Retail Fever
Historic stoneyard is being torn down for another new shopping center by the Heights Walmart
Days are numbered for San Jacinto Stone Company, the Houston institution since 1947 that has called a plot at Yale Street and Koehler home for more than three decades. Once a barren, undeveloped stretch, the area is now bustling with shopping centers in the wake of the Washington Heights Walmart construction.
What's slated for the stoneyard's spot?
Another shopping center — an affiliate of Ponderosa Land Development Co. purchased the parcel. (The Houston Chronicle was first to report the development). San Jacinto Stone apparently agreed to sell the property last August.
A representative from the stone company tells CultureMap that the stoneyard is closed to the general public but open to general contractors "for as long as it makes sense" given current inventory. He says he has no further comment about the closure.
Renderings on Ponderosa's website and from the Retail Connection, in charge of leasing for the project, point to an eight-acre Yale Street Market with rooftop parking.
A "tipster" told Swamplot that LA Fitness, Bed Bath & Beyond, Fresh Market and DSW Shoes may fill in the 125,000-square-feet of retail space, although, the site acknowledged, "that may more likely turn out to be someone's wish list."
Inquiries to the developer were not returned.
