While I've discussed on my Northwest Freeway page in the past, 5201 West 34th Street currently houses a Jimmy John's and Origin Bank these days, but it wasn't always like that. It was originally a much larger lot with Northwest Freeway frontage and housed Pinebrook Apartments (stylized as "PineBrook", at least in the early days of the apartment complex) was a 232-unit apartment complex built in 1971 (and started advertising in 1972) as one of the many apartment complexes with clubhouses, swimming pools, and shag carpeting in the early 1970s, though PineBrook was always open to families (and pets).
The apartment complex suffered issues leading up to its official closure in November 1990 (transients moving into vacant apartments and starting fires), with (apparently) another fire happening after it was closed before the city tore it down in early 1992. By early 1995 it had been redeveloped into new sites, a new building housing a stand-alone Payless ShoeSource (using the old address, 5201 West 34th Street) and the Pine Hollow Shopping Center at 5215 West 34th Street, which was also near Northwest Freeway.
From what I can find, there was Jason's Deli in suite A (1995 to eviction in the early 2010s), Pro-Cuts in suite B (might've changed its name before closing/eviction), and Blockbuster in suite D (1995-2008). (If there was anything in Suite C I couldn't find it). I did get a bit of the Street View here.
In 1996, Boston Market was built at 5195 West 34th Street, and in 20051, another building was built next to it (5185 West 34th Street) with Lenny's Sub Shop, a vacancy, First Cash Advance, and RadioShack (which moved from across the street). 5175 West 34th Street was developed as a Wells Fargo in 2008.
Of course, all of these have changed over the years. Pine Hollow was demolished with the widening of the freeway, with Jason's Deli (which was closest to West 34th) going last2. Payless ShoeSource closed in 2006 and was replaced with Purpose Money (later Check into Cash, by 2011) but only in half of the building. By late 2014, Jimmy John's opened in the other half but the west half was empty, and finally filled in 2016 with Verizon, though that only operated for around four years. By summer 2024 it was replaced with Origin Bank.
Boston Market closed around 2000 and was replaced by Sonic Drive-In (featuring an eat-in area) in 2001 which closed around 2026 (though the sign had been smashed out for a few years at that point).
The strip center next door had tenants come and go, with Lenny's Sub Shop getting replaced by a Little Caesars and the RadioShack becoming a Sprint RadioShack, then converting to a regular Sprint store before closing entirely. Tenants as of January 2026, from east to west (left to right) include Little Caesars (100), Fred Loya Insurance, Total by Verizon (200), Studio 34 Barbershop, and Wingstop.
Wells Fargo closed between 2024 and January 2026.
Additionally, here's an adver-article from 12/31/1972 from the Houston Chronicle that talks more about the apartments.
1. It appears the tenants moved in proper around 2006.
2. Presumably waiting until their new location on Northwest Freeway could be completed.
