Is Houston's retail economy improving?

I have mixed feelings about the Houston retail economy. Over the past year some developments such as Plazamericas, Almeda Mall, Pasadena Town Square, and The Pavilions of Houston have attracted several new businesses. Other developments such as Greenspoint Mall and Northwest Mall are having a hard time keeping tenants. There have also been several redevelopment projects in former big box locations, but new retail development in Houston seems to have slowed significantly. Post your comment below and get the discussion going.

Addition to March update on Plazamericas mall

Here are the remains of the old Sharpstown signs that are sitting next to the entrance of the former Fingers store.



The directories have been recently updated to reflect the new tenants and the Mercados under development.





This is the second Mercado being developed near Burlington Coat Factory. This will be called El Mercado and the space is being developed by the owners of the mall. The other Mercado is being developed by an outside investor. The space is being cleared out on both floors for the Mercado and I was only able to get one good picture due to the lack of lighting. Keep in mind that the space is in the process of being completely gutted and rebuilt. El Mercado is scheduled to open Nov 2010 according to the mall directory.




The Clarewood Washateria is almost open. While most malls do not have a laundromat; this mall has several apartments just across the street that can benefit from a brand new self service laundromat. The laundromat is also connected to the Clarewood Mercado, so customers can browse the stores while waiting for their clothes to get cleaned.





Here are some liquor permits for restaurants inside of the Mercado.



The mirrored glass remains from the former JCPenney but with the new logo of the Clarewood Mercado.



These are some pictures taken from the outside of the Clarewood Mercado looking inside at the ongoing construction. This is the larger Mercado inside of the former JCPenney store that closed in 1998.







Here are some of the new openings in the mall. The dollar store was moved to make way for the Mercado going in next to Burlington. The last picture is of the Mercadito; which is a smaller version of the Mercados that are going in.





In other Plazamerica news; another retail development is trying to sue the owners of the mall for the similarity of Plazamericas to their name Americas Plaza. Check out more on this story at http://blogs.chron.com/primeproperty/2010/03/whats_in_a_name_former_sharpst.html#comments

Plazamerica links and February Photos

Here are a few pictures taken around closing time in late February of the ongoing construction projects at the mall.







A new chron story

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6888543.html

A flicker album

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47054307@N08/tags/plazamericas/