HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – H-E-B grocery has been mentioned as a possible tenant at Meyerland Plaza, the 950,000-SF power center at the southwest corner of Beechnut and Loop 610, people in the real estate community say. A Meyerland store could fill a growing gap in H-E-B’s coverage in southwest Houston.
Meyerland Plaza, operated by Fidelis Realty, has a 200,000-SF J.C. Penney and various pad sites and big box retailers. Several Meyerland stores took on water during Hurricane Harvey.
Looking at its southwest Houston coverage, H-E-B currently has a store just north of West University Place at Buffalo Speedway. But otherwise, it has no other operating H-E-B store to the southwest closer than Highway 6 in Missouri City, over 10 miles away.
The 19,000-SF H-E-B at 5417 South Braeswood and Chimney Rock flooded again in Hurricane Harvey after extensive flooding in the Memorial Day flood of 2015. H-E-B announced Wednesday it will close the store permanently, rather than remodel again.
“This store has enjoyed a loyal clientele that has been shopping with us for more than 25 years. We look forward to bringing this community a bigger, better H-E-B,” said Cyndy Garza Roberts.
“We regret any inconvenience this closure creates for residents,” said Garza Roberts said. “However, we remain committed to serving this community and are in active negotiations for another site in the area which we hope to announce in the very near future.”
H-E-B has been on a relentless quest for real estate in the Inner Loop of Houston where it already has several stores. The Houston Chronicle’s Chron.com website reported on Aug. 8 that H-E-B has contracted to buy a site at the northwest corner of West Alabama and Kirby, even though the company already has stores in the area and owns a nearby undeveloped site near the intersection of Shepherd and Richmond. The no-byline Chronicle report on the Kirby Drive site, which is across the street from Whole Foods Market, was not verified by Realty News Report.
But while it was building up its urban presence in Houston, H-E-B failed to pull the trigger on acquiring property in the southern part of the Inner Loop. Now with the second flooding of its Braeswood location, H-E-B is left with thin, naked outreach in a densely populated part of Houston.
H-E-B is constructing a two-story store in northwest Bellaire, near Bissonnet and South Rice. It will open in 2018, the San Antonio-based grocer says. But even with that addition, H-E-B has no Houston store south of Bissonnet.
Whether H-E-B ends up at Meyerland Plaza are goes elsewhere in Southwest Houston, the grocer is expected to move quickly to fill the void.
A high-profile firm with highly visible management, H-E-B “received widespread praise” for opening 60 of its Houston stores on the Sunday after Hurricane Harvey hit, reported NAI Partners real estate.
H-E-B, with annual sales of more than $23 billion, operates more than 380 stores in Texas and Mexico.