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Old Borders on Kirby spot getting prepared for two new tenants: Books give wayto makeup
Construction crews started clearing out the interior of now-defunct Borders on Kirby this week, in preparation for two new high-profile tenants — the popular cosmetics store Ulta and Texas Children's Hospital.
"We're removing all the old Borders stuff right now, just gutting out the building before we redo the shell in the front," Mack Shakespeare of Tribble & Stephens told CultureMap Friday. Tribble & Stephens is the construction firm behind the Houston IKEA and the new BLVD Plaza in the Galleria area as well as renovation work at the Rice Lofts and the Astrodome.
"There aren't plans draw up yet, but they should be ready towards the end of the summer," said Mack Shakespeare of construction firm Tribble & Stephens.
"Ulta is going on the first floor and Texas Children's on the second," Shakespeare said. "There aren't plans draw up yet, but they should be ready by the summer."
The large two-story atrium that once greeted carefree Borders customers with bestsellers and magazines will get filled in with floor space for the upstairs pediatric offices.
"We'll be increasing the total area of the second floor and adding an elevator," Shakespeare said. (By the way, yes, that is his real last name. And, yes, he says he is related to Williams Shakespeare through the playwright's brother's line.)
Next door at the old Pesce, Shakespeare noted that Peterson Construction is currently underway on a multi-million-dollar renovation to convert the empty corner space into a branch of national restaurant chain Brio Tuscan Grille (as previously reported by CultureMap).
"There's quite a bit of stuff going on around here at this intersection," he said. "Only thing I've heard right now [about the old Borders space] is that they plan to begin working on the interior at the beginning of July or possibly sooner, depending on architects and permitting."