Rice Village, past and future

Interesting article about the Rice Village and its existential future as more retail development encroaches on the area.

After decades of being an exception to the retail rule in Houston, the casual small-town-like Rice Village is facing major redevelopment. That has some of its admirers wondering whether the place eventually will lose its nostalgic appeal.

The cozy Village got a big jolt in the 1990s when Weingarten Realty developed Village Arcade on University Boulevard. Stretching two blocks, the Arcade brought in national tenants including the Gap and Banana Republic.

The immense brick center - which some say looks more like it belongs in the suburbs than in a quaint neighborhood shopping district - also changed the look of the Village with its small, low-slung buildings.

More big development is coming. The Piazza, a major upscale retail-residential project on Bolsover, is on the drawing boards.

Its developer, La Mesa Properties, says the Piazza will complement the mom and pops by creating a greater critical mass of shoppers. Others in the community, however, are concerned that higher land values will make it harder for family-owned businesses to survive.

The Village, with its 350 stores, is unique in Houston: a major shopping district that isn't along a freeway and has no anchor store. It's surrounded by charming homes and near the idyllic Rice University campus.

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The proposed seven-story Piazza will feature six stories of residential space, retail, a public plaza at street level and underground parking.

La Mesa plans to break ground in early 2007. The Piazza will be bound by Bolsover, Morningside, Dunstan and Kelvin. Many retail spaces on the block already have been vacated. Tysor said she is working to put Thai restaurant Nit Noi and Walgreens in the Piazza and helping other tenants relocate.

I wonder what will finish first, the Piazza or the Kirby Drive Storm Sewer Relief Project. If it's the former, they may be in for a rough first year or so.

The Rice Village is indeed unique in Houston, and as with the threats to other historic and special places in town, if it dies I'll be sad. Right now, though, I'm more concerned with pressure this construction project will put on Kirby from a traffic perspective. Even without the imminent street upheaval, Kirby is already a mess to drive through, and there really isn't a good alternate route. Has anyone given any thought to this? I'd really like to know.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 14, 2006 to Elsewhere in Houston | TrackBack