Trinket government update: Houston Pavilions loses an anchor tenant (updated)
Swamplot reports that the Downtown Pavilions project has suffered another blow, with the announcement that Books A Million will be shuttering its 23,000 sq. ft. store this month.
About a year and a half ago, the Pavilions developers were hoping to get occupancy up to 60%. We are guessing losing a big tenant like Books A Million just made that a lot harder.
Does anyone else remember how the Danger Train, and then the Pavilions, and then Discovery Green, (and now a soccer stadium!) all were going to make downtown a livable, walkable, thriving world-class destination? Or that Bill White delivered significant assistance to the developers of this particular (struggling*) world-class vision?
That's a big reason we prefer that markets, rather than pols operating the Houston Way, drive these sorts of decisions (which often work out better for connected elites than for taxpayers).
Photo of Books A Million by flickr user Jorge Michel, used via Creative Commons license.
* As an illustration, contrast the number of businesses in the Houston Pavilions and the Denver Pavilions.
UPDATE (01/05/2010): Neal Meyer informs in the comments that Books A Million will be staying after all. The livable, walkable, Houtopian downtown dream lives on!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/03/11 08:59 PM | Print |
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