The Village Arcade Shopping Center is a shopping center in

Rice Village Rice Village is a shopping district in Houston, Texas, United States. Rice Village is a collection of shops, restaurants and pubs, situated about a half-mile west of the center of Rice University's campus. The core "Rice Village" extends over se ...

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 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

owned by

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

History

The center was developed in phases in the early 1990s. The buildings of the Village Arcade complex were owned by

Weingarten Realty Weingarten Realty Investors was a real estate investment trust that invested in shopping centers, primarily in the Southern United States and primarily with grocery stores as the anchor stores. In August 2021, the company was acquired by Kimco ...

while a subsidiary of Rice University owned the land itself. Weingarten had a ground lease with options to renew the center until 2040. David Kaplan of ''

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'' wrote in 1996 that the development "has become a lightning rod of controversy, representing either the glories or the perils of progress." Kaplan stated that the Rice Village development paralleled the teardowns of smaller older houses and replacements with larger houses in surrounding neighborhoods. In 2014

announced that it was acquiring the Village Arcade shopping center from Weingarten Realty. Rice University opted to buy Weingarten out of its lease, paying $55–60 million. This means the university also owns the property in addition to the land.

Composition

The Village Arcade is a pink brick shopping center. The Village Arcade occupies an area bounded by

Kirby Drive Kirby may refer to: Buildings * Kirby Building, a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas, United States * Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan country house near Corby, Northamptonshire, England * Kirby House (disambiguation), various houses in England and the Unite ...

, Amherst, Morningside, and University. The development also occupies most of the block bounded by Kelvin, Amherst, Times, and Morningside. Kaplan wrote that compared to other developments in Rice Village, it is a "monolith".

Tenants

As of 2013 it includes tenants such as

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, La Madeleine, and

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...

. As of 2001 The Gatsby Social Club, previously the Cody's in the Village, is located on the complex's top floor. As of 1996 it includes national chains such as

Eddie Bauer Eddie Bauer, LLC is an American clothing store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Eddie Bauer sells its merchandise via retail stores, outlet stores, and online and via phone, with a call center in Groveport, Ohio. Its flagship store is ...

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, Gap, Starbucks,

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, and

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...

Bibliography

Notes

External links

Village Arcade Shopping Center
{{Coord, 29.71608, -95.41621, type:landmark_region:US-TX, display=title Shopping malls in Houston Rice University