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Carillon Center: Retail Center At 10001 Westheimer Rd.


kzseattle

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I was at Carillon Center in Westchase on Westheimer and noticed a new restuarant/lounge that's about to open across Wolfgang Express. I looked through the windows and it appears pretty swanky and hip. Does anyone know more about it, such as what type of food will be served? Is it going to be a bar or a just a restaurant?

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  • 3 weeks later...

I love the vibe of the Carillion Square, anchored by the original Sherlock's Pub.

Back in my party heydays of the late 80s-early 90s that very colorful and pretty commercial facade seemed it was kind of happening, like it was still gaining. The awesome Matahari Indonesian restaurant was there, the cute subtle faux-Mediterranean section housed some tailor shops and such businesses seemed to point that way. In the late 1990s, I loved taking my wife to eat sushi at Masako's sometimes (I believe it's gone already).

That section of Westheimer is on the doorstep of Westchase, fairly busy, nice and upmarket...so I wondered why Carillion Square never became quite larger than it is now. It has such a unique look and layout, even if it has a typical parking lot that is so different than most shopping centers in Houston.

Yes, there are La Madeleine, Caruso, Fandango's and Sherlock's still...but most of the diverse activity is in the free-standing structures out front which house Starbucks, Cold Slab and such.

I hate how Matahari, with that very atmospheric and intimate scale had to leave and set up shop over there on the corner of Dairy Ashford and Briar Forest (or near there) in some non-descript instant pad building! ( It's now called Yanti's Indonesian and rumor has it that the..hidden hoochie quarter needed to accomodate more players. If you want some Indonesian food, I recommend the spicy, beefy "rendang." It's still a sort of classy casual place despite that hidden bar across the hall.)

Does anyone have thoughts on Carillion Square? Why is it not more loaded than it could be?

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I used to work at the "Great Caruso Dinner Theatre" in that center! The actors and myself would hang out at Starbucks during intermission!

I also used to (off topic) park my car at the "Adams Mark" hotel (when it was "Adams Mark" and take a shuttle bus to the airport -when I went out of town (and my car never got towed)...basically almost free parking (a $20 shuttle but hey it was worth it!)

I know i'm sneaky and bad! :P

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I dont know... i never go out that far....

.....hmmm......

I visit the Starbucks, Schlotskys and Yoga Lotus there quite a bit.

I was told that the management company that runs it is also based there. One of the tenants thinks that it is just a big tax write off for them (the company is huge) and they arent too worried about promoting it. Yet they are also working on the West-8 property nextdoor. He also said that the contract he signed to get into that place went through lots of lawyer revisions, the original contract they wanted him to sign pretty much left him open to any thing they did without recourse... like driving a bulldozer through the front door and killing all his customers. He said the insurance he has to carry on that place has gotten insane. Maybe they get alot of runaway bulldozers or something....

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look at all this sprawl... disgusting...

LTAWACS, if might help if, instead of complaining about sprawl, you offered logical solution. For example, could you explain how 6 millions people could fit inside the inner loop (since you consider everything outside the loop as sprawl)? Now, you might say they could be crammed in high-rise buildings as in Hong Kong which would be quite artificial given the amount of land available around Houston. Moreover, what if some people wouldnt want to live in small residential units in high-rises but, instead, would want single-family homes? Wouldnt it be rather selfish if you forced them to live a lifestyle that you prefer but they dont?

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I think part of the Carillion's problem is its design. The buildings in the back sit so far back from Westheimer that they are blocked by the other buildings, parking lots, and trees, making them very hard to see from the street. Everything that fronts Westheimer and is visible from the street is leased and has pretty consistantly stayed leased; it's the back and side spaces that they've had a hard time keeping occupied. Also, the center really has no true anchor; it seems to cater more to restaurants than anything else. It's a shame because it really is a nice shopping center, but I think it's just not optimally designed to be much more than a collection of restaurants and bars with a few small retail and office spaces.

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look at all this sprawl... disgusting...

Funny, I think that a street racer's paradise, a haven to relax, and flat out one of the examples of why I think Houston has some of the most beautiful outer downtown streets you'd ever find. Where in any of those pictures do you see anything disgusting?

Space like the one on this street (Westiemer, I believe) doesn't work everywhere, but it's PERFECTLY done at that part of town.

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carrillion has one major design flaw...space. since the buildings wrap around the parking lot, there really is no where to add more parking spaces and everytime i'm there (last time i was there was a week ago at WGE), i have to troll around looking for a parking space.

@ bayoucitygirl - haha, pretty slick about the parking/airport thing.

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I used to work at the "Great Caruso Dinner Theatre" in that center! The actors and myself would hang out at Starbucks during intermission!

I also used to (off topic) park my car at the "Adams Mark" hotel (when it was "Adams Mark" and take a shuttle bus to the airport -when I went out of town (and my car never got towed)...basically almost free parking (a $20 shuttle but hey it was worth it!)

I know i'm sneaky and bad! :P

I did this several times for work. The Adam's Mark knew people did it and didn't care. I don't think they had a rule against it, and the company running the shuttle service didn't mind because it increased their business.

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Does the Westchase Marriott care now? (If I did the same thing again?)

I mean I'm afraid to try it.

I even asked the Adams Mark if it was ok for me to park my car in the parking spot, they said they wouldn't be responsible for stolen cars or towed. Which I understood but they were cool about it and it saved me money in gas, traffic, etc... driving to the airport.

But now that my dad lives close to Reliant (I can taxi from his house to Hobby) but Intercontinetal...hrm...I guess i'll have to find another way of getting there cheaper.

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I don't know about the Marriott. I've found that very few business class hotels these days ask for a license plate number on your car when you check in, so they really have no way of knowing which cars in the lot belong to hotel guests, and which do not. I know I've never had to give a license plate number when checking into a full service Marriott, so my assumption is it would be very much like the Adam's Mark was. If you're gone only a few days, they'll probably never notice. I don't know that I'd plan to leave my car there for a two week vacation; security will be more likely to notice that it has been parked in the same spot for a while and hasn't moved, and might look into having it towed. But for something like a weekend trip you'll probably be fine.

And there's always the Metro 102 IAH Express from downtown, which only costs $1 each way ($1.50 for some rush hour trips). Granted you have to make some stops in Greenspoint, which slows the trip down some, but if you don't have a lot of luggage and you're looking for cheap airport transportation, it's not half bad.

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I was usually gone from a Thurs to a Monday but you know I was just thinking that someone from my dad's work could drive me to the airport early in the morning for an early flight. I totally forgot that's what happened when I took my flight to Toronto. Its on the way anyway (to my dad's drivers stop) and then coming home plan to come on a weekend therefore my dad could pick me up, spend the nite at his house and get my truck back from work the following day. But you have been very helpful :)

I was never asked a license plate either.

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Isn't there a new restaurant in Carillion named 713? Or did I imagine that? A friend that designed the interior ( she also did Sushi King, Rickshaw & Kubos) was telling me about it & I thought she said it was in Carillion.

True or false? Anybody been there?

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Isn't there a new restaurant in Carillion named 713?  Or did I imagine that?  A friend that designed the interior ( she also did Sushi King, Rickshaw & Kubos) was telling me about it & I thought she said it was in Carillion. 

True or false?  Anybody been there?

As I have already mentioned it above, it has already opened and it is in Carillion. I think I saw your friend since once I was there before it opened, I saw someone who appeared as a designer examining the interior, giving instructions etc.

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  • 3 weeks later...
I've not been on that side of town in ages. Where is this place? Is it far?

I drove past today. It said now open. It looks like a Sushi Bar, Lounge, etc.

It is on Westheimer, on the south side, just before the Beltway. about 8 mins drive past the Galleria in heavy traffic. 4 mins with light traffic.

I will report back if I check it out.

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