The River Oaks Shopping Center is a shopping center in Neartown,

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, adjacent to

River Oaks River Oaks is a residential community located in the center of Houston, Texas, United States. Located within the 610 Loop and between Downtown and Uptown, the community spans .Archive Established in the 1920s by brothers Will Hogg and Michael H ...

. As of 2012 the more than center includes one grocery store, one movie theater, 14 restaurants, and 76 stores. The center, owned by Weingarten Realty, is the third oldest shopping center of its type in the United States.Staff.
River Oaks Shopping Center takes Landmark retail award (Video)
" ''

Houston Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor New ...

''. April 20, 2012. Retrieved on April 15, 2014.

History

Hugh Potter, who was involved in the

Corporation and took control of it in the 1930s, had created the concept of the shopping center. Potter originally planned to place the center at the intersection of River Oaks Boulevard and

Westheimer Road Westheimer Road () is an arterial east–west road in Houston, Texas, United States. It runs from Bagby Street in Downtown and terminates at the Westpark Tollway on the southern edge of George Bush Park, stretching about long. The street was ...

where St. John the Divine Church was built, but in 1930 he changed the location to where it would be ultimately built.Longstreth, p. 9 The preliminary studies began in 1932.Longstreth, p. 10 Potter commissioned architects Edward Arrantz and Oliver C. Winston to create the plans for the study. Arrantz died, so he was replaced by Stanton Nunn. Winston was later hired by the Public Works Administration to be the housing division project planner. In the early fall of 1936, H. G. Frost committed to financing the center. Potter asked Winston to finish the process, so Winston took one month of leave of absence from his job with the federal government. The designs, produced by the architecture firm Nunn & McGinty,Mod, Anna. ''Building Modern Houston'' (Images of America).

Arcadia Publishing Arcadia Publishing is an American publisher of neighborhood, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs the History Press, which publ ...

, 2012. , 9780738585246. p
12
were finalized in 1937. The first stores at the River Oaks Shopping Center opened in November 1937. Anna Mod, author of ''Building Modern Houston'', wrote "The center was the subject of numerous articles" when it opened. In 1971 Weingarten Realty bought the center. In 1975 Weingarten made its first renovation. In 2008 area residents began complaining upon learning about a plan to install an open-air wine bar/patio for private parties. Tony Vallone, who planned to establish the wine bar/patio, later announced that the plans have been called off. In October 2011 Weingarten completed a renovation of $1.15 million. The company planted palm trees from Florida along the curbs, and it added energy-saving lighting. In a 38-year period ending in 2012, Weingarten spent over $115 million in renovations to the River Oaks Shopping Center.

Redevelopment

The front page of the July 22, 2006 ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'' reported there were plans to demolish parts of the River Oaks Shopping Center and to build redevelopment, including a Barnes & Noble, on the site of one portion,Welling, David. '' Cinema Houston: From Nickelodeon to Megaplex''.

University of Texas Press The University of Texas Press (or UT Press) is a university press that is part of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly books and journals in several areas, including Latin American studies, Texan ...

, June 30, 2010. , 9780292773981. p
131132
a building on the northeast corner of Shepherd Drive and West Gray, for redevelopment.Gray, Lisa.
Crews demolish River Oaks shopping center
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''. September 4, 2007. Retrieved on April 15, 2014. These plans, which were unconfirmed by the newspaper, stated that the

River Oaks Theatre The River Oaks Theatre is a historic movie theater located in the River Oaks Shopping Center in the Neartown community in Houston, Texas, United States, east of the River Oaks community.

would be demolished. In 2007 Weingarten announced for certain it was going to demolish the northeast corner portion of the center.Sarnoff, Nancy.
Part of River Oaks center to be torn down, rebuilt
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''. March 31, 2007. Heights News. Retrieved on April 15, 2014. Weingarten announced that a $15 million, about complex of two and three story buildings, anchored by a two-story Barnes & Noble, would replace the former portion. The plans called for a spa, office space, shops, and restaurants to be housed in the new complex. The Starbucks on that lot was not affected. There was a campaign to preserve the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

building. The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance (GPHA) made a petition that got over 25,000, asking for Barnes & Noble to not lease space in the project. This petition was sent to the Barnes & Noble chairperson and CEO.Snyder, Mike.
Trees cut in preparation of razing River Oaks center
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''. July 12, 2007. Retrieved on April 15, 2014. The GPHA stated that the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission included the River Oaks Shopping Center portion, the Alabama Theatre, and the River Oaks Theater in its list of fifty most important historic buildings in Houston. The GPHA also asked the

Texas Historical Commission The Texas Historical Commission is an agency dedicated to historic preservation within the state of Texas. It administers the National Register of Historic Places for sites in Texas. The commission also identifies Recorded Texas Historic L ...

(THC) to inquire about the historical eligibility of the old portion. The THC ruled it to be eligible to be on the

National Historic Register The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, along with the Alabama and River Oaks Theatres. That year, the City of Houston Planning Commission recommended that the shopping center be designated as a historic landmark. This designation would give

tax breaks Tax break also known as tax preferences, tax concession, and tax relief, are a method of reduction to the tax liability of taxpayers. Government usually applies them to stimulate the economy and increase the solvency of the population. By this fi ...

discouraging demolition. In July 2007 some trees in the area were felled to prepare for the demolition. The City of Houston designated the River Oaks Shopping Center, Alabama Theatre, and the River Oaks Theatre as historic landmarks. Under the city law at the time, the owners and developers of a building designated as a landmark can still demolish a building designated as such without penalty if they apply for a certificate of nondesignation. If this is granted, the recognition of a place as being a historic landmark is delayed for a six-month period. During this period the owner and/or developer is/are free to demolish the building. On September 4, 2007, demolition of the old portion began. In 2007 Jennifer Friedburg of the ''

'' wrote that pro-preservationists "will certainly continue to try to change the rules to protect other buildings that might be demolished in the future" and that "While this act seals the center’s fate, it will do little to end the debate about what type of city Houston is, what it values and what it will look like in the future." In 2018 Weingarten announced plans to demolish the section with the former Laff Stop Comedy club so a thirty-story residential tower could be built in its place.

Location and composition

The center is at the intersection of West Gray Avenue and South Shepherd Drive in Neartown, adjacent to the eastern boundary of

. The center is west of

Downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10, Interstate 45, and Interstate 69. The ...

, north of the

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universities ...

Texas Medical Center The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrat ...

area, east of

Uptown Houston Uptown (more commonly called The Galleria Area) is a business district in Houston, located west of Downtown and is centered along Post Oak Boulevard and Westheimer Road ( Farm to Market Road 1093). The Uptown District is roughly bounded by ...

The Galleria The Galleria, stylized theGalleria and also known as the Houston Galleria, is an upscale mixed-use urban development and shopping mall located in the Uptown District of Houston, Texas, United States.Houston Heights Houston Heights (often referred to simply as "The Heights") is a community in northwest-central Houston, Texas, United States. "The Heights" is often referred to colloquially to describe a larger collection of neighborhoods next to and including ...

. In 2017 Weingarten announced plans to build a 30-story residential tower with construction scheduled to begin in 2018. Ziegler Cooper is the architect. The tower, which will house ground-level retail in about of space, would replace parking spaces and an existing building that houses the restaurants Café Ginger and Local Pour.

Architecture

The ''

'' wrote that the center had "a snazzy “modern” design evocative of the era in which the center was built".RIVER OAKS SHOPPING CENTER
" ''

''. November 15, 2005. Lifestyle. Retrieved on April 15, 2014. The parts of the River Oaks Shopping Center are along both sides of West Gray Avenue. Richard Longstreth of ''

Cite A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose o ...

'' described the two main buildings as being "mirror images, each framing a forecourt, as if two of the Washington centers were face to face."Longstreth, p. 11. Longstreth wrote that Potter had "probably stipulated" this design "at the outset". The main buildings had a semicircular shape. This way, automobile drivers entering the forecourt could see all of the stores. and drivers traveling from River Oaks to

would also be able to see the stores. Anna Mod wrote that the entrances to the shops each had "a solid base, large windows, and a minimally detailed cornice." Longstreth wrote that the shape and the "abstract, minimalist vocabulary" were " o of the most distinctive features" in Winston's architectural plans, and that this arrangement "imparted a sense of fluidity that stood in distinct contrast to even the least historicizing Washington centers then realized, where form and composition engendered a feeling of static reserve."

Tenants

Tenants include Barnes & Noble, Kroger Signature, Jos A. Bank, the

, and Starbucks. In 1987 Events, a gift store, opened. Events is in a space. The founders, Jay Rosenstein and Raymond Barron, sold it to Regina Garcia in 2013. La Griglia Restaurant is in the center. In 2006 Mimi Swartz of '' National Geographic'' wrote that La Griglia is "the River Oaks lunch spot of choice." The section that was demolished in 2007 included a

Black-eyed Pea The black-eyed pea or black-eyed bean is a legume grown around the world for its medium-sized, edible bean. It is a subspecies of the cowpea, an Old World plant domesticated in Africa, and is sometimes simply called a cowpea. The common commer ...

, a Jamba Juice, a Jos. A. Bank, and a bakery. The Jamba Juice and Jos. A. Bank moved while the Black-eyed Pea and the bakery closed. In 2007 Boutique Em&Lee and the lingerie boutique La Mode moved within the shopping center. In 2010 Weingarten announced that a branch of the Américas restaurant by Michael Cordua will open in the center. As of 2010 Tony Mandola's Gulf Coast Kitchen had been located in the center for 20 years. At that time there were plans to move. In 2011 the record shop Allrecords was notified that the Luke's Locker wanted to expand, so Allrecords decided to move out of the center. It was there for 30 years. In 2013 Atrium Ready to Wear, a fashion designer clothing store, and Casa de Novia Bridal Couture, a bridal dress shop, moved into the center in a space below the Américas restaurant. The former moved into a area while the letter moved into a area; both are separated from one another by a low glass partition. The combined new space of the shops is larger than the combined previous one.Schmal, Jody.
Inside new River Oaks Shopping Center shops Casa de Novia and Atrium
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''. April 25, 2013. Retrieved on April 15, 2014. Marfreless Bar moved to a two-story area behind the River Oaks Theatre in 1976.Kearney, Syd.
Marfreless bar back in action in River Oaks
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''. June 14, 2013. Retrieved on April 15, 2014. In 2013 Marfreless announced it was closing. It was accessible through an unmarked door. The closure was scheduled for March 30, 2013. In June 2013 the bar announced it was going to reopen later that summer, with new management. The first J McLaughlin in Texas was scheduled to open at this center on July 19, 2013. A Kelsey Seybold Clinic opened in 2021.

Apartment complex

The complex has an apartment complex, The Driscoll at River Oaks. It is scheduled to open in 2021, and construction began in 2018. The range of units is from to . The complex is within the

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...

(HISD), and is assigned to Wilson Montessori School, Lanier Middle School, and Lamar High School.

References

* Longstreth, Richard.
River Oaks Shopping Center

Archive
. ''

''. Rice Design Alliance, Winter 1996 (Northern Hemisphere). p. 8-13.

Notes

External links

River Oaks Shopping Center
*

"

Carolyn Farb Carolyn Farb is philanthropist, fundraiser and art collector. She has raised more than 50 million dollars for numerous charitable causes. Farb is a resident of River Oaks, a wealthy neighborhood in Houston, Texas. Biography As a young adult, Fa ...

Official Website. {{coord, 29.753, -95.409, type:landmark_region:US-TX, display=title Shopping centers in Houston 1931 establishments in Texas Neartown, Houston