From the Chronicle
Lo siento, mi amigo.
How did Belden’s fare?
Yeah, I saw that. Not surprised. Only smart thing would have been to double-decker it but I think there are a significant # of people who are not rebuilding in Meyerland and it might not be worth it - assuming they owned the whole strip, which they may not.
The stuff about actively negotiating for another site is probably BS; there ain’t no place to put a large grocery store in this part of town without buying somebody out and leveling them! Maybe they’ll convert their Joe V’s on W. Bellfort? I doubt it though.
Oh well, it wasn’t that great, just convenient. The Bellaire store structure is going up pretty fast.
Not sure about Belden’s. The La Ranchera (formerly a Champs) between it and N. Braeswood and the Valero next to it were both closed for a couple of weeks but are open now. I went by Belden’s a couple of days after the storm and the doors were propped open and people were going in but there didn’t seem to be lights on inside. Maybe just lost electricity?
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La Ranchera was also a Jim’s outa San Antonio. We used to go there in my high school days in the 70’s and “munch.”
Oops, that should be El Ranchero. I have only vague memories of any Jim’s and in fact no clear memories of that place being a Champs (the chain has been discussed on HAIF). Out of SA??? The only Jim’s/Champs I knew of were on major commercial streets which N. Braeswood isn’t/never has been. I thought maybe Jim lived in the neighborhood and wanted one of his places close by.
I’ve only been to El Ranchero once, found it mediocre Tex-Mex. But then, I’m not much of a fan of Tex-Mex, anyway. Lopez does it for me if I get the urge.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
a post on Next Door today says a new 85,000 sq. ft. location with Kosher bakery and deli will be announced by the end of the month (old store was 19,000 sq. ft.) Another poster says it’s not a completely done deal but close. I’m certainly interested to know where.
When the store was closed for months after the floods of 2015, posters on Next Door said HEB would have abandoned the store then except for the fact they already knew they were going to demolish the Bellaire store and rebuild it and that would have left a huge swath of SW Houston with no HEB for miles and miles and miles for months and months and months.
Another rumor on ND was that HEB was negotiating to take over the JCPenney at Meyerland Plaza. That store is still open today as far as I know.
I gave credence to the first claim but not the second.
The WM Neighborhood Market on Hillcroft, right between Meyerland and Maplewood, is undergoing significant upgrading. Looks nice so far. Probably planned in advance but timely, considering HEB’s demise.
There was definitely a Jim’s in that location. A friend of mine lived in the apartments just to the NW.
Yup, same logo.
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Wow, even an article in the WikiOracle 
.
I went to one on Hillcroft @ Westward in the Gulfton area with friends several times, ca. late 70s early 80s I guess, and one on Gessner @ 59, when I moved out in this part of town. Can’t remember any food except maybe CFS.
I may have to check one out next time I get up to Austin.
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I went to one twice in NW Austin a couple of years ago and really wanted to like it for nostalgic reasons but it was just ok. The chicken fried steak was fresh, not a frozen patty but it was only average.
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Meyerland Plaza developer ‘expects’ to build a double-decker store for HEB
Fidelis is co-owner/developer of Meyerland Plaza. Note the word ‘expected’ and lack of anything signed and sealed, yet. Some people are calling BS on this. It’s only about 5 mins from the new Bellaire store. There’s a lot of sparsely used parking lot at MP, especially on the west end near JC Penney, but 95-100,000 sq ft is a huge store, bigger than the new Bellaire store is going to be. Speculation is if this comes to pass the BBVA Compass Bank on the corner will have to go bye-bye, maybe to another spot in the center. And it will mean much worse traffic on Beechnut and much, much worse cut-through traffic on Edington in Meyerland.
In the meantime I’m getting HEB circulars again, listing stores near me as Beechnut at the Beltway, Bellaire at Hwy 6 and right in the center of what used to be Gulfgate on 610 @ 45! I’m also getting a Joe V’s circular for the store on W. Bellfort. I’ve never liked the store on Beechnut so I go all the way down to Sugar Land on Hwy 6 @ University. That’s a 109,000 sq. ft. store and it’s a 30-40 minute endeavor just to pick up a dozen items, not counting the drive.
Official announcement today.
There’s a few more details and another rendering behind the paywall on HoustonChronicle.com but these are very preliminary renderings and the completed project is practically guaranteed to look different. Construction won’t start until 2019.
At lunch today, a friend was saying he understands there will be 2 stories of garage and 2 stories of grocery store but I haven’t seen this in writing.
McLelland is quoted as saying this has been in the works for 3 years.
The signage on the BBVA Compass bank was removed not long after Harvey and there’s been no sign of renovation taking place so I thought this was looking more and more likely. The bank will have a branch inside HEB.
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YOUR NEW HEB is on steroids. Is that legal?
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Now this is rich. I’m just getting wind of this but it’s been going on for several weeks, apparently. There’s a neighborhood campaign, and it extends out past my neighborhood already, to get Trader Joe to move into the S. Braeswood center and to get the owner, Brixmor, to build an elevated facility for them.
The campaign includes emails to both parties, in person meetings and petitions. Supposedly TJ’s and Brixmor are scheduled to meet in person next week to discuss it!
Will the Fearless Flyer land in a flood zone? Does TJ pay attention to neighborhood requests like this in deciding on locations???
Stay tuned for more details.
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Our neighborhood ganged up on HEB’s FB page about upgrading our puny HEB, and they responded that they’d think on it, and that was that.
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It’s likely Brixmor is going to have to do something to get a tenant in there. The strip center is more than 60% vacant. The space is too big for a mattress store or laundramat, too small for a self-storage facility 
. There are already CVS and Walgreens nearby with higher elevations…What else do we have to at least one of on every block here in Houston???
It would be nice to see redevelopment.
How’s Belden’s doing and how many more floods can they stand?
I haven’t been in to Belden’s since Harvey; haven’t been receiving their flyer in months, perhaps since Harvey. I drive by there a couple times a week - there’s always cars in the lot so I wouldn’t say they’ve lost a beat. The little Tex-Mex place seems to be doing very well, too.
I’m just guessing but I don’t think they actually got much water since they seemed to be open in less than a week. I know water on the other side of Chimney Rock damaged homes several blocks up from N. Braeswood, though. I never went down into any of those neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, Brays Bayou Flood Mitigation project is almost out to 610 now. They’re really widening the bayou. I can’t see if they’re removing the concrete bottoms and sides that were installed more than a half century ago by the Corps of Engineers, which was supposed to help by speeding up the flow of the waters. But there’s no place for all that water to go so it just kept getting backed up. Now the theory is the natural, unpaved bottoms and sides will absorb some of the water and mitigate the volume at least a little. Famous last words???
HEB did a presentation recently for Meyerland residents about their plans. There are some interesting comments about not building any more Central Markets in Houston and also comments on the new Bellaire store and the future of the San Felipe store.
Aerial of new Bellaire HEB taken 4/12 (credit Russell.Hancock/Flickr)
Due to open June 28. I’m eager and ready but probably won’t go for a couple of weeks - I figure it’s going to be a madhouse, in-store, in the garage, along Bissonnet.
Will be nice to have a nicer HEB reasonably close.
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You’re right but MY HEB on Bunker Hill is a madhouse every weekend and around any holiday.
I just tried to go to the bank there on Sunday! I wasn’t even trying to get to the grocery store which was slammed with every parking lot full and people circling like vultures for spots. And the guy in front of me at the banking drive-through was passed out so. What a day.
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