Varsity II Apartments

Varsity II shortly after suffering a fire (The Eagle, 8/20/94).
Located at 100 Jersey Street (later 100 George Bush Drive) and built in 1966, Varsity II Apartments¹ was a victim of right of way expansions for the George Bush Drive underpass project, which still has yet to be built. The apartments dropped the name (at least on the front of the building) sometime around the late 2000s and torn down around 2017, but despite their long run there's not a lot I can say about them other than they were just a fixture of Southgate and in the 2000s there was usually some old man at the stoplight impressing passers-by by grabbing the FM marker sign pole and doing horizontal pull-ups.²

The only major story of note I found about the apartment buildings was in August 1994, when 29-year-old Carl Henry Blue bought 50 cents worth of gasoline in a paper cup from the nearby Chevron³ and set his ex-girlfriend, 38-year-old Carmen Richard-Sanders⁴, on fire, with the resulting fire injuring one other person and doing "extensive damage" to the apartment building. It isn't clear to what extent things happened. The building wasn't torn down and only a few units were destroyed, but all the residents had to move out for a few days, mostly in relation to repairing gas furnaces. Richard-Sanders had to be airlifted to Hermann Hospital in Houston, but it was too late; she died of her injuries within 24 hours. Blue, who had already turned himself in when he caught wind of a manhunt, was charged with felony murder, found guilty, and sentenced to death.⁵ It was not the only fire at Varsity II over the years, but certainly the most notable one.

1. The question if there was a Varsity I is inconclusive. A few pre-1966 references have a reference to one being near Marion Pugh Lumber Company and having central air, so it's not 303 University and it's not clear if this was one and the same with Varsity II.
2. Bart Braden was his name and attracted a bit of notoriety including a Battalion article written about him. He passed away in January 2026 during the writing of this article.
3. While the Chevron or ownership was not charged in relation to Blue's crimes, it was (and is) against the law to sell gasoline in an unapproved container like a paper cup. Also, 50 cents in the mid-1990s was a significant amount of gasoline, closer to half a gallon...but the cup was probably not filled up to that much.
4. Initial reports put the victim's name as "Carmen Richardson", likely from a communications error.
5. Carl Blue was executed by lethal injection in February 2013.

Woodstone Shopping Center

They may have been overselling Woodstone, but it was at least unique for its time. (Eagle advertisement, 10/25/1980) There isn't much left on Harvey Road that I haven't covered yet¹ (especially with adding Post Oak Village and Advance Auto Parts last year, and 620 Harvey Road the year before that², but there were a few things left on the now-removed Harvey Road page on Carbon-izer, most notably, Woodstone Center.

Woodstone's history goes back to 1907, and it wasn't even on Harvey Road. That is when Southern Pacific built a train station in Waller, Texas, and operated until it closed around the mid-1960s. That was in the same era of time when the College Station depot shuttered, the Hempstead-to-Giddings line was abandoned³, and the passenger train industry was on a steep decline. But unlike the fate of the College Station depot (which was later demolished) the Giddings depot was saved and transplanted (cut in two and reassembled, with a large expansion to double the size) to its new location at 815 Harvey Road, with the new name of the C&S Transit Co. restaurant, opening in April 1977 with a large menu of pizza, sandwiches, and pasta dishes.

Between October 1977 and February 1978, the restaurant renamed to "The College Station Depot" and by spring had closed, replaced with another restaurant called Beef & Brew (not related to the similar Beef 'n Brew at Southgate, later on), a steakhouse with complimentary drinks and salad. In late 1979 it became C.K. Krumboltz, another steakhouse, owned by Thomas Nolan⁴, and by summer 1980, it had changed hands again, this time back to a reincarnation of Beef & Brew (new ownership, looks like). By fall 1982 it was closed once more and by summer 1983 it was Park Avenue Club & Cafe.⁵ In July 1984, an advertisement for "Malibu Beach" appeared in the Battalion ("We're bringing a little Florida and California to College Station!"), by January 1985 there was an ad in the Battalion for the grand opening of BeZerk (if that's how it was stylized) which mentioned it was "formerly ANX", which means that by 1985 Malibu Beach already came and went. After that, I can't find anything until sometime in 1986 when it became MC² (that's not a footnote, that's the name of the establishment, as in Einstein's work, which had moved from 109 Walton).⁶ In November 1986, a fire at MC² caused extensive exterior damage, which is probably why the current building doesn't resemble an old train station much anymore (it appears to have not been reopened under that name, giving this post a [death by fire] label). In 1987, the building was repaired and reopened as another club, Parthenon, its 11th name in a decade, and briefly Club Fahrenheit in 1990. Despite the numerous names the building had since moving to College Station, in 1990, The Tap opened, and it has been The Tap since.

Moving over to the east side of the complex, 919 Harvey Road was home to Hamburgers by Gourmet, a hamburger restaurant that operated mostly in the Houston area in the 1970s and 1980s (a short-lived "revival", or knockoff, in Nassau Bay notwithstanding). It closed around December 1983 and reopened as Archie's 39¢ Hamburger Place, a restaurant chain founded in Austin a year earlier owned by E.C. "Archie" Archambault of the local Taco Bell restaurants⁷, which he advertised with. Archie's Hamburgers closed around 1988-1989⁹ and in 1990, the third restaurant opened, DoubleDave's Pizzaworks, its fourth local location.⁸

This operated until 2005, and by 2006, it was Shivers ice cream and snow cones (it had a Bryan location as well, though the College Station had relocated from Dominik Drive). It closed in 2009 and was quickly replaced by Carroll's Giant Burger (out of Navasota) though that lasted only a few years before being replaced by How Do You Roll?, a fast-casual sushi restaurant (basically you picked ingredients on a sushi roll, much like Subway or Chipotle) chain. I always wanted to try it but in early 2015 the College Station closed, and within two years the entire chain was gone. There was Eskimo Hut following it from late 2015 to January 2019, and in January 2020, the spot reopened as Tacos La Perlita, which it still is.

The rest of Woodstone isn't that interesting, though. The center is designed so there are some exterior facing tenants and others (primarily offices) face inside. Clockwork Games & Events (traditional games like board games and tabletop games, not video games) has been at 903 Harvey Road suite A since 2012 (after being at 913 Harvey G for a few years). At 913 Harvey Road C, a Subway has been operating since 1983 (the second of its type in the area, and one of the few in the state at the time). 907A held Coffee Station since late 1997 until around 2009, a railroad-themed coffee shop with a cool loft area, which was sold and briefly closed for a redecoration and rename to Mugwalls, though that closed for good in 2016. From 1984 to 2012, there was a Rother's bookstore (later known as Traditions) here as well. There are a number of other tenants and addresses here, on Carbon-izer I have hosted a full layout of the place, from Loopnet.

Finally, there are some additional stores that have come and gone from Woodstone...the stuff mentioned here is by no means a complete list. There was The Unicorn & Which Witch?¹⁰ (come for the mysticism gifts, stay for Misty the cat), The Cookery (opened 1980), Carroll's Baskets and Wicker (opened 1979, not to be confused with Carroll's Giant Burger)¹¹, The Modern Touch, The Dandylion Dress Shop, and many others over the years. - footnotes - 1. West of Earl Rudder Freeway, at least.
2. At the time, the former Johnny Carino's, and later Anchor Bar, which came and went after just over a year.
3. The line went to Austin. Past Giddings, the rail line exists (unlike east of Giddings, where it's completely gone except for a short segment in Brenham), but the line is railbanked with no freight or passenger activity east of Elgin. It has been recently cleaned up with new signage, though!
4. Nolan does not have a label on this site currently, but has owned a number of establishments including The Peanut Gallery and Piknik Pantry, the latter in its pre-Chinese food early days, and Zacharias' Green House.
5. An application was made as "Confetti's" but I'm not sure if it opened under that name.
6. Currently La Gabriella bakery. That page has gotten a huge overhaul recently but it missed the nightclub there.
7. It's unclear if Archambault owned the chain or not. The articles about the restaurant and its other location in College Station at 310 N. Texas Avenue make it seem that way, and all the remaining restaurants became Archie's Hamburgers before disappearing in the early 1990s.
8. The previous three have been covered by this site...Carter Creek, Northgate, and Southgate.
9. Archambault tried a spin-off restaurant next to Pepe's Mexican Cafe which we previously covered. But by 1990 the Hamburger Place restaurants were gone. The Waco one lingered into the 1990s, though.
10. Not to be confused with Which Wich?, the sandwich shop that has since closed both its university and off-campus location.
11. An ad for The Cookery and Carroll's Baskets and Wicker can be seen here.

Taco Bell of 29th Street

I admit that this Taco Bell doesn't look distinctive. Picture by author, March 2026.
Two fast food restaurant posts in a row, yes! If you read the archives of this website, I've told you of the Arby's restaurant at Southwest Parkway. It remains the only Arby's restaurant in town though not too long after its opening, a second location would open in Bryan, with its grand opening set in September 1983. Unfortunately, this second location was not nearly as successful, as it was closed down just less than five years later.

In 1989 it became "Bless Your Heart" (a health food restaurant featuring whole-wheat bread sandwiches, frozen yogurt, salads, and soups). Sometime around 1992 or 1993 it was renamed to "D'Lite Bites" before closing in 1993 and reopening as Arby's sometime around August or September of that year. Perhaps Arby's could have a second chance in Bryan after all. Sadly it was not to be, and this second incarnation of Arby's was shorter lived than the first time around and in June 1996, it reopened as the area's newest Taco Bell...though not exactly, as it was actually a relocation of their first local store and has been there since. Obviously it's had some updates over the years (the exterior was redone in 2016, though the exterior already had Taco Bell's design), did the promotions, even did Taco Bell's breakfast menu for a while when it was introduced around the mid-2010s (this one did it until fall 2024)...but yes, other than that, just an ordinary Taco Bell.

Culpepper Plaza's Burger King

Burger King is no more, it's a Chick-fil-A now. (Picture by author, 3/26)
Recently I re-did Culpepper Plaza's article and in the process eliminated 1719 Texas Avenue South, Chick-fil-A, also formerly the site of a Burger King.

Our area has never been much for Burger King. Its first attempt was at 3807 S. Texas Avenue in Bryan back in '69, but it closed in 1977. In comparison, McDonald's first landed in 1973 and it's been expanding since. By 1985, there were four restaurants in operation, and in that year, Burger King decided to try again with another restaurant in Culpepper Plaza. In the next twenty years, however, Burger King never built any other stores in the area, and although Burger King was a common treat on road trips, I don't remember eating here too often. I do remember the Pokémon promotion, which should've been huge if they hadn't been hit with a recall.1 I can't find exactly when it closed (I believe it was late 2006 but it might've been early 2007) there's a gap before the Texas Avenue and Deacon store opened, though it appears to line up with the East 29th and Villa Maria Road East store. Franchisee Shiloh Foods ultimately opened more two more Bryan stores (one of which folded within a few years of opening) before selling out in the early 2010s. I can't remember what the Burger King looked like, I do remember it had wood paneling on the outside but was not the common 2500 Model found in stores built in the 1990s. I've searched around in vain for a picture but you can just barely see it here without the modern paint (so a brown roof, and wood paneling on the right side). In spring 2008, Chick-fil-A replaced it, which at the time was a huge deal. There was only one stand-alone Chick-fil-A (in Bryan) and the only College Station stores was a popular outlet at Post Oak Mall and four "Express" locations on campus (most of which I've covered previously, Ag Café, the MSC, the Underground, and the Commons). Chick-fil-A is still there, of course, but in 2017 upgraded its drive-through (you couldn't park in front of the store anymore) before redoing it around 2023 to a new drive-through lane altogether.

1. I believe I still have my original toy, but it's still near-worthless on the used market.