HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – The Palace Bowling Lanes, a 63-year-old building in Houston’s Inner Loop, is being transforming into a mixed-use development.
The 80,000-SF redevelopment, to be called Southside Commons, is located at 4191 Bellaire Boulevard, about three miles west of the Texas Medical Center.
The bowling alley, which opened in 1955, closed over a year ago after decades of operating as community entertainment spot. The building is located is the upscale municipality of Southside Place, which is nestled between Bellaire and West University Place.
“Out of all of the uses our team explored during the redevelopment process, the best, and notnecessarily most economical, was to preserve the building and bring back family entertainment and other amenities that the community so desires,” said developer John Morton, managing partner of Triple Crown Investments.
Morton brought in acclaimed design architect Michael Hsu of Austin and architect of record Tramonte + Johnson Architects for the redevelopment.
Arch-Con Construction broke ground Friday to begin removing and replacing the front façade of the two-story building. The new frontage will contain a mix of fiber-reinforced concrete panels, interlocking zinc tile, wood rainscreen and perforated metal sunshades.
The first floor will accommodate 10,000 SF of retail and 30,000 SF of entertainment/restaurant space. The second floor will have 40,000 SF of office and medical offices.
“One of the challenges we had to overcome was that the original building’s second-floor office ceilings are too low for what today’s market demands,” said Marc MacConnell, senior vice president for Arch-Con. To address this concern, Arch-Con will remove the roof structure and the second-level columns to replace them with columns four feet longer to add height to the space.
“We are honored to breathe new life into this important community asset and will thoughtfully select the tenant mix to make it a well-rounded destination for families to eat, shop and play,” Morton said.
Southside Commons is scheduled to open in the late summer of 2019.
