Futuristic Burger Stand Makes Grand Landing, Market briefs

In Houston, P. Terry’s Burger Stand, featuring futuristic design that brings back memories of The Jetsons, is being constructed in NewQuest’s Grand at Aliana retail center in Fort Bend County.

The Austin-based burger chain is developing a 1,250-SF restaurant with two drive-through lanes.

The Michael Hsu Office of Architecture, which has the developed a hot hand in designing restaurants, retail, mixed-used and other acclaimed development in Texas, designed the P. Terry’s hamburger joint.

Googie Architecture and the Space Age

Some observers say P. Terry’s style is related to Googie architecture, a futuristic design phase that was influenced by the Space Age, the Atomic Age, fast cars, rockets and jet planes.

The Googie name comes from a now-defunct Googies Coffee Shop in Hollywood, Calif. One of the first McDonald’s, which opened in Downey, Calif. in 1953 is part of the Googie movement.

“P. Terry’s is very popular in Austin. It’s a cool, trendy concept that’s aggressively expanding in the Houston market,” said Josh Friedlander, leasing director and senior vice president for Houston-based NewQuest.

The Austin-based burger chain is slated to open in the summer in NewQuest’s Grand at Aliana center.

The power center, where two phases are fully leased and preleasing’s in progress on the third and final stage of development. At buildout, the freeway-fronting project will contain 665,000 SF filled with expanding national, regional and local brands at the junction of West Grand Parkway/TX 99 and West Airport Boulevard in Richmond.

“That’s the last site fronting the freeway’s feeder road in Phase I and II. P. Terry’s should do really well at this location,” says Friedlander.

The burger chain is landing on a high-profile pad site, which was locked up for a few years by other restaurateurs who failed to follow through on expansion plans in the Aliana market. P. Terry’s was one of several top names jockeying for the spot in NewQuest’s development.

The Grand at Aliana will be P. Terry’s third location in Greater Houston,

The restaurateur’s general contractor is Engen Contracting Inc. of Austin. Eric Walker and Jacob Weering of Capital Retail Properties represented P. Terry’s in the ground lease negotiations.

As construction gets in progress on the pad site, Friedlander and his leasing partner, David Meyers, are negotiating with national brands in the sporting goods and furniture categories for

the last two anchor spaces in the Grand at Aliana. To date, NewQuest has developed nearly 450,000 SF of retail, restaurant and medical office space at the Grand Parkway junction, where demand is outpacing availability.

“I get inquiries every day about space in the Grand at Aliana,” Friedlander says. “As a result, we are trying to fit in one more multi-tenant building to add more restaurants to the project.”

Accolades: The flagship P. Terry’s burger restaurant in Austin earned Michael Hsu Architecture the 2017 AIA Austin Honor Design Award.