The sign up at 3401 N. Main St. across from the Hollywood Cemetery leaves little doubt as to who the owner of Casa Grande blames for the Mexican restaurant and dance club’s shuttering. The 18-year-old establishment, which took over the by-then-long-abandoned site of the former Stuarts Drive-in, shut down last month, after several years of slow business. A sign at the entrance (pictured) now reads BANK CLOSED.
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Owner Julio Garza told Chronicle transportation reporter Dug Begley 2 years ago that business had dropped off dramatically when construction of Metro’s Red Line extension closed down a bridge a mile to the south on N. Main St. (The light-rail extension opened at the end of 2013.) The 2-story structure backs up to I-45 at the N. Main St. exit.
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Sure, blame the light rail (which is probably a 1/2 mile away), and not the fact that your restaurant looks like a junk yard.
I’m pretty sure the demographic shift in the surrounding areas had nothing to do with this.
That’s a shame. While the building was odd on the outside, the food was good and Mr. Garza and his staff were professional, cheerful and courteous.
@Benjy Compson, I love it when a pro-rail person speaks up in celebration that a small business owner is hurting due to the further construction of the toy train…..It ran runs businesses out of business, FACT.
Sorry to hear that this Tex-Mex restaurant bit the dust. I guess we’ll have to make do with the other 37,452* other Tex-Mex spots in the city.
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* Not a scientifically based number
What bridge does he mean? The Chronicle article at the link seems to be referring to the Main Street Viaduct, where Main crosses over the confluence of the bayous next to UH-Downtown. North Main was otherwise open to traffic during the METRORail construction.
The tunnel under the tracks at the Burnett Transit Center is now closed, but that still seems far enough away from Casa Grande that it wouldn’t really affect business in that area.
@Texmex01 Seems the business owner would best know what caused him to close.
Can’t wait to see what goes in here. Whatever it is, it should be taller – I’ve always thought the views of downtown from this location must be awesome if you could just peak over a couple of trees. There is some new construction about a block up of residential with the same view potential. Transformation is coming swiftly to this part of Main – and yes, the rail has a lot to do with that.
Casa Adios.
I’m pretty interested in what changes are coming to N. Main east of 45 these next few years: Red Line fed gentrification, new Pegstar music venue, commercial building at N. Main & Quitman getting a facelift, and now a ton of buildings up for grabs along that street.
It’s not so much the rail construction as it is the continuing closure of the Hernandez Tunnel. That section of North Main used to be a cut-through for Downtown-bound traffic wanting to skip the 45/10 mess, but without the tunnel it’s nigh unusable. So no pass by traffic.