The company behind the Houston Premium Outlets way up off 290 near Fairfield in Cypress has announced plans to build a similar outlet mall on the opposite side of Houston. Simon Property Group, also the owner of the Houston Galleria and the Katy Mills Mall, plans on calling the new 100-store, 350,000-sq.-ft. complex the Galveston Premium Outlets, but it’ll be located well north of the island in Texas City, just south of the Holland Rd. exit off I-45 and north of the Walmart Supercenter, on the west side of the freeway. From the drawing the company is passing around, the place should look a whole lot like its Cypress cousin, logo-tattooed tower and all.

The site is a 55-acre chunk of the stalled and probably flopped Lago Mar, a 7,000-home development announced 6 years ago.
The Galveston County Daily News‘s Laura Elder reports there are rumors another outlet mall is coming to the area as well, a couple of exits north on a 20-acre lot north of Cross Colony Dr. and west of FM 646 in Dickinson — this one from another national mall developer: Tanger Outlet Centers.

What’s the deal with the malls already in the area?

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La Marque is home to a small outlet mall — Gulfway Plaza, 14047 Delany Road. But Gulfway Plaza, which never had the large concentration of tenants to lure tourists, has found a more profitable purpose by leasing space to a mix of government agencies, professional offices and factory outlet tenants. . . . Operators of Mall of the Mainland, plagued by tenant departures, last year filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Not long after, lender Pacific Western Bank took possession of the property and hired Boxer Property Management, known for turning around distressed properties, to manage and improve operation.

• Outlet mall in works [Galveston County Daily News]
• Lago Mar still planned despite ‘for sale’ signs [Galveston County Daily News]

Photo: Premium Outlets