Post Oak Mall

14,622 Views | 65 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by frito bandito
ontheedge
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Storefronts are being shuttered at an alarming rate. Walk there and hit Penney's occasionally but that's it. How do you re-purpose a mall?
australopithecus robustus
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I have a good developer friend who's been taking malls and turning them into multi-purpose medical facilities. They've been very successful and work out well.
doubledog
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ontheedge said:

Storefronts are being shuttered at an alarming rate. Walk there and hit Penney's occasionally but that's it. How do you re-purpose a mall?
Brazos County Community College. Lots of parking, food courts, study areas, book store and Spencer gifts.
mwm
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I like that idea.
1.618
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Maybe a Windsor Park Mall to Rackspace situation like in San Antonio?

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/31/realestate/commercial/rackspace-revitalizes-a-defunct-mall-into-an-unorthodox-tech-campus.html

edit: The Brazos County Community College idea is good except that that it take a big piece of property off the tax rolls. I'd rather see the property continue to pay property taxes.
isitjustme
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AG
1.618 said:

Maybe a Windsor Park Mall to Rackspace situation like in San Antonio?

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/31/realestate/commercial/rackspace-revitalizes-a-defunct-mall-into-an-unorthodox-tech-campus.html

edit: The Brazos County Community College idea is good except that that it take a big piece of property off the tax rolls. I'd rather see the property continue to pay property taxes.
Yes, leave the property on the tax rolls. Plus, I don't really feel like paying a community college district tax like they do in Washington county and anywhere else they have a juco. Blinn is doing a fine job here plus no local taxes payed by me or anyone.

Would like the property find a good private sector use if the mall and its owner goes bust.
Orlando Ayala Cant Read
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Seriously looks like its days are very numbered. It's a ghost town each time I go.
AggiePhil
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AG
POM is, for the most part, alive and well. Nothing like it was in the heyday but that's just how things are now. You want to talk about ghost town malls, watch Dan Bell's "Dead Mall Series" on YouTube. Those malls are truly ghost towns.
techno-ag
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It's already an indoor walking park & playground. Maybe they can capitalize on that some more.
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EBrazosAg
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One could turn at least a significant part into a multi-sport (Hoops/Volleyball/Indoor soccer/Batting cages) complex. We have a ton of outdoor ball fields here with nothing for indoor sports. There is a real unmet need there, and it would have a tournament every weekend. Plus it could push traffic to the parts that stayed in retail space.
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ontheedge
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EBrazosAg said:

One could turn at least a significant part into a multi-sport (Hoops/Volleyball/Indoor soccer/Batting cages) complex. We have a ton of outdoor ball fields here with nothing for indoor sports. There is a real unmet need there, and it would have a tournament every weekend. Plus it could push traffic to the parts that stayed in retail space.
The space formerly occupied by Sears comes to mind.
woodiewood1
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If I was running the show, I would look into putting some apartment or condos in the parking area on the Penny's side. Then as the mall stores start closing, I would add more and more restaurants and residential buildings circling the mall with the idea of eventually having a nice community of residents and shopping/restaurants with some fountains, park areas, etc. on the property.
Love Gun
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Tear it down.

Build more restaurants, churches, apartments and Ag shacks.

It's the College Station way.
Rexter
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Love Gun said:

Tear it down.

Build more restaurants, churches, apartments and Ag shacks.

It's the College Station way.


And build it with one entrance/exit consisting of two lanes....and lots of interior streets, with a stop sign at every intersection. And bike lanes....bike lanes everywhere for the two people that will be using those bike lanes.
Buford T. Justice
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The University should purchase it. I can think of a couple of useful ways that the land, and the existing structure could be utilized.
GiveEmHellBill
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Love Gun said:

Tear it down.

Build more restaurants, churches, apartments and Ag shacks.

It's the College Station way.

And surround the entire area with concrete medians to prevent anyone from turning into it.

THAT'S the College Station way.
Picadillo
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College Station PD. Oh ... wait. Maybe a new courthouse and jail.
bearkitten
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Love Gun said:

Tear it down.

Build more restaurants, churches, apartments and Ag shacks.

It's the College Station way.

Maybe they could build more hotels on that spot.
BaitShack
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[This comment derailed the thread and this is not the politics board. -Staff]
cslifer
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So TAMU should buy some of the most expensive real estate in town and take it off the tax rolls? That sounds like a horrible idea for everyone involved.
Buford T. Justice
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Thank you
ClassicArnold
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Someone else mentioned turning a large section of it into an indoor sports facility. That is honestly a great idea. Due to all the rain we received since last October, local soccer teams have had a very tough time finding practice space on turf, basketball courts, tennis courts, open fields that aren't monitored, etc.. Getting dark at 5:30pm really hurts practice time also.
I guarantee with all the club teams we have, each turf field built in the mall would stay rented year-round. Bryan & CSSC rec teams could move games in doors on rainy Saturdays.
Wish I had the money to buy 75% of the mall. Leave the remaining space for food, sports stores, and anything that's actually thriving.
purplehayes
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Giant indoor paintball or laser tag place. For good measure, an indoor shooting range where one of the bigger stores was.

Maybe put a Quidditch field in where the Check E Cheese is so the nerds have something to do.
ro828
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Twenty some years ago Post Oak Mall had a Luby's Cafeteria and a movie theater with three screens. That's all closed down. The food court has about half the offerings that were there when the mall first opened. In the 1980's we'd load up our kids and drive in to spend the day at the mall. Now we live in Bryan and go to the mall maybe one time a year.
MisterShipWreck
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Where was the movie theater at (in the mall)? I moved here in 1996 - but I do not recall a theater in the mall. Maybe I just forgot.
AgFan1999
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AG
across from where Chuck E Cheese is now.
PFG
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Quote:

local soccer teams have had a very tough time finding practice space on turf, basketball courts, tennis courts,


Soccer teams practice on tennis courts?

Why not just an open parking lot?
halibut sinclair
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ro828 said:

Twenty some years ago Post Oak Mall had a Luby's Cafeteria and a movie theater with three screens. That's all closed down. The food court has about half the offerings that were there when the mall first opened. In the 1980's we'd load up our kids and drive in to spend the day at the mall. Now we live in Bryan and go to the mall maybe one time a year.

POM Food Court 1984.
ClassicArnold
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LiveOak said:

Quote:

local soccer teams have had a very tough time finding practice space on turf, basketball courts, tennis courts,


Soccer teams practice on tennis courts?

Why not just an open parking lot?
Compared to open parking lots, tennis courts are smoother, have lights, no rocks, and have a fence barrier to keep the balls contained. Tennis & basketball courts are last resort places because coaches & parents know those places weren't intended for soccer, so if enough people show up, we move.
Once I became involved in club soccer, met other parents of club baseball & volleyball players, I quickly learned just how much money people spend on trainers, gear, renting fields, batting cages, gyms, hotel expenses for 2-3 day tournaments..... an indoor turf facility in the center of town, on Hwy 6, would probably earn ALOT of money. But I'm no realtor. The mall may be stupid expensive & not worth it. Just seems like a good idea.
PFG
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Makes sense. Although I can see why tennis places wouldn't want it. Nets are expensive and can get beat up easily.
MisterShipWreck
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AgFan1999 said:

across from where Chuck E Cheese is now.
Ok, I remember now. That is kinda where I thought it was at after I made my post, but was not sure if I remembered it clearly or not....
ChampsAg
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I worked at Sears in the mall right after high school in 1989 for a little over a year. I came back in 1998 to work for Champs and Foot Locker, hence the screen name.

The mall used to be "the place to be". We used to go just to walk around, go to the game room and buy tapes back in the day. When I left in 2007, it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I hated going to the mall if I wasn't working.

The steady decline of the big box stores has led to the demise. The cell phone and skin care/hair care kiosks have taken over. Even in the early 2000's mall management was trying to find a way to make it relevant again. Even talked about moving the food court to the old Luby's.

One issue that we always had was that College Station was not considered a priority by upper management in retail. They never understood our market. I had to explain every two years why our Thanksgiving weekend sales were down. If the tu game was out of town, so was our customer base.

Talking about an indoor sporting complex is a great idea. There is a reason Ty Warren opened Field House Sports in Millican. His daughter was not able to find softball and volleyball fields to practice on. If he was in town, they would be more popular but they seem to do ok.

Never can have enough options for the kids indoors for rainy days in my opinion.
tdm89
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The kiosk hawkers make malls feel like a third world market these days.
Captn_Ag05
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I do think BCS would really benefit from some indoor facilities (soccer, basketball, volleyball, practice facilities for baseball/softball) both for local residents and for tournaments coming to town. BCS has done a pretty good job building a market for tournaments and I think this could add to it. Round Rock has done a nice job on this.

I am not sure if the mall is the likely place for such facilities though. Isn't the Bryan superpark playing with the idea of indoor facilities? Whether there, near Veterans park, or elsewhere, I would like to see it happen either privately or with city involvement.
AggiePhil
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Good points are being made. With triple digit summers, it's crazy that there aren't more indoor options.
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