Javi

Still no tenant.

No one goes there anymore, and store keep leaving. I've said for several years that the place is dying. Hopefully this can turn it around.

Now all they need to do is get rid of LA Fitness and put the skate park back and the place will be full of people again...

You are quite wrong.

Plenty of people go there for all the main stuff (the club, restaurants, movie theater, D&, but that's mainly on nights and weekends. Having retail stores there was a bad idea from the start. I think the developers finally realized this, so they decided on this renovation to remove unused space and to open up the place a bit.

Saw T-mobile signage going up at the northernmost end of the new pad sites.

that Cafe Adobe is nice because it is pretty often empty.

what? on the weekends this place gets really packed.

I was at Marq*E this weekend to catch The Dark Knight and was floored by the near-complete lack of tenants. I hadn't been there in a while, I guess, since last time I was at the complex there was a Coldstone Creamery, a cute little French coffeeshop (Vietnamese-owned), an EB Games, a Hot Topic, the A&W restaurant, another gaming store (selling D&D type stuff) and a few others. Yesterday? Nothing between Claire's and Cafe Adobe. The whole place looked like a ghost town. Even Dave & Buster's looks weary and tattered.

What is going on here? And can someone please explain to me why they're building pad sites when they can't even keep tenants in the main complex?

As I stated before, the "nothing" between Claire's and Adobe will become the new space for the Improv and Drink Houston. Everything between Drink Houston and NY Pizzeria will be removed and cleared (including the Drink Houston space). I'm not sure what's going to happen to the Pump It Up.

As for the ghost town feel - maybe. But the parking lots are always full of cars.

I did some asking around, and one guy told me that other than the BoA, the pad sites will have a Panda Express, a cell phone store, and possibly a Gap.

So there's another building being erected on the Silber side of the Marq*E - It looks like one of those pad sites where it can fit 3 pieces of retail. Wonder what it's going to be? And of course, the foundation is being set for the BoA branch

So the Improv and Drink are just moving? I hope this center can come back to what I remember (when Vans was there). I think LA Fitness needs to go. Redevelop it into different stores, or bring in another large retailer.

Well yes, Improv and Drink are just moving.

I disagree with you about LA Fitness. I work out there, and that place is full of people during the week. It definitely has its use.

Well, I went to watch a movie there yesterday (sunday) and I noticed they had some significant chunks of the parking lot on the silber side fenced off. Is this supposed to be part of it?

Actually, a Bank of America is going up on the corner of Silber and the feeder.

Well, I figure sometime next year they'll clear out the space across from the Improv and Drink Houston, have them move to the other side, and then demolish the space. I'll take a pic when I can...

I work out at the LA Fitness at the Marq*E and noticed a new sign. So I come up close and notice that there are plans to redevelop the Marq*E a bit. It looks like they are going to demolish the space where the Improv and Drink Houston used to stand, relocated those two to across the walkway, and have it be more visible to I-10 traffic.

Construction is to occur in 2009.

Lots of people come to the Marq*E. But for the life of me, I can never understand why its retail space can NOT have 100% occupancy.

ICK. Really? Those seem very average and really don't fit the demographics of the area. Its more like a line up you would find out in the suburbs somewhere.

What's so ICK about it? Aside from Olive Garden, Gamestop, and Academy, none of those other stores exist in the general area.

I went to Disco Green with my wife on Friday evening on a whim. We got there around 9pm, and there were a good amount of people there. The park is well lit, bustling with activity, and of course the weather was great.

I was at the Almeda Best Buy and overheard the manager mention that they will be open another year. Of course i asked what about after that? He replied that their new location will be at Gulfgate Mall. They will be open Oct 2007.

He said they are going where the pile of dirt stands now (behind HEB, Marshall's etc.)

I happened to pass by Gulfgate, and did take a look at the new Best Buy building - from what it looks like, it seems to be opening SOON as opposed to October.

I know a few remember, but there was a Walgreen's on main and rusk (or walker). I'm glad they are coming back.

Living near the Gulfgate area for a number of years, I do remember the Walgreens, Joskes, the bowling alley underground and all the great stores around it.

I remember reading an article not too long ago on the development of Gulfgate, and how the area's buying power is a bit underestimated because of the preference to cash to credit.

Someone made a comment on how higher-income families will start to move in the area, which I believe is true. My family still lives in the East End, and that effect is starting to show in the neighborhoods. I call it the ripple effect - higher income families are starting to buy up the properties around the East End (starting closest to downtown) and will move their way outward. Gulfgate is a very good option as it's really close by. I just wish there would be some kind of major redevelopment project around Harrisburg and Wayside - that area needs a much needed facelift.