Palms Center update April 2022

 Here is a quick update to the Palms Center area in the Southern part of Houston near I-610 and M.L.K Blvd. Things have really changed in this area with the addition of the rail line and road improvements.

The vintage Montgomery Ward/King's Market has been torn down and replaced by this townhome complex. Here is what the site looked like in 2013, sorry for the crummy picture quality, my photo quality has gotten much better over the years, click here.

All I can say is wow, you would never have guessed that this is the lot of a former Montgomery Ward store. There is nothing left. This is a very good replacement for an aging property that was struggling.

More views of the development.

Not much has changed at the shopping center portion of the Palms Center, click here to see what this property looked like in 2013. The buildings look great, and businesses fill up just about every space.

The former JCPenney anchor.

The corridor leading to the former JCPenney entrance.

Looking from the edge of the center to the JCPenney side of the center.

More to come, stay tuned.

Palms Center Houston Tx.

The Palms Center (now Palm Center business and technology center) was one of the first major shopping centers in the Houston area. Located near the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Griggs Rd. in South Houston this shopping center opened in 1955 and closed in the 1980's. The center was partially demolished and renovated in the 1990's to house offices and small businesses. More information about the center is available from the Bayou City history blog by clicking the above post title.

 

Here is a view of the majority of the center which still has roughly 75% of the original buildings intact.

 According to comments from the Bayou City blog this was the former Lewis and Coker grocery store, but it looks like a JCPenney to me. Can anyone clarify what this anchor was?

The center is mostly now offices and public services such as a library and sheriff's station. In the first image you get a feel for how the center looked in the past when it was a retail center.

The center comes to an abrupt end where more shops were located such as Oshman's. The King's Best Market (former Montgomery Ward) is in the upper background of this image.

At the Southeast corner of MLK and Griggs, Palms Center is located behind this new Texans Y.M.C.A.