BELLAIRE, Texas – (By Michelle Leigh Smith for Realty News Report) – H-E-B is opening its first two-story grocery store in the Houston area. It’s in Bellaire, an affluent municipality surrounded by the city of Houston.
Beginning at 6 a.m. on June 27, Bellaire will have the opportunity to experience the first of HEB’s double decker concept, which they originated in six stores near Monterey, Mexico. The San Antonio-based grocer plans three more multi-level locations in Houston.
Another two-story H-E-B will open in the Heights area at 2030 Shepherd will debut in January, 2019, with another nearby at Washington Avenue and Waugh, featuring grocery on the first level, with parking above planned for mid-summer of 2019. The equally anticipated two-story in Meyerland Plaza is planned for September of 2019, co-starring shared parking with JC Penney, according to Scott McClelland of H-E-B. “The smaller H-E-B Pantry store didn’t necessarily serve the City of Bellaire as well as it needed to,” he said. “So we’ve built a two-story store with foods from all over the world. It was a way to get 78,000 SF into Bellaire and I think you’ll agree it’s worth the wait.”
McClelland noted that the store has a massive generator that will kick on in the event of a hurricane (we have these now in 125 of our stores) so that this store will never lose power.”
Suburban drivers pulled into the first level parking lot, took an escalator up to a cool 78,000 SF haven filled with cold-pressed juices, more than 1,600 brands of wine, a deep meat selection that includes items like the Cajun Kiss and Armadillo eggs, made from chicken tenders wrapped in bacon, jalapeno, and pepper jack cheese. Shopping carts can be snapped into the cart-o-lator, adjacent to the escalator that transport visitors upstairs. There are also three large elevators, designed to accommodate 11,200 pounds each.
The sleek, stylized store sits on 3.2 acres at 5106-5120 Bissonnet at Cedar, where the old H-E-B Pantry store anchored a strip center leased by Brixmor Properties, which now has the property listed for sale through HFF.
This new H-E-B is the first grocery store to open in Bellaire in 25 years.
Previous entries in the Bellaire market include an old A&P, a grocer that is now closed because its traditions would not allow it to change its business model. A Weingarten’s store at Bissonnet and Cedar was here in 1956 and later became Safeway and now, the current Randall’s. Gerlands sat at Hillcroft and Beechnut. An A&P store was at Cedar, on the Ferris end, later transitioning to become the former H-E-B Pantry store at Cedar @ Bissonnet. H-E-B also took in some space that used to be an old 5 & 10 cent store called TG&Y.
Brixmor, the real estate firm that owns the new H-E-B building, has listed the new store for sale to investors through HFF. The marketing materials from HFF describes the location as “surrounded by a densely populated and affluent customer base in an area that has high barriers-to-entry with strict zoning regulations enforced by the City of Bellaire, which do not apply to the rest of Houston. While several retailers and grocery stores desire having a Bellaire address, feasible retail options are severely constrained. Even on a wider scale, barriers-to-entry within the Loop 610-area are evidenced by a 96-percent current retail occupancy rate and 22.6-percent retail rent growth over the last five years.”
HFF notes the area “has an average household income of $235,000, the highest in all of Houston.”
At the VIP luncheon and initial tours for community leaders, the 113-year old H-E-B Corp. donated $5,000 check to Henry Owen of the Nature Discovery Center and $5,000 to Undies for Everyone. Guests received bouquets of flowers, specialty cheeses, fresh-baked bread, cookies, and coupons for free bottles of Just Made Juice.
Shoppers are greeted by an interactive light installation called Blue By You, by Texas artist Ansen Seale. In all of the multi-level stores planned for Houston, H-E-B will commission an artist to create a custom, site-specific installation, adding an engaging element to each neighborhood’s H-E-B. McClelland had said earlier that in the Heights, which has a more downhome feel, there an art installation featuring chickens wearing crocheted sweaters. In Bellaire, the piece is composed of acrylic, LED lights and aluminum. As residents move in the space, Blue by You responds by changing color, leaving a trail behind the moving person.
