If I had to describe "which road best represents my childhood", it would have to be Southwest Parkway. There was the Citgo there at the corner of Southwest Parkway and Wellborn, before everything around it was built, a common fuel and convenience stop (more will be discussed when the gas station is added), the Texaco station at Welsh Avenue, those weird townhome-style apartments catty-corner to that (Embassy Townhomes), South Knoll Elementary School (where I went to school, and was once covered on this site, though mostly I described its dark, pre-renovation corridors), and small streets where family friends lived.
It was there in the happy childhood times of my life and some of the darker times like food delivery (where I got to know the apartment complexes a LOT better). A lot of this is based after what I originally wrote in Wikimapia (see the March 2022 update), in a few cases verbatim, which in turn is based on my writings and memories of the avenue in the late 1990s and early 2000s, though I've tried to update these.
This page includes Southwest Parkway and Southwest Parkway East with different numbering systems, but Raintree Drive across the freeway doesn't hold the same numbering system (it was connected to Southwest Parkway East later). Please see the Map for items already added on Brazos Buildings & Businesses.
Version 3.0 revives the page and changes a few things (some things were out of order).
Added: 205 Southwest Parkway East and Prosperity Bank.
Updated: Dwell @ 1600 (formerly titled as "Cedar Ridge at College Station"), Arbor Square Apartments (minor), and Take 5 Oil Change.
Removed: Citgo (has a blog post), Shell (at Welsh; not on Southwest Parkway), The Vintage (has a blog post), South Knoll Elementary School (not on Southwest Parkway), 1712 Southwest Parkway (has a blog post), Shipley Do-Nuts (has a blog post), Arby's (has a blog post), Aggieland Credit Union (has a blog post), and Wendy's (has a blog post).
Copper Creek Condos / 301 Southwest Parkway
This condo project was finished in the mid-2010s and was the first is also the first new residential development on the north side of Southwest Parkway since the late 1990s. The parking lot is accessed from behind the Southwest Crossing development.
Crossing Place / 400 Southwest Parkway
These three-story apartment buildings are accessed by a single parking lot that winds through the complex. In January 2015, this went from being Crossing Place Apartments to simply Crossing Place. One thing to note about this one was built in 2002, and prior this was a bunch of small trees in a row; deliberately planted. I don't know what type they were but it was never a fruit grove and it isn't obvious in the 1995 aerial picture.
Parkway Circle Apartments / 401 Southwest Parkway
As I did do food delivery, I became familiar with these apartments (among others), like learning not to enter through the center section. They were built in 1982 and have a somewhat nice stone exterior, something that has held up better than its neighbors.
The Wick / 430-502 Southwest Parkway
One of the oldest apartments on Southwest Parkway (first phase in 1975), these apartments, formerly known as Willowick Apartments, were rebranded as "The Wick" in January 2017. This has amounted to little more than a repaint.
It does not have a good reputation but perhaps the oddest thing is how the stairs jut into the main sidewalk or don't touch it at all, and the upper level doors are several inches from the second floor, almost as if everything was built wrong.
Madison Pointe Apartments / 503 Southwest Pkwy.
Formerly Oakwood Apartments and built in 1980. The name change came in the late 1990s.
University Place Condominiums / 521 Southwest Pkwy.
Cheap three-story condominiums built in the early 2000s. Each building has its own separate address, starting with 515 and going counter-clockwise to 529.
Hillstone on the Parkway / 528 Southwest Parkway
Hillstone saw construction in the 1990s, but like University Place, each building has its own address from 520 to 548.
Southwest Stor-Mor / 602 Southwest Parkway
This self-storage unit has a car wash (self service) in front of it. I don't recall the original name but it currently goes under "Splish Splash Car Wash" with cut-out painted blue letters in Comic Sans.
The Grove at Southwood / 603 Southwest Parkway
These were called Brownstone Apartments originally and sometime around 2001 became Renaissance Park Apartments. It assumed its current name sometime around mid-2021 it became "The Grove at Southwood" with a color scheme of grey and lime green (though the lime green doors had been around for a few years. Parts the apartment complex (the parking lot is not contiguous) holds the 1600 Welsh address.
Parkway Baptist Church / 1501 Southwest Parkway
This church built a new sanctuary building around 2003-2004.
Dwell @ 1600 / 1600 Southwest Parkway
From its opening in 1973 to as late as 2007, this was Parkway Apartments (a name now being used by Parkway Place off of FM 2818) and by 2012 was Cedar Ridge at College Station. Around 2022-2024 it assumed its current name.
Arbor Square Apartments / 1700 Southwest Pkwy.
Between Cedar Ridge and Arbor Ridge is Anderson Street (United/Energy Plaza is at the northeast corner) and this part serves as the main access point (dead end) to Bee Creek Park, and by extension, Adamson Lagoon, a swimming pool my family went to growing up.
Energy Plaza / 1701 Southwest Parkway
Office building. Many of its tenants are not actually headquartered in College Station. The building got a face lift in August 2015, and with it a new name (it used to be called United Plaza).
Take 5 Oil Change / 111 Southwest Pkwy. E.
This automobile lube center (oil change) has changed hands several times. In December 2016, it became Take 5 Oil Change after being American Lube Centers for a number of years. (It opened as Williams Lube King in 1998).
206 Southwest Parkway East
A daycare, Wonder World, was here from 1985 to 2001 when it abruptly closed. It later became a location of local daycare Fit for Kids (as of 2005) before becoming an extension of Brazos Fellowship. (See Brazos Buildings & Businesses).
Prosperity Bank / 410 Southwest Parkway East
This opened as Planters & Merchants State Bank (of Hearne) in 2002. In 2005 it became First Victoria (National Bank) and was rebranded (before year-end?) and in 2013 became Prosperity Bank when that bank got merged in.
Country Inn & Suites / 1010 Southwest Pkwy. E.
The Country Inn & Suites by Radisson College Station opened in 2010. It's near the Holiday Inn, which opened earlier.
