MontroseHood

Retailers stirring the melting pot



Businesses, like Fisher's BBQ, the Continental Club, the future Tacos A Go-Go, and the Big Top Lounge, have transformed the 3700 block of Main and Travis. Many in the area hope the block represents the first step toward a larger "urban village."

Feb. 28, 2004, 4:26PM
Maverick retailers set up shop on main street
By DAVID KAPLAN
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

A ride on the light rail line through Midtown reveals desolation, but the block at Main and Alabama is jumping.

Its oldest establishment, the Continental Club, opened less than four years ago. The back room of the music venue evokes a Texas roadhouse, with barbecue served by Adam and Lena Fisher.

Around the block, the Breakfast Klub offers fish with grits and wings with waffles. Marcus Davis wants his already successful diner to be a national icon among eateries owned by African-Americans. Next to his place is T'afia, a new restaurant owned by celebrated chef Monica Pope. On Saturdays she holds a farmer's market.

That's just a sampling of enterprises bounded by Alabama, Main, Travis and Winbern.

Will this block in bloom bear the seeds of something bigger, a Midtown district of charming mom and pop retail, or remain an island? Could it lure a totally different animal: Large-scale mixed-use urban development?

The outcome is very much up for grabs.

"Business by business, block by block is how you create a community and neighborhood," Pope observed.

But it may not be so easy to create the same kind of appealing businesses nearby because of the real estate, said Linda Congleton, a California-based retail consultant.

To create a retail/entertainment district filled with intriguing eateries and avant-garde retail, an area needs consecutive blocks of historical buildings, she said.

The real estate surrounding 3700 Main and 3700 Travis is spotty and includes barren lots. There are some buildings nearby that could be affordably rented, but not a concentration like in downtown's Historic District.

At Alabama and Main, Congleton said, "You've got a kernel to start an urban village."

The best way to nurture it: innovative housing with living/work space or multilevel design with an edgy, urban feel and ground-level retail. Light rail won't create a demand for retail, she said, without high-density housing.

Bob Schultz, a partner in the Continental Club and in the building and president of RHS Interests, a Houston-based national real estate development firm, agreed with Congleton's assessment. He realizes it may be hard to create a larger district: "We know we may remain an island."

But Schultz holds out hope that nearby historic buildings will be developed to follow his block's lead. If not, he's confident his block will thrive.

The 3700 block could do a lot for the area, said Adam Brackman, a real estate broker with the Weitzman Group.

"A lot of developers have told us they don't want to come to Midtown, because there's no 'there' there," he said. "But places like the Breakfast Klub, Monica Pope's and the Continental Club give the neighborhood flavor, make it less of a blank slate and a more desirable place to live."

Developers see things like the farmer's market and others on the block as leasing amenities for urban projects, said Brackman who noted, "the small deals can lead to the big deals."

Local retailers add character national retailers can't, Brackman said: "People aren't going to get on the rail and go to a store they can find at any mall."

Schultz agreed, "Some developers believe that there is no other way to safely make money other than to buy a piece of property and put in Fortune 500, multiple-location tenants with Triple A ratings. I understand the mindset. I own a couple of Walgreen's in suburban centers.

"I have nothing against Starbucks — I love Starbucks — but if you put another Starbucks here, it won't have that mom and pop feel. When you walk in, you're not going to meet the guy who owns it, someone who might live down the street and whose kids are running around inside."

Soon-to-arrive tenants may very well have their young children around. Sharon and Chas Haynes own the tentatively named Tacos A Go-Go, a taqueria with "good cheap food," Sharon Haynes said. It will offer beer and margaritas in a stylish, laid-back setting, she said.

Haynes was a founding partner in Solero, one of the first restaurants to open in the revitalized downtown, and left it two years ago. She moved to the block, she said, because she liked the building, the caliber of people there "and Monica Pope behind us, as well as being so close to light rail."

Independent businesses like her neighbors, "they're the best kind," said Ed Wulfe, president of Wulfe & Co. and of the Main Street Coalition. "They help to create a tapestry along the Main Street corridor, a fabric of different things in different areas."

When mixed-used developments go up, Schultz said, their retail operations will more likely be national chains or highly-capitalized local businesses.

While the entrepreneurs are excited about light rail and the block's future, not all Midtown business owners are optimistic.

"I don't think business will ever come back, after light rail construction killed it," said Pete Hope, owner of New Orleans Original Po-Boy two blocks from the Continental. "It's too hard to get here. Light rail has made access by car more difficult."

Schultz countered that light rail creates new customers: Medical Center and downtown workers can grab lunch in Midtown.

Light rail construction and rising rents did cause some Vietnamese business owners to leave Midtown.

The Continental Club, the elder statesman of the 3700 block, is the offspring of the legendary Continental Club in Austin, which sparked a retail revival along South Congress.

Steve Wertheimer, a Rosenberg native who has a stake in the Houston Continental Club, bought its Austin namesake in 1987. That club's rich history dates to 1957, and he restored the run-down building. Yet the surrounding neighborhood still looked seedy.

It took a few more trendsetters to turn South Congress around.

Among them was his friend, attorney Liz Lambert, who turned the crime-ridden San Jose Hotel into a nationally celebrated gem.

A few vintage shops in the area pre-dated the Continental Club in Austin, but the rebirth of the Continental and San Jose launched the retail revival, Wertheimer said. Restaurants and retailers have since moved in.

The building housing Houston's Continental Club is also experiencing a renaissance. When the proprietors took over the building, there were crack dealers on the corner, and behind the building was a homeless campsite, recalled Pete Gordon, a musician and partner in the club, the Big Top and the building. The neighborhood was strewn with trash, Gordon said: "We organized a few cleanups."

Life there is now more festive. On Monday nights at the Continental, they mix music and bingo. The band El Orbits, of which Gordon is a member, plays a song, then a "bingo girl" calls out a few numbers, then it's time for another song.

Singer David Beebe's eccentric uncle Don Lee, a retired Coca-Cola deliveryman, sometimes gets on stage to read original poetry.

Adam and Lena Fisher, owners of Fisher's BBQ and Catering, have been serving barbecue in the Continental's back room during performances, and soon they'll have their own outdoor stand behind the club along Winbern.

Also at 3700 Main is Crazy Mike's, a wacky junk store, owned by Continental bartender Mike Hildebrand, who may soon shut down.

If so, Schultz is in talks with a man who wants to open a CD and vinyl swap store with "deep category selections."

Next door is the month-old Big Top Lounge. Before it opened, Gordon recalled, he was gutting out the space and ripped out the drop ceiling to behold a mural depicting circus themes. The space once housed a toy store.

The mural discovery inspired the bar's circus theme.

Coming soon to the block is Julia's Bistro, serving Latin-influenced cuisine, prepared by former Artista executive chef David Sanchez. Next door to Julia's is Drink Bar.

Midtown is bordered by Third Ward and Montrose, and both neighborhoods are home to many musicians who draw on their respective traditions, Gordon said.

"At the Continental, we cross those lines all the time, playing authentic blues, rock, country and rockabilly."

As a cultural melting pot, Gordon said, Midtown "seems to be stirring up all kinds of things," and the many young people moving to the area are open to having new experiences. And with a light rail stop close to the club's door, he said, "we seem to be in the middle of everything."

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