A representative of H-E-B confirms to the River Oaks Examiner‘s Mike Reed that the grocery company is buying the 7.68-acre site on West Alabama in Montrose — across Dunlavy from Fiesta — where the Wilshire Village Apartments once stood:
H-E-B spokeswoman Cyndy Garza-Roberts said she could not disclose a proposed purchase price.
“Right now, we are doing our due diligence,†she said. “We are in the very early stages.â€
One part of Swamplot’s due diligence, of course, might be figuring out who H-E-B is actually buying the property from. Some sort of transaction related to the property appears to have already taken place. We’ll have more details on that later.
Update: A few details from the Chronicle.
- H-E-B confirms effort to buy Wilshire Village property [River Oaks Examiner]
- Wilshire Village coverage [Swamplot]
Photo of Wilshire Village Site from Dunlavy St., South of West Alabama: Carl Guderian [license]
Hello? HEB? How about coming over towards the Heights. We have plenty of vacant land south of I-10 for ya, basically zero competition and a Heights/Washington residential corridor that is woefully underserved. As a GIS analyst myself I can tell you its a good thing. But then again, I dont need any fancy spatial analytical tool to reach that conclusion…
Well, there goes the neighborhood.
??? This seems insanely dumb. I think we can officially call this site cursed as everyone who has anything to do with it seems to begin making insane decisions about what to do with it. A grocery store?? Really?!?
I’m sure Jay Cohen and Fiesta are thrilled.
Tanith27,
HEB is going to be building at Yale just north of the railroad tract near Washington. I say that is pretty close to the Heights.
As for the Wilshire property. I like this move. I hope Fiesta then decides to revamp their store. I like both chains. I would be nice to be able to chose to go to both to ultimate better price for the things you want to buy.
kjb,
Where did you hear that HEB is building on that tract of land off Yale? I live nearby and this would be fantastic for me.
Do you have a link to the great news?
There go the trees. This is going to be sad to see a huge HEB with plenty of surface parking and I really just don’t see the need. Central Market is about a 5 minute drive from this site if you catch the lights right. Additionally, the new Buffalo Market also serves the area (especially those just South of US 59). Of course, this doesn’t even begin to mention that Fiesta, Kroger, and Randalls are all within spitting distance.
BLAH. I hate this news.
oh, I forgot that Whole Foods is a few blocks away as well. I love HEB as far as the chains go, but I don’t like this move.
Terry,
It’s been tossed around here before and I received word from a source. It’s not official yet (they haven’t bought the land yet and are in negotiations).
I just know that the site I’ve mentioned off of Yale is the one they want.
Doofus, the location at Dunvale for Fiesta has a lot of walk up customers. The HEB can reach these too.
I don’t think all the trees have to go if HEB does the site layout right. The Kroger on Buffalo Spdwy has kept some of the trees in the middle of the parking lot. I can see if the neighborhood gets behind it, they can convince HEB to keep the trees that will be in the parking lot.
Just saw on the internet
http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/03/04/west_
Yeah, I’d heard rumours of HEB in the Yale lot, but nothing confirmed. Always thought that would make sense, not sure why things are taking so long. Then again, making Sawyer Target a SuperTarget would make sense too….not sure why they haven’t jumped in on that one yet.
That Target is the closest you get to a SuperTarget minus the meat and expansive produce section. Even limited, I found myself getting a lot of grocery items when I happen to be there.
kjb434: Doofus, the location at Dunvale for Fiesta has a lot of walk up customers. The HEB can reach these too.
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Eh, Dunlavy even? Evidently not a local resident, so what has this got to do with you?
But yes, trees can be retained a la Kroger at Buffalo Speedway. Fiesta will go under, maybe by that time there’ll be enough money around for a park there.
This seems like a flawed strategy for HEB. Why pay top dollar for property right across from another store with a very loyal customer base? Fiesta may not offer the upscale items of many HEBs, but they’ve proven extremely successful at understanding their customer base. If anything, this gives them advance notice to revamp their Dunlavy store at a relatively low cost while their competitor invests $30M across the street.
My guess is that HEB goes heavily into the prepared foods market with this location. Keep most of the trees, provide some patio space, coffee house, etc. That might end up being a nice complement to the more basic purpose of shopping across the street.
I’m surprised Alabama & Dunlavy have a high enough traffic count for HEB.
As far as the trees go…yeah, some were saved in front of the Buffalo Speedway Kroger, but quite a few died in the year after construction completion.
Just because HEB is acquiring the site does not necessarily mean they will develop it into an HEB. They own a lot of real estate around town and some of it to keep the competition out of their turf. Keep in mind they own (although not sure if in partnership) Shepherd Square down the street.
Interesting that the property appraised for $80 PSF … I wonder when that appraisal was done?
Is HEB soliciting comments on this project? Is there a website or address that I/we could send our opinions to?
If done properly, this could be an excellent project and addition to the neighborhood.
I do regret that this would almost certainly mean the end for the little Fiesta on Dunlavy, which is my favorite grocery store!
I can’t imagine that they would be able to hang on there – at the same time the value of that property should escalate.