Promenade Shops In Pearland

[neonurse97]

What's happening with this project? Has it been abandoned?

[CoolBuddy06]

What's happening with this project? Has it been abandoned?

Thanks for starting this thread. I'm asking the same question. I've been searching for news but couldn't come up with something. Their website says nothing. In fact coming2008.com is now coming2009.com. Even with that, I don't see anything coming.

By the way they gave up on the idea of promenade shops long time ago (hope I'm right). Now it's going to be Presidential park at Waterlights District but again, nothing's happening.

[rajuncajun]

Thanks for starting this thread. I'm asking the same question. I've been searching for news but couldn't come up with something. Their website says nothing. In fact coming2008.com is now coming2009.com. Even with that, I don't see anything coming.

By the way they gave up on the idea of promenade shops long time ago (hope I'm right). Now it's going to be Presidential park at Waterlights District but again, nothing's happening.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Promenade Shops and Waterlights are two different projects. The Waterlights, at least at this point, won't infringe on the Promenade's land. It will be between the Kroger Marketplace and the Promenade. The Promenade was being developed by Poag & McGowen(sp?), but they since have removed that project from their website.

In conclusion, the Waterlights should still be a go. The Promenade, I am less certain about since it is sitting stagnant. It would make sense for Waterlights to purchase some (if not all) of the Promenade's land to expand/control their footprint (Assuming they would have the demand for that much land). With the retail development along 288/518 it will be a lengthy process to get the corner of 288/Beltway 8 developed.

Patience my friend, patience.......

[neonurse97]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Promenade Shops and Waterlights are two different projects. The Waterlights, at least at this point, won't infringe on the Promenade's land. It will be between the Kroger Marketplace and the Promenade. The Promenade was being developed by Poag & McGowen(sp?), but they since have removed that project from their website.

In conclusion, the Waterlights should still be a go. The Promenade, I am less certain about since it is sitting stagnant. It would make sense for Waterlights to purchase some (if not all) of the Promenade's land to expand/control their footprint (Assuming they would have the demand for that much land). With the retail development along 288/518 it will be a lengthy process to get the corner of 288/Beltway 8 developed.

Patience my friend, patience.......

The Promenade project & Waterlights District project were totally separate projects. I have just heard from a reliable source that the Promenade project is on hold indefinitely....it may or may not happen. It seems that Pearland Town Center was going to be too much competition for them. I really believe Pearland needs to see how this new mall turns out, before opening another shopping district.

[hbcu]

with everything off 518 now and another off beltway and cullen.....what would the waterlights offer to draw people? The concept looks ambitious but how could that project generate alot of traffic without repeating stores?

[20thStDad]

Maybe that explains why their website hasn't been updated in over a year, and a lone trailer sits nearby with not a sign of work going on.

[bsienk]

with everything off 518 now and another off beltway and cullen.....what would the waterlights offer to draw people? The concept looks ambitious but how could that project generate alot of traffic without repeating stores?

What would Waterlights offer? For one thing, the restaurants they appear to be considering as tenants are much higher end than anything at Pearland Town Center, on 518, or in other Pearland developments. This suggests they are looking to a different market and demographic. The design for Waterlights suggests something along the lines of the Woodlands (the canal, the higher-end stuff...). Throw in some higher-quality office and residential space, as well as a different retail mix, and you have a "destination" that is qualitatively different from anything in this part of the metro area. Considering the average household income in Pearland (something like 80k, I beleive) and some of those expensive homes in SCR, Southern Trails, etc, it sounds like a winner to me.

[neonurse97]

What would Waterlights offer? For one thing, the restaurants they appear to be considering as tenants are much higher end than anything at Pearland Town Center, on 518, or in other Pearland developments. This suggests they are looking to a different market and demographic. The design for Waterlights suggests something along the lines of the Woodlands (the canal, the higher-end stuff...). Throw in some higher-quality office and residential space, as well as a different retail mix, and you have a "destination" that is qualitatively different from anything in this part of the metro area. Considering the average household income in Pearland (something like 80k, I beleive) and some of those expensive homes in SCR, Southern Trails, etc, it sounds like a winner to me.

I think this will be a winner. They plan to offer nicer restaurants that don't currently exist in Pearland right now. I'm hoping for something like a Cheesecake Factory, Vic & Anthony's, PF Changs....

[hbcu]

with another massive project nearby (two that is and we haven't even got to target center on 518.....)...what else can support this juncture that you can't find off 518 now and soon-to-be Cullen?

The Woodlands project is successful as everything is within one place...the mall is part of the town square in addition to several headquarters of major companies....take away the mall or proximity of market square the waterwy in the woodlands drops a level

the waterlights area is far from the 518 spots to walk and a PF Changs and a Cheesecake Factory isn't going to support a project of this demand...

technically, outside of a niche market for boutique stores, what could this project offer to draw the casual person? everything the average middle class person wants is off of 518

[neonurse97]

with another massive project nearby (two that is and we haven't even got to target center on 518.....)...what else can support this juncture that you can't find off 518 now and soon-to-be Cullen?

The Woodlands project is successful as everything is within one place...the mall is part of the town square in addition to several headquarters of major companies....take away the mall or proximity of market square the waterwy in the woodlands drops a level

the waterlights area is far from the 518 spots to walk and a PF Changs and a Cheesecake Factory isn't going to support a project of this demand...

technically, outside of a niche market for boutique stores, what could this project offer to draw the casual person? everything the average middle class person wants is off of 518

I believe the Waterlights District project has a website and they are asking for votes on what restaurants to place there. PF Changs, the Cheesecake Factory, Pappasitos are definitely being considered. I'm not sure why you would think these restaurants could or would not support this project. They would be well received and supported in this community. Also, I don't know of anyone willing to walk along 518 to eat and shop...most people are driving along 518 as evidence by the horrific traffic on the weekends.

[bsienk]

Read the page at http://www.waterlightsdistrict.com/about/ -- it's intended to be a lot more than a few niche restaurants.

[20thStDad]

Yes go read the website - it hasn't changed in a year, they were asking for votes on restaurants a year ago. I don't think that bodes well for any actual progress on the project. I'm pulling for it since my stupid office is now down there, and I just can't get excited about choosing between Chili's, TGI Friday's, On the Border, Olive Garden, and all the other places that are exactly the same. I'll stick to Almeda Diner I guess.

[hbcu]

your voting for restaurants already in the area....name a retail establishment not off 518 that waterlights can attract hoards of customers?

[20thStDad]

I wasn't saying I voted for any of those, the voting choices were all better than that. I was complaining that the existing set of places to eat are crap.

[Chamo]

your voting for restaurants already in the area....name a retail establishment not off 518 that waterlights can attract hoards of customers?

More than the restaurants attracting people to the area, the way I see the vision of the developers, is that they want to create a destination and attraction with the Presidential Park and Waterway.

I remember the first time I went to Kemah; It was just to see the Aquarium, but once I was there, was surprised by all the other things the area had to offer. Of course Kemah also has the advantage of the water, but why wouldn't select Restaurants want to be part of a concept like this one, where they will have an steady flow of people coming to see the attractions, and also existing area people and probably new residents + workers in the future Garden District & Nanotechcenter + Spectrum business & commercial developments that will come in the future to the area.

Personally, I think this is a winner concept and cant wait to see it come to life. I drive in front of their offices everyday and I see more cars and activities everyday so hopfully we wil start seeing some construction activity soon and some news releases on tenants, etc.

The promenade shops I think got beat by Pearland Town Center. The idea of building first the Bass Pro Shops before startng the rest of the project, probably backfired on them. I wonder how good is the Bass Pro shop doing in terms of sales, sitting there by itself.

[BWSchultz]

I'm essentially middle class and live in SCR and there are very, very few places I'll go to eat or shop in Pearland. The new PTC offers very little of an improvement. Which is why I was excited that the Waterlights District was going to be offering some higher end restaurants. If you're going to drop in 44 15 foot tall presidential heads (most of which are completed) and the idea is to form a more touristy type place, I don't know why there wouldn't be nicer restaurants. I think this is a "build it and they will come" type venture. What can I be excited about at PTC? I'm happy to have a BJs since I've been to the one in Clear Lake about 30 times, it's a good place to meet friends, grab a beer, watch a game. As for shopping? I'll go to Macy's and that's it really. My wife is happy there's an Ann Taylor Loft but what about Banana Republic and others? The restaurants in the area definitely need a kick in the pants. No Pappas yet? Really? They usually come in pairs so let's see Pappadeaux and Pappasitos soon. The SCR area can definitely support some nicer restaurants; it's easy to see from the demographic numbers put out by all these developers. But the thing is, if there is too much that caters to the lowest common denominator, then there won't be room for nicer things in Pearland. I only hope that Waterlights is reevaluating things because of Promenade Shops falling through so that their new plan is bigger and better.

[hbcu]

Pappadeaux's to me is standard....overrated in my book not worth anchorning a big-time place.....if they are serious about attracting a different clientele, then drop a landry's.......but as someone who grew up out that way before the pastures turned into houses, where is this high-end demographic in large numbers people allude to who can make this thing work? Pearland's area isn't The Woodlands

Sugar Land will be the attraction for the Highway 6 crowd, anyone North of 518 isn't going to fall in love with this project as that's not the demographic the developers will tap into...west is middle class who is caught in-between the galleria and sugar land and south of highway 6 is sparse until you get to angleton....and out there, with $4 gas....those folks will stay closer in to Lake Jackson

[neonurse97]

Pappadeaux's to me is standard....overrated in my book not worth anchorning a big-time place.....if they are serious about attracting a different clientele, then drop a landry's.......but as someone who grew up out that way before the pastures turned into houses, where is this high-end demographic in large numbers people allude to who can make this thing work? Pearland's area isn't The Woodlands

Sugar Land will be the attraction for the Highway 6 crowd, anyone North of 518 isn't going to fall in love with this project as that's not the demographic the developers will tap into...west is middle class who is caught in-between the galleria and sugar land and south of highway 6 is sparse until you get to angleton....and out there, with $4 gas....those folks will stay closer in to Lake Jackson

What does Landry's offer that Pappadeaux doesn't?...lol. Anyhoo, I believe the Waterlights project will work. Pearland may not be The Woodlands, but it's definitely not the ghetto. There are middle to upper middle class areas that will definitely support this project. You have Shadow Creek, Southern Trails, South Fork, Silver Lake, Silvercreek, Autumn Lake, Sunrise Lake and all of East Pearland. I have friends off Highway 6 that shop in Pearland, so I'm sure people in that area will support this project as well.

[brerrabbit]

I'm essentially middle class and live in SCR and there are very, very few places I'll go to eat or shop in Pearland. The new PTC offers very little of an improvement. Which is why I was excited that the Waterlights District was going to be offering some higher end restaurants. If you're going to drop in 44 15 foot tall presidential heads (most of which are completed) and the idea is to form a more touristy type place, I don't know why there wouldn't be nicer restaurants. I think this is a "build it and they will come" type venture. What can I be excited about at PTC? I'm happy to have a BJs since I've been to the one in Clear Lake about 30 times, it's a good place to meet friends, grab a beer, watch a game. As for shopping? I'll go to Macy's and that's it really. My wife is happy there's an Ann Taylor Loft but what about Banana Republic and others? The restaurants in the area definitely need a kick in the pants. No Pappas yet? Really? They usually come in pairs so let's see Pappadeaux and Pappasitos soon. The SCR area can definitely support some nicer restaurants; it's easy to see from the demographic numbers put out by all these developers. But the thing is, if there is too much that caters to the lowest common denominator, then there won't be room for nicer things in Pearland. I only hope that Waterlights is reevaluating things because of Promenade Shops falling through so that their new plan is bigger and better.

Once again the reason I'm glad I live in East Pearland and not among the "high class" folks of the west end. If chain resturants are your cup of tea then I say more power to you hope you get your fill of them. As for me there are an abundance of good places to eat in my world. A few chains but more little holes in the wall where the people running the resturant know your name and serve really good food. I would share the list but since none of them are nearly the statue of a Pappa's or Pappasito's ( neither of which I have eaten at in over ten years, thank God) I won't bore you with their names and the quality of their offerings. In all the years I have lived in Pearland my family and I have had wonderful places to eat and enjoyed each and every one of them. Not a single one you have ever heard of before but thats your loss and my gain.

[hbcu]

all waterlights need to do is drop a frenchy's, a legitimate chinese restaurant, a real hamburger place and a real seafood place where they use iron pots and I'll come back..lol

[BWSchultz]

brerrabbit, every time you post here, it's about how great east pearland is and how great the restaurants are. But you never back it up. I can't decide if you're hiding something great from the rest of us or if you're just hiding over there. Trust me, if I'll drive 35 minutes to work and 30 minutes for fine dining in Houston (restaurants you've probably never heard of) , I'll drive 15 minutes down 518 ... if it's worth it.

Landry's is a nice restaurants but they are overpriced. Everything in the Landry's chain is overpriced. But that's ok.

I definitely think West Pearland can support nicer restaurants and nicer shopping. In my very average priced subdivision, there are about 45 houses and there's a doctor or attorney living in almost every one of them.

hbcu, what would be a 'real' seafood restaurant or a 'real' hamburger joint? Or a 'legitimate' Chinese restaurant? All I can gather from your posts over the years is that you were here before there were houses.

[brerrabbit]

I'll have to go back an reread some of my posts. It is not now or has it ever been my intent to say one side is better that the other rather that my side suits mine and my family's needs very well. I guess I am a somewhat jaded Texan in that I have lived here all my life and lived through the various migrations of other groups into Houston, Texas and the surrounding areas. In the seventies we got a lot of Michigan transplants who told me how everything was so screwed up here. Then since I worked in natural gas trading in the nineties I got a wave of northeasteners telling me how screwed up everything was here. Now as I sit in Pearland I get a wave of folks moving into Pearland saying how it needs things and is not that great. I have the same piece of advice for all of them which is the same I got when I moved to Canada for a year. If you don't like it why did you come?

I just don't like all the traffic and congestion on the west side. I go there often to enjoy the aminities and resturants. A small non chain one I enjoy is Kappa's. Sushi, and Chinese food. I also enjoy sushi at Tokyo Bowl although not as much since the original owners sold it. I enjoy Thanh Phoung (sp) across the street from the Krogers on 518 east of 35. Killens was voted one on the 35 best steakhouses in Texas and the owner/Chef is Cordon Bleau trained. It's on 35 south of 518. While others may slam Gringo's we enjoy going at off peak times and ordering some off the menu items we enjoy. There's a Perry's in Friendswood that has good food and we enjoy it quite a bit as well. Near Clover Field (Pearland Regional Airfield) the is La Casita which is a small family run place next door to the family home. There's a few more I can't think of at the moment and certainly some of the ones I mentioned other people will not like or think are terrible but we enjoy. We also go to chain resturants like Chili's (which there is one on the east side) and Johnnie Carinos (which we drive to on the west side).

I certainly enjoy eating a welcome new places into the Pearland Market but I don't think that making statements like "there are very, very few places I'll go to eat or shop in Pearland" without having really looked beyond the west side is fair.

As far as resturants in Houston I've never heard of, yeah I am sure there are quite a few. But having lived in the Houston area my entire life and having spent 21 years of my 26 year career working in downtown Houston combined with my love of food, you might be surprised about how many places I do know.

[BWSchultz]

I certainly didn't mean to sound antagonistic in my post; I was just making some observations. I don't post as often as I like but I have read everything under "Coastal Prairie" before it was even called that for about four years niw. I lived in Clear Lake for 3 years and now SCR for 2 years.

My wife and I chose SCR because it provided us with some measure of equality in terms of commute at an affordable price. I work in CL and she works downtown. If we had lived in east Pearland, my commute might be 5 minutes shorter, but hers would be 30 minutes longer. I don't want to make generalizations but people choose to live in East or West Pearland for very different reasons. East is more of a self-sustaining community. I live on the west side because of the easy access to Houston. We'd live inside the loop if we could afford the type of house we want. Hopefully, in a couple of years, if we're still in Houston, that will be a possibility.

I actually find the traffic in both the west side and the east to be fairly equal. I've been through the area around 35/518/Dixie Farm enough times to get a general idea of things. Having been in both areas at 5pm on a weekday, I'd say that the east side probably has the worse traffic on the main roads.

The reason I joined this board in the first place was the strong community here that wants to see Houston improve. Unfortunately, too many people see that as a "I hate Houston" vibe which isn't true at all. It's just a desire to improve and not become stagnant. There's a million threads on here about Houston needs to stop trying to be like <insert city here> and just be itself. Having been here for all of five years, I have seen a lot of improvement inside the city and beyond the city limits and that's a really good thing. While some see it as being too critical, it's that kind of discussion that I think really does benefit all of us.

Hmmm... I guess I fit the type of person you mention having problems with - northerners. I'm from Wisconsin and I wish many things could be better here but that doesn't mean I'm a complainer or a Houston hater. Obviously, I had problems with Wisconsin, too. The best part of living here is the endless supply of restaurants and entertainment in Houston and the very low cost of living. That's why quick freeway access to Houston is important to me. To some extent, that does mean I live in a "bedroom community" so seeing more development in the west Pearland area is exciting for me. I won't go into Houston any less but it would be great to have some higher quality choices nearby.

Since this is mostly about restaurants... Tokyo Bowl is all right and I go to their CL location every now and then for lunch. Generally, if I'm doing sushi I'll go to Azuma or Uptown Sushi. And I've been to the Perry's on Bay Area Blvd a number of times. I would really enjoy a restaurant of that similar quality in west Pearland. I'm just tired of the typical chains. I understand that chains are family friendly and all but it's true, I don't go out to eat in Pearland much at all. I was recently recommended O'Cajcen Seafood Restaurant but we haven't made it there yet. We go to On the Border once every 6 weeks or so but that's about it. Or we'll pick up some central market meals from HEB. The rest of the time we're in Houston for dinner, especially on Fridays and Saturdays. From my house, east Pearland has to compete with Houston because it takes the same time to get to both on a Friday or Saturday night. That's a tough battle for east Pearland to win with my stomach.

[brerrabbit]

Fair enough and I can understand with your commute through our side of town things are not always that great traffic wise. We enjoy going to Houston to eat and our favorite Sushi place is Kubo's in Rice Village. Our favorite seafood is Goode and Company on Westpark and if we are in the area for breakfast we love Goode and Company Taqueria or Buffalo Grill. My personal favorite for breakfast is the Breakfast Club but its so hard to get near the place on weekends that we hardly ever go. I would reccommend giving Santa Barbara a try if you have not. Very good Italian food and they have two locations, one at 518 and McClean and one in Friendswood. At one time the menu changed daily based on what was good at the market that day and I have had some great meals there. Have not been in a while but you used to be able to bring your own wine to the Pearland location.

Traffic into downtown is not bad but thats because I carpool with another guy and we get to take the HOV. Days he is off I take the Park and Ride from Fuqua. The commute into Downtown is much easier from over here simply because I don't have to deal with 288. (and I get to take the HOV everyday on the bus or with my friend)

By the way if you ever do want to get to this side of town faster try this (I don't know why I'm giving this one up but what the heck). Take CR 101. For you from SCR go south on 288 to the next exit past 518. Turn left under the underpass and stay on that road till you get to CR 90. Turn right till the road dead ends into 101. Turn left and take it all the way to 35. From there you can keep going and you will be on Pearland Parkway or turn right to Dixie Farm Road or left to 518. I promise it cuts the cross town 518 commute time in half.