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Rice Village Shopping Center At 2400 University Blvd.


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Here is what I think happened. The owner saw his club filled with black people and that is not the vision he had for his club. He figured that when the white people he intended to attract would be turned off by so many black people and it would become known as a black hangout.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=VrWd47-TXU8

I don't know. That video didn't really show much.... A similar thing happened to Union a while back (discussed on here), in which some people turned away at the door claimed the club was anti-gay (it wasn't), when in fact the place was just overcrowded. That said, in the video it doesn't really look all that crowded to me, so I'm not sure I buy the "we weren't staffed for 150 people" argument. If anyone actually knows when they've been closing on Tuesdays (not just what was on the website), that would be interesting to know

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In the comments of the CultureMap story, an organizer of the party says he had spoken with them several times to organize this party, and that when the place was shut down, they were told by the manager that the owner (Adam) had come in and didn't like the crowd, so he ordered the shutdown. It would be nice to hear their side of the story, but they've shut down their Facebook page, and there is no statement about the incident on their website. The statement strains credulity.

Edited by kylejack
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I had a group of cousins who were planning to attend the Hudson Lounge for a friend's birthday get together on Tuesday night. Some of them had been before and found it to be a nice, calm, laid back place and wanted to go back. They arrived around 10pm to find everything being shut down, and as kylejack said, most clubs and lounges are just getting started at that time.

Oh well, that's too bad for the Hudson Lounge. There's plenty of other lounges in town that will welcome those dollars. I wonder if the Hudson would do the same thing if their place was being frequented by the Washington Ave. "db" crowd?

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They not only closed early, but called HPD to disperse the crowd. Jeez, talk about over-reaction. A place that both appears racist and at the same time has grand pretensions of being "upscale". Why would anyone want to go to a place like that?

Supposedly the lounge posted an apology on their Facebook page but I can't pull it up.

This is from their website:

Hudson Lounge is an understated urban oasis in the heart of Houston. Serene, sophisticated, and subtly swank, we welcome you to relax on our beautiful patios, sidle up to our sleek marble bars, or groove to the beats of our carefully curated sounds while you sip cocktails or enjoy one of our delicious small dishes.

:wacko:

Excuse me while I go and barf.

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No way to know if the owner is who they think he is, but bottom line he made an executive decision to close the place using the cops. If he was indeed trying to cherry-pick patrons, then his business, like any business that is more concerned with attracting a specific bling instead of attracting a constant cha-ching will suffer eventually.

On the other hand, they say that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Look how many now know about this place.

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  • 1 year later...

Does anybody know what's going on at the former Texadelphia site on Rice Blvd.? It appears that the space is being merged with the neighboring Thai place that shut down a while back. The Texadelphia sign is still up...I'm really hoping they're just expanding because I miss my pizza-steak sandwiches!

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I believe they are enlarging the place, which would be good because the old place had very limited seating.

I'm hoping that's the case. They're website mentions the location but that they were closed and would be relocating and would announce where in the future. You would think they would just say they're expanding the location...but who knows

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  • 2 weeks later...

Texadelphia in Rice Village closed? Damn, that was one of my favorite places (heard they didn't have a deep fryer at that location, though).

About 10 years ago or so, there was a Texadelphia in College Station (Northgate area), too, and they were a victim of high rents as well. I wish it was still around, I would eat there!

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

I was at the Ginger Man this past weekend in the Rice Village and noticed that the Blue Leaf design store on the corner of Morningside and Times Blvd. was empty. I've long hoped for this space to be used as a bar/restaurant - an extension of "patio row" on that block - anyone have details on what is going in next?

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  • 7 months later...

Site work is being done at the lot next to Hungry's Cafe.  There was originally a house next door that they tore down for more parking.  Does anyone know what's going on?  My thoughts would be that they would build a Next Door Bar & Lounge like they have at their Memorial location.  I don't have any photos, but when they built the parking lot, they built it around the original house and then demolished the house...so there's still a plot of land for a building.  Fencing around that site has gone up in the past few days.

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  • 1 year later...
Vision: The Rice Village Arcade will be the hub of a multifaceted and cohesively branded mixed-use district where Houston residents, area employees, visitors and students congregate to shop, dine, work and play. Rice Village is evolving into a convenient, walkable, authentic and modern district that is respectful of its rich history in the City of Houston.

 

 

• The Village Arcade today is a highly productive 195,000 sf fashion-oriented shopping center that includes 50 shops and restaurants (60% national) in a trade area that is ready for the next generation of aspirational retailers.

• Convenient parking is provided at grade and in a centrally located multi-level garage.

Plans are being developed to enhance the shopping experience throughout the property via enhanced streetscape, landscaping, storefronts and facades that together will contribute to, and set the stage for, the modern evolution of the Rice Village design aesthetic.

• New Rice University/Trademark ownership team will collaborate with adjacent Village property owners to create a stronger district with evolved and consistent streetscape, amenities, programming and branding.

Additional Rice owned property in the Village (approximately 7 acres) is available for future mixed-use development. (2500 Dunstan, just west of Hanover's current development)

 


 

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Lord I hope they redo the Rice Arcade. That frontage parking is awful considering you walk to the Hanover developments and the one they have already built is very impressive. It has enhanced that area so much. I would love it if Hanover did a sort of master plan for that whole area and redeveloped it. Honestly there really only a couple much older buildings in that whole district that I would say should be saved since the majority of those buildings are super cheap strip centers.

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Vision: The Rice Village Arcade will be the hub of a multifaceted and cohesively branded mixed-use district where Houston residents, area employees, visitors and students congregate to shop, dine, work and play. Rice Village is evolving into a convenient, walkable, authentic and modern district that is respectful of its rich history in the City of Houston.
 
 
• The Village Arcade today is a highly productive 195,000 sf fashion-oriented shopping center that includes 50 shops and restaurants (60% national) in a trade area that is ready for the next generation of aspirational retailers.
• Convenient parking is provided at grade and in a centrally located multi-level garage.
Plans are being developed to enhance the shopping experience throughout the property via enhanced streetscape, landscaping, storefronts and facades that together will contribute to, and set the stage for, the modern evolution of the Rice Village design aesthetic.
• New Rice University/Trademark ownership team will collaborate with adjacent Village property owners to create a stronger district with evolved and consistent streetscape, amenities, programming and branding.
Additional Rice owned property in the Village (approximately 7 acres) is available for future mixed-use development. (2500 Dunstan, just west of Hanover's current development)
 

 

 

"a mutifaceted and cohesively branded mixed-use district....walkable, authentic and modern...highly productive...trade area that is ready for the next generation of aspirational retailers...shopping experience..modern evolution of the Rice Village design aesthetic...consistent streetscape, amenities, programming and branding.

 

Good grief.  :wacko:  One rarely sees so much marketing consultant buzzword verbiage strung together in so little text.  This could pass as a satire of the genre.  Who writes this stuff?

 

I would disagree 100% with the above comment.  The Rice Arcade was fine for programming and branding the design aesthetic for aspirational retailers or whatnot, but it also destroyed the charm that most of the Village once had.  Those nasty "super cheap strip centers" held a lot of great retailers (perhaps not aspirational ones though) and there was a nice diversity of mid-century styles.  Give me that kind of authentic streetscape, rather than that promised in press release, any time. 

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Keep Rice Village weird.

 

Couldn't agree more. That's the appeal of the VIllage. I'd love for them to tear out the entire suburban looking Village Arcade, add a parking garage on the exterior of the Village between Rice and the Village, then turn the arcade into a big, walkable, funky set of shops/bars/restaurants. It could become like 6th street, but without the street (just a courtyard in the middle) and hang some funky lanterns across it.

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