Sharpstown Mall/PlazAmericas At 7500 Bellaire Blvd.

[kylejack]

So what do you do when your NOT walking around the Third Ward drinking a forty?

I get on the internets and needle uptight suburban types about their various hangups.

[METALHOUSTON]

What is goin' on with this place?

I went to that carnival yesterday and was kinda shocked to see all the open parking space. I ased a few of the carnies what was goin' on and was told somethin' about a parking lot sold to someone and a few other details I can't remember.

After leaving the carnival, I went in the mall to ask. No one would say anything but from what I wasn't told, I could tell that somethin's goin' on that they don't wanna or can't talk about.

[TexasVines]

i dunno, if i were plunking down 150 grand for a car, i wouldn't want to look over and see some homeless guy peeing against the front window as i was signing the paperwork.

it might give you a satisfactory feeling of knowing why you have worked hard to earn what you are buying

no different than actually driving the car and having some squeegee loser try and "clean" your windshield

[jgriff]

i dunno, if i were plunking down 150 grand for a car, i wouldn't want to look over and see some homeless guy peeing against the front window as i was signing the paperwork.

Ferrari of Houston is more of a race shop than a dealership. The showroom floor doesn't even look good enough to be selling Hyundais. Step into the back though and they have one of the best race shops in the world. They just sell cars so they can race.

[VicMan]

Circuit City scheduled the Sharpstown store for closure - but now the whole chain went under anyway. http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories...12/daily54.html

So what's next? Who will occupy the empty storefronts?

[LTAWACS]

Circuit City scheduled the Sharpstown store for closure - but now the whole chain went under anyway. http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories...12/daily54.html

So what's next? Who will occupy the empty storefronts?

For a long time.. nobody.

[Pumapayam]

For a long time.. nobody.

I smell Big Lots, Fallas, etc etc.

[TxDave]

Sharpstown could very well be one of the malls that is projected to close in the current economic environment.

I find that disappointing based upon its historical significance - plus, personally it was the first mall I frequented when I moved to Houston years ago.

The bright side is that the size of the property and the prime location are very well positioned for a redevelopment that will better serve the community and the city.

[lockmat]

The mall

[WAZ]

The mall's owner and others have been floating proposals to redevelop the property with the help of public funds. One idea is to tear down the mall and build an open-air shopping center in its place.

But the core of the mall and its anchors have separate owners, which makes a large-scale redevelopment challenging.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6500196.html

There might be hope for the Sharpstown Mall yet.

If the owners concentrate on the Jewelry Exchange Building first, they can use the profit from that building to help fund the renovations of the mall itself.

So before even getting into my dream for the Mall itself - a renovation and expansion of the Jewelry Exchange Building is in order. Top priority: make sure the budgeting works and leaves enough profit to fund the renovation of the mall.

[IronTiger]

Yes, you don't even have to go a mile East/SE before it gets very nice. But "surrounded" ? Have you ever been north of Interstate 10?

I have. The "niceness" of Memorial area disappears. It looks decidedly lower-middle class with Spanish signage.

[lockmat]

I have. The "niceness" of Memorial area disappears. It looks decidedly lower-middle class with Spanish signage.

I think the north side of I-10 looks just fine.

[Hobbes]

In San Diego it used to be legal to drink beer on the street. I think that in Europe you can drink beer on the street if you feel like it. When I lived in California I did that all the time. However, I have never seen anyone do it in Houston.

That's because nobody in Houston walks. You'll find most of your cheap beer drinkers behind the wheel of a pickup.

[Johnme]

The mall�s owner and others have been floating proposals to redevelop the property with the help of public funds. One idea is to tear down the mall and build an open-air shopping center in its place.

But the core of the mall and its anchors have separate owners, which makes a large-scale redevelopment challenging.

http://www.chron.com...ss/6500196.html

I know that the mall went into bankruptcy, so did someone else purchase it? If that is not the case the owners do not have enough money to tear down a wall much less the whole mall. This mall really has declined since Macy's and Fingers closed; the food court only has one restaurant left! I have taken several pictures of the mall in the past year that I have posted on my blog at http://southernretail.blogspot.com/ . I have several other Houston Malls and I have created articles accompanying these photos. Check my site out and leave comments or submissions.

[IronTiger]

Johnme: Not to worry, I linked to your site at least once (check the Greenspoint Mall thread in "Other Houston Neighborhoods"). You can see the Foley's before they painted it a stark white!

[mwest]

Interesting chat in this thread a while back. It seems all apartment dwellers are undesirables.

I would like to point out that a lot of working class people live in the places they can afford to

live in, which in Houston, are dwindling down. I lived in a "multi-family" development and had to

move home because of the cost of an education and a running vehicle along with ever-increasing

rents became too much. And this was no swank "Gables" property, either. I work full time at the

same place for several years, have benefits, but take-home pay does not leave a lot of wiggle-room

in the budget. I did maintain my little place well and did not throw up gang signs, but did grow a few

flowers on the patio. The nastiness came from neighbors who smoked like chimneys and stank up

my unit, camped out all day in lawn chairs on the entry area to my building, and set fire to their

balconies because they were barbecuing illegally on them. All these yahoos were young white guys,

for anyone who's tracking the demographics, btw.

I also have two African-American apartment-dwelling friends who are each working two jobs. One, an older

gent, works two full-time jobs, is a Viet Nam vet, a church-going man and is a connoisseur of classic rock.

The other is a 30-something single, no children, trying to keep up with the bills and pay down some debt that

she took on because she was in a traffic accident--the other driver hit her--and insurance doesn't pay

everything. And for what it's worth, I know a few Hispanic immigrants who work harder than some of you

ever will, unless you, too, are working 12-hour days, seven days a week. Or are also doing the two-job shuffle.

And these ain't cushy desk jobs, either.

Apartments aren't going away, people. One day, single-family homes will be beyond the reach of most

of us, especially as more people come to Houston and more people are born in Houston. It's that or say

goodbye to the countryside forever, because, from what I've seen, most developers don't care about

your green spaces, only greenbacks. And I'd hate to see that--it takes forever to get out of Houston as it is!

[IronTiger]

I think the north side of I-10 looks just fine.

I didn't say it looked a lot worse, it looks okay, a pretty normal mixed-demographics Houston neighborhood. But you wouldn't expect it to be nearby an upscale mall.

[bgiangmanman]

one thing for shure is sharpstown needs to remodle it's food court by making it more modern,cleaning it and removing the white metal decoration

[spiderroller]

one thing for shure is sharpstown needs to remodle it's food court by making it more modern,cleaning it and removing the white metal decoration

Yea, that's it. That will revitalize Sharpstown. Remodel the Food Court in the Mall.

I say: Tear the MF down. Now.

In fact, I'd tear it down with 50 wrecking balls by surprise one day taking out everyone in it... just give all the shop owners a 15 minute notice to bolt out of there.

Odds are that would prevent dozens, if not hundreds, of murders, rapes and robberies over the next 20 years as those foke in there won't be around to commit those crimes.

Edited July 27, 2009 by spiderroller

[texas911]

Strake Jesuit is in Sharpstown, Sharpstown gave them the land, and its doing fine. I was a Sharpstown mall rat in high school, and am saddened to see it go under. But can understand, today, First Colony Mall is what probably what Sharpstown was back in the 80's. I don't see how light rail will do anything for Sharpstown. In my opinion, it would be better to bulldoze the mall and start over, maybe make it an outdoor town center type place.

[bred]

Strake Jesuit is in Sharpstown, Sharpstown gave them the land, and its doing fine. I was a Sharpstown mall rat in high school, and am saddened to see it go under. But can understand, today, First Colony Mall is what probably what Sharpstown was back in the 80's. I don't see how light rail will do anything for Sharpstown. In my opinion, it would be better to bulldoze the mall and start over, maybe make it an outdoor town center type place.

Just came across this info on the new plans for the Sharpstown Mall property:

Monday, December 21, 2009, 12:37pm CST<H2 class=column_name></H2>

Sharpstown Center to be PlazAmericas

Houston Business Journal Sharpstown Center will get a new face and name as part of a $10 million revitalization and rebranding plan.

The property’s owner, Sharpstown Mall Texas LLC, and its manager, Grupo Zocalo, a subsidiary of Houston-based Boxer Property Management Corp., plan to rename the center PlazAmericas to reflect the area’s community.

Sharpstown Mall opened in 1961 as Houston’s first enclosed mall, and has since gone through periods of ownership changes, bankruptcy and neighborhood issues.

Revitilization plans include huge children’s play area and an 83,000-square-foot mercado (marketplace) that will have multiple stages for live entertainment, a large family lounge and play area.

[IronTiger]

To better orient themselves with the Hispanic neighborhood, Sharpstown Mall is renovating and renaming to PlazAmericas, featuring "huge children’s play area and an 83,000-square-foot mercado (marketplace) that will have multiple stages for live entertainment, a large family lounge and play area."

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2009/12/21/daily7.html

[sevfiv]

Note the PlazAmericas information has been moved to the new topic:

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/index.php?showtopic=22587

[AK123]

"In my opinion, it would be better to bulldoze the mall and start over, maybe make it an outdoor town center type place."

Yeah, like CityCentre (on the site of the old Town & Country Mall).

However, I don't know if the Sharpstown area would have the demographics to support something like that. They'd have to count on drawing in people from Bellaire, Meyerland, Sugar Land, etc. But many people from those areas dislike venturing into Sharpstown at all because of all the high-crime apartments and a feeling of being unsafe.

Believe me, there's nothing I'd like to see more than half or more of the crummy apartments in the Sharpstown and Gulfton area bulldozed, and turned into single-family home subdivisions and mixed-use. The entire southwest side of Houston would then change for the better, and middle to upper income residents who work in places like TMC and downtown would have more (and closer) housing choices.

[Johnme]

I have changed my opinion of the mall in the past few months. The owners have managed to refill almost half of the nearly empty food court and attract many new in-line tenants. I think that the mall has a good chance of rebounding such as Pasadena Town Square has. If they can get the anchor spot refilled facing 59 this mall will rebound. There have been many successful projects like the PlazAmerica plan that have refilled malls in the United States. The new owners of the mall are much more aggressive with marketing and taking care of repairs to the mall, so the mall is in much better hands now.

[houstonmacbro]

I read, but didn't understand the idea of a huge laundromat in the mall? That just seems to go against the concept of a shopping mall.

[IronTiger]

If you're wondering about my first post here, the awkwardness appeared when two threads were merged.

[IronTiger]

I read, but didn't understand the idea of a huge laundromat in the mall? That just seems to go against the concept of a shopping mall.

Who said anything about a laundromat?

[houstonmacbro]

Who said anything about a laundromat?

Plans for market

The empty J.C. Penney space, however, was recently acquired by investor Matthew Nguyen who, separately, plans to open a market and laundromat in the space early next year. He'll also carve out smaller areas for tenants that want to lease between 800 and 1,500 square feet.

Segal said the renovations and rebranding will begin soon.

Full article here: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6778267.html

[LTAWACS]

Ugh.