YOU MAY YET HAVE YOUR CHANCE TO LIVE ON TOP OF THE SUR LA TABLE BY THE RIVER OAKS THEATER 
Senior Leasing VP Gerald Crump of Weingarten Realty Investors told Nancy Sarnoff of the Chronicle last week that even bigger changes are likely on their way to the River Oaks Shopping Center section on the north side of W. Gray between McDuffie and Driscoll, currently housing Sur La Table, Brasserie 19, and Cafe Ginger, among others (shown here from above, facing a distant Kroger’s). Still-nebulous plans for revamping the space include incorporating residential units, more retail or more parking. Any changes to the center, which is designated a historic landmark by the City, would need the nominal thumbs-up of the Houston Architectural and Historic Commission — though need for that approval can be bypassed by letting a 90-day waiting period expire, David Bush of Preservation Houston told Sarnoff. Crump says that the company will work to communicate plans to the surrounding community as they develop, but also tells Sarnoff that “as an owner and developer, you have to remain relevant”. The redo, whatever shape it eventually takes, could take that shape as early as 2019. [Houston Chronicle, previously on Swamplot] Photo: bjoelio via Swamplot Flickr pool
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As if that area needs to be any busier than it already is. Weingarten is a company without class.
I fear Weingarten will eventually demolish all of the historic shopping center and replace it with something like West Avenue. They don’t appreciate what they have at all.
Yeah, they are playing cute with the plans to just re-develop the north side of the development. They are just dying to take a wrecking ball to the River Oaks theater. They are going to try to rip out everything else first before taking down the theater in hopes that people will think that it is just a fait acompli and not fuss too hard when they come for the theater.
Yeah Gerald……there is nothing more relevant than using a 10 year color palette to refresh a classic shopping center. Who picked that out, a clerk at the Alief Home Depot?
Just spare us the agony and Tuscanize the goddamn place once and for all.
I live in the area so should fear any such “revitalization”, but at the end of the day it’s an obviously smart business play and with the growth of other large multi-purpose shopping districts in the central part of town they’d literally have to be stupid not to try and redevelop such a prime piece of property. As long as they have plans for more housing then I can’t help but be all for it. Could care less about any other shops that I’ll never step foot in though.
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Does anyone really have a good reason why they shouldn’t?