Demolition of the Casa Grande Mexican Restaurant at 3401 N. Main St. at the corner of Norma began last Friday. A reader reports hearing from residents of the nearby Glen Park neighborhood that a new Holiday Inn Express is planned for the site. The property backs up to the freeway just south of the N. Main—I-45 intersection.
Above: The watered fall, in progress. Below: A few photos of the restaurant’s final scene, from just a few days earlier.
***
The restaurant, which took over the facility formerly operated by Stuarts Drive-In, shut down in February.
- Previously on Swamplot: Casa Grande on N. Main St. Isn’t Just Closed, It’s ‘Bank Closed’
Photos: Swamplot inbox
Glen Park
What a co-inky-dink! There’s a HIE nearly done at 9300 SOUTH Main, a mere 2000 ft SSW of an already-existing HIE. Soon the entire populace of Houston can spend nights at HIEs, and the very next day do brain surgery or rocket science.
So is this the start of a wave of north main development coming between 45 and downtown along with the Fitzgerald development?
Gisgo, it is not 100% confirmed to be a Holiday Inn Express. That is simply the rumor going around among the Glen Park residences, but there is a good level of doubt about it.
The area is definitely switching menus from cheap, homemade Mexican to pricey, corporate yuppie chow and a Holiday Inn hugging the freeway means that transition has begun. The multi-story townhouses that will dot the tiny hills over there will be more numerous than the leaves on the trees.
Maybe Mattress Firm should do a cross-marketing campaign with Holiday Inn Express by placing their beds in all the HIE rooms… then the occupants could just walk across the street (or next door) to buy a much cleaner version of the same mattress they just slept on! You’re welcome.
Think so greg, but did it have to start with a Holiday Inn Express?
Side note: has anyone figured out what’s being done with the old storefront at the SW side of Quitman and N. Main?
We recently had a representative from Holiday Inn speak stop by our house and ask us a few questions regarding the possibility of a HIE being built in the neighborhood. Not sure if Glen Park needs one. But with the development that is sure to come by, why not. Michelle, as for the building on Quitman and Fulton it will be office space upstairs and store frontage for lease downstairs (can subdivide into as many as 4 spaces).
@Triton: Statement based on the SWPPP sign on site. Are there more nuances to these signs than I realize?
Why not a HIE? Why should Luxury Inn get all the hour-long reservations?