The familiar dining rooms at 1212 Waugh Drive in Montrose are coming down, piece by piece. Crews have stripped out the booths and peeled away the façade, and heavy equipment is on site to turn the longtime restaurant address into a convenience store and gas station. After nearly 15 years as a go-to spot for long dinners and towering seafood platters, the corner is shifting gears in full view of anyone driving by.
According to the Houston Chronicle, demolition crews were working at the property as of June 30, 2026, and the newspaper reports that the building’s interior booths are already gone and its outer walls have been peeled back to the steel frame. The transition follows earlier coverage that flagged the planned gas station project in the Houston Business Journal.
Permit and timeline
Documents filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation list project TABS2026008002 as a renovation that will convert the existing 6,926-square-foot structure into a 6,730-square-foot convenience store with fuel pumps, at an estimated cost of $800,000. State records show a projected construction start date of Nov. 30, 2026, and a target completion date of Aug. 31, 2027, with 1212 Restaurant Holdings LLC named as the property owner. The filing notes that dates are subject to change and does not identify a convenience-store operator or fuel brand.
From seafood to pumps
The Waugh Drive building has seen a steady rotation of restaurant tenants in recent years. Tony Mandola’s moved into the space in 2011 and closed its Waugh location in 2021, according to Houstonia. Gatsby’s Prime Seafood opened there in 2022 and was later rebranded as Ocean 12 in 2023, per Community Impact, though Ocean 12 quietly closed in mid-2024. For many Montrose regulars, the loss of another sit-down dining room in favor of a roadside pit stop underscores how quickly the neighborhood’s storefront mix is changing…