The Almeda Mall in southeast Houston.
Tony Garcia/For the Chronicle
By , Staff Writer
Plans for a major development at Interstate 45 and Almeda Genoa Road is expected to add a new retail buzz to Almeda Mall. The Market at Almeda will fill the vacant 290,000-square-foot former Macy’s store, and its opening next year will mark a new era of retail opportunities at the 57-year old mall, its owner says.
The marketplace, developed by Read King, a Houston-based real estate firm, will include several businesses, including a grocery store, a beauty school, fitness center and restaurants, according to renderings on the developer’s website.
While the space will be closed to the adjoining mall, the development is expected to also attract more shoppers to Almeda, said Felix Resnick, a principal with its owner, Florida-based 4th Dimension Properties.
“What the marketplace is going to do is, I believe, surpass the traffic that Macy’s was bringing in, at least I hope,” Reznick said. “I think it’s going to be a huge benefit for us.”
For developer Read King, the location offered a prime opportunity.
“The property has incredible real estate fundamentals at a regional intersection inside the Beltway in a densely populated submarket,” said Travis Read, senior associate at Read King. “We are excited to bring grocery, fitness, a beauty school, restaurants and other goods and services that will serve the submarket as well.”
The Almeda Macy’s, which the New York-based retailer said was underperforming, was the last so-called anchor store at the mall when it closed this year. It was a casualty of shifting retail trends, Reznick said.
“Losing an anchor is an impact to a mall, but anchors are not what they used to be. They don’t bring in the same traffic that they used to bring in in the ’80s and ’90s,” he said.
But it’s a misconception, he said, that a mall is falling into retail purgatory because it doesn’t compete in the same arena as the Galleria or Baybrook Mall. Almeda instead offers something less corporate, he said.
More than half of the mall’s shops are independently owned, including fruit stands in the food court, jewelry stores and other specialty shops.
“Smaller malls have more local flavor than malls with the typical, sanitized big box or national stores,” he said. “For instance, you might have somebody slicing mangos in the middle of the food court. It’s got every little flavor.”
Specialty shops and locally based businesses have helped Almeda Mall focus on its community, Resnick said Meanwhile, the mall’s national retailers, such as Foot Locker, Bath and Body Works, DD’s, Champs and Lids, along with genre stores Game Guys, 4040 Arcade and Otaku Anime Cafe, are consistent drivers of mall traffic, according to Reznick.
Almeda Mall, which opened in 1968, predates the Galleria, Baybrook and Willowbrook malls, which opened in 1970, 1978 and 1981, respectively. It is is one of the last traditional malls in the Houston area.
Several have closed in recent years and others, such as Pasadena Town Square and Sharpstown Mall were revamped into Latino theme marketplaces.
Despite a 2020 foreclosure during the pandemic, Almeda remains and is doing more than just hanging on, according to Reznick.
“The mall,” he said, “is still here and thriving.”
Prime hard corner redevelopment with grocery, Excellent visibility with 210,000+ cars per day Serving 130,000+ residents within 3 miles Adjacent to Almeda Mall with 500,000+ SF