112 Rock Prairie Road. In 2008, Tricia Barksdale Design, a floral shop that was located within Martha's Bloomers in Navasota (Martha's Bloomers does not have an article on this website, but it is discussed on Carbon-izer as part of the Highway 6 entries) at some point (Martha's Bloomers opened in 2000, so Ms. Barksdale hadn't been renting for long), moved into the new Baskets on the Brazos space. Eventually, Tricia Barksdale Design took over the operation entirely. In 2018, Tricia Barksdale moved to 4444 State Highway 6 South before closing the storefront in 2020 (COVID-19) to a home studio where she's been since. I suppose that's just how these things go. The socials are still active for Tricia Barksdale Designs as is her website, and it's still way less unsatisfying than what happened to Petal Patch or the final fate of the 1930s-era business Student Co-op (later history discussed here).

Back to 112 Rock Prairie Road, by the late 2010s it had become Oakwood Roots, a therapy center (an outgrowth of Oakwood Counseling, which was across the street at the time) and like Tricia Barksdale eventually moved to the bypass (now known as Roots Psychotherapy). As of November 2024, it was "TenantNow" (renamed to "TenantFirst" by 2025), which has also moved out to the highway (all three moved out to the 4000-4500 blocks of Highway 6 South...go figure).

1. Despite the name, it was over a block away from Edelweiss Avenue, and had no access to it.
2. Possibly 1985, 1986 was just the first time I found an advertisement

Editor's Note:: I've talked about a "post every day of the year" for this site specifically, which for this blog falls on August 5th, a Wednesday, so that's when this blog will get its next new entry...go and check out Numbered Exits and The Houston Files in the meantime!

Before Sabi Boutique

520 University Drive East in its original form. Later on, bigger windows were added in the front, but the side views are original.
Haven't really posted a "real" post in a while, and recently it's the first time I've been skipping months since 2023 (when I wasn't in the area at the time). I guess I just lost interest. You can only do so much if you're not making any money off of something. But I haven't abandoned this blog, just switched focus to places like Houston (and those entries don't typically have photos). I had also wanted to continue the "post on days I didn't already have posts on" project but another opportunity won't come until August 5th.

When working on an updated version of my FM 60 page for Carbon-izer (Version 5.2 here until August 1st, Version 6.0 here after August 1st) I came across 520 University Drive East and decided that there was enough information on it and that it was an interesting enough subject to do a full post on it.

The current tenant at 502 University Drive East, Sabi Boutique, opened in spring 2019 shortly after opening a second location at Century Square (this one replaced the Holleman Drive East location).

Originally, this was an office building that was first the home of a podiatrist (feet) by Dr. J.P. Beal, DPM, and soon became the home of the local Protective Life Insurance Company. (A 1974 directory lists the aformentioned Dr. Jacob B. Beal Jr. and Protective Life Insurance Company, as well as Farmers Insurance Company and Charles E. Thomas & Associates, which was the official name of the Protective agency). In 1982, Shellenberger's moved in as a second location from Townshire Center. In 1993 (by this time the Townshire location was gone) it was renamed as "The Suit Club at Shellenberger's" (advertising only—it only had "The Suit Club" on the sign outside) until closure in 2008. This 2008 article sheds a bit more light on the subject, The Suit Club wasn't exclusive to the area, it was a co-op with other independent menswear stores, though by 2008 this one was the only one left.

By January 2009, there were "two stores under one roof", Lew's Mens Wear, a store that replaced The Suit Club after it liquidated (there was a gap of about a month) and Sprout, a clothing store that was a spin-off of Old Bryan Marketplace.

Next from what I can tell, Harley's of Tyler purchased Lew's and converted it to their name in 2012, booting out Sprout in the process. This closed in December 2018.

I do have one more announcement to make: I will be permanently removing the post on T.G.I. Friday's (seen here, originally posted February 8, 2025). Like many of the posts from a decade ago, it doesn't really meet the same quality standards and without even a good picture, can't really be grandfathered in. (The only way it could remotely work is if I went by and grabbed a picture as the existing Willie's, which is kind of missing the point, or sullying the quality of my site with a Google Street View image...and I'm already annoyed with how poor quality the Rockfish Seafood Grill article is. In any case, effectively we're trading Sabi Boutique with Carbon-izer in exchange for T.G.I. Friday's. It was not a decision I took lightly, I don't really remove posts anymore.