posted on April 07, 2011 21:06
Hubbell & Hudson Market & Bistro is rumored to be the grocery store that Midway Cos. wants to add to CityCentre.
A couple of real estate sources pointed to The Woodlands company after seeing my March 31 blog that revealed CityCentre is hunting for a grocery tenant.
If Hubbell & Hudson opens in the west Houston mixed-use development, it would be the first entrance into Houston for the specialty grocery store/eatery that has two locations in The Woodlands. Hubbell & Hudson is owned by Dirk Laukien, the deep-pocketed investor who resides in The Woodlands.
As I mentioned the other day, a grocery tenant is on tap for the space under Studio Movie Grill and across from Sur La Table.
However, one reader suggested that the area is highly congested and questioned where people would park or how they would carry their groceries to the parking garage.
I went back to Suzanne Anderson, director of retail leasing for CityCentre, for some answers.
CityCentre envisions an urban grocer that will serve the 11,000 people who are at the complex on a daily basis.
“It will have a little bit of all of the categories that grocers offer, with a focus on specialty items like prepared foods, produce, cheese, wine and meats,” she said by email, still not naming the potential tenant.
The store would also have a limited offering of beauty, drug and cleaning products for residents and hotel guests, she said.
Parking won’t be an issue, Anderson said.
The parking structure behind the building is the largest in the project, with 1,495 spaces in two adjoining structures. The grocer would likely have dedicated parking spaces on the first floor of the garage as well, she said.
“This will provide a similar field of parking that grocers have in other centers with the added convenience of being able to return to a cool car in the summer and being protected from the weather the entire walk from the car to the store,” Anderson said.
4/1/11, Jennifer Dawson, Houston Business Journal