The Redevelopment of Pinebrook Apartments

Ad for Pinebrook Apartments shortly after opening. From Houston Chronicle, 1973.
Welcome back to The Houston Files! For the last few years I've been adding Houston-related entries to Numbered Exits but there were so many Houston-related entries (especially as they've gotten taken off Carbon-izer) that I decided to revive this site again.

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.

Sound Fitness

12600 FM 1960 West

Built as part of a redevelopment of the former John Eagle Honda location, this was an Eckerd drug store, and opened in late 2003 or early 2004 (the building was built in 2003 as per HCAD records), and one of the last stores to be built as an Eckerd. However, the building was built at the wrong time. By the time it opened, Eckerd's owner, J.C. Penney, was about to divest the chain to competitors, the finalists being Jean Coutu Group, which operated primarily Canadian drug stores but had a U.S. division in the form of Brooks Pharmacy (in the New England area), and CVS Corporation, which had recently entered the Houston market, and had a store by February 2004 less than a mile away at Fallbrook and FM 1960. In mid-2004, Eckerd was sold. The stores in Houston and much of the South were sold to CVS Corporation, and the stores in the Eastern Seaboard were sold to Jean Coutu Group, which merged them with the Brooks Pharmacy group to create Brooks Eckerd Pharmacy. Initially both chains ran the Eckerd stores under the Eckerd name, but in September 2004, CVS announced it would shut down "at least 50" Eckerd stores in Texas, with the rest becoming CVS stores. (Brooks Eckerd would continue to run the stores as Eckerd until 2007, when Jean Coutu Group sold the division to Rite Aid). The store at FM 1960 and Eldridge (officially 12620 W. FM 1960 as per HCAD) changed hands in mid-2004 to Anthony G Jr. Mancuso Trust, associated with CVS, and it is likely that the store had never become a CVS, as CVS changed out the oval-shaped Eckerd signs in favor a traditional rectangle, and aerial images indicate that by spring of 2005, the virtually-new Eckerd was empty. At an unknown point later (sometime before December 2007), Sound Fitness moved in, but it has been vacant for the last few years (it was definitely closed as of January 2017, and the last time it was known to be open was in 2013). In 2017, the trust divested the property. Picture above was from the author, January 2015.

To update the above, on Carbon-izer (the FM 1960 West page), more on this building and its adjacent stores were described: This three-building strip center is a little hard to explain in writing. The first incarnation of the property was John Eagle Honda (12602 FM 1960 Road West) from approximately 1984 to 2003. After it moved, two buildings were developed, a strip center at 10311 North Eldridge Parkway, and an Eckerd at 12600 FM 1960 West. Unfortunately, the Eckerd closed in 2004 (operating for less than six months, as it was too close to existing CVS stores when Eckerd was dismantled). Eckerd was replaced by Sound Fitness, which operated from around 2006 to 2013. After closing, the sign of Sound Fitness remained up for several years afterward.

The third incarnation of the property renovated both buildings, and rebranded the former Eckerd/Sound Fitness building as 12620 FM 1960 (Building C) while adding an all-new Building A with the same address. (Presumably, the Eldridge building is "B"). Building C now has Walgreens (which relocated from their larger store catty-corner), Vision Concept, a vacant space, and Charleys Cheesesteaks. Building A features Candila Media Graphics (for a graphic company, the font is awful, the "a"s look like "o"s), The UPS Store, Avis/Budget, Verizon, and Tex Mex Grill & Bar.

It also links to the Houston Historic Retail which discusses the building after it had been modified around the early 2020s. Current Google Maps Street View