House of Blues signs with Houston Pavilions

This has really been the month for speculation about Houston Pavilions, the proposed downtown retail, office and residential complex. First came the news that the land sale was complete for the three blocks HP is supposed to sit on, and then today we have word that House of Blues has signed on as the project's first major tenant.

It'll be the first Texas location for a House of Blues, though the company operates non-HoB branded venues in Dallas and San Antonio. The restaurant/live music club will occupy a 43,000-square-foot, multi-story building on the east side of the project, according to the Chronicle. Houston Pavilions will consist of 350,000 square feet of retail, a 12-story condo tower and 200,000 square feet of office space on three blocks along the south side of Dallas Avenue between Main and Caroline. Denver Pavilions, which the Houston project is being modeled on, has the same amount of retail space and contains 34 stores, six restaurants, a nightclub and a 15-screen movie theater. Tenants there include Virgin Megastore, NikeTown and a Barnes & Noble bookstore.

Though developers expect to break ground on Houston Pavilions this spring, they'll need to lease about half the retail space before doing so — and they say leases in negotiation will satisfy that requirement. The project could be finished in late 2007.