The newly built shopping center on the corner of W. Alabama and Mandell St. is of the business in the front, parking in the back variety — and will soon be even more so when 2 restaurants and a dentist’s office open in its ground floor. BuffBurger, new Vietnamese restaurant Lúa Viet Kitchen, and Lovett Dental are all slated to debut in the gray box with what look like wooden slats on its forehead, under construction since last January opposite the Menil’s territory in Montrose. TABC signage now up in BuffBurger’s window near the corner shows that the store — on its way to Mandell Place from its original location on Wirt Rd. — is seeking beverage permits ahead of its first business day.

A view from the sidewalk shows where the ground floor beef joint will fit in a 2,500-sq.-ft. space below the strip’s lettered-up corner tower:

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Lúa Viet Kitchen will occupy the far east space in the building, next to existing cat spa and resort Fat Cat Flats. Lovett Dental will fill in between the 2 restaurants. The rendering below from architect Ziegler Cooper views the entire building from the southeast corner of W. Alabama and Mandell:

• Lúa Viet Kitchen to open in Alabama Row development [Houston Chronicle]
• Previously on Swamplot: The Strip Center Setup at the Corner of Mandell and W. Alabama; New Modern Shopping Center Wants To Cozy Up to the Corner of West Alabama and Mandell

Photos: Katie Schon. Rendering: Edge Realty