Weingarten, LaMesa help to bring more homogeneity to Houston

Many may know Rice Village as a unique shopping area with a variety of stores, many different restaurants and cuisines, away from freeways and without big box-type establishments. Long time tenants are worried, though, that impending development in the area will run them out due to higher rent, which has increasingly occurred in the last few years. As reported by the Chronicle's David Kaplan:

For 58 years, the quirky store has fit snugly in Rice Village, known for one-of-a-kind mom and pop shops.
But Cathy Irby, Variety Fair's owner, isn't sure how long she can stay. Her lease will be renewed next spring, and she is expecting her rent to rise significantly. ... 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.

Well, of course it will, if those tenants are either forced out or mowed over. The article names LaMesa Properties as the developer of the plans for a new mixed-use mid-rise project named the Piazza, on Bolsover St, bordered by Morningside, Kelvin and Dunstan streets. LaMesa Properties is elusive on the internet, but apparently can be found, along with Vice President Julie Tysor, at Colliers Commercial Real Estate Consultants. Ziegler Cooper Architects show a rendering on their site of an unnamed Rice Village project - we're thinking this is an older version that hasn't been updated yet, perhaps.

Many find the charm in the diversity of the Village's physical appearance, as well as the array of different types of shops and restaurants slowly beginning to fade away. About a decade ago, Weingarten Realty built the Village Arcade along University street, which began the "modernization" of the area - unfortunately, it looks like a rip-off of some suburban retail recipe. It also meant the destruction of the Village Theater (ring any bells?).

The Piazza touts a proposed mixture of residential and retail, and Tysor claims that shopping centers "can die" if they are never renewed - for some reason, we find it hard to believe that the busy Village is headed for death, and that a "major upscale" project, in which a handful of wealthy people can live, will really be worth the potential loss of what makes the area unique.

Photo: Flickr user murphelz