Palace Bowling Lanes to be revived as Southside Commons mixed-use development

Palace Lanes on Bellaire.(Dave Rossman/Special to the Chronicle) NEXT: A rendering of the proposed redevelopment of the Palace Lanes site.

Palace Lanes on Bellaire.(Dave Rossman/Special to the Chronicle) NEXT: A rendering of the proposed redevelopment of the Palace Lanes site. Photo: Dave Rossman, Freelance / Special To The Chronicle Photo: Dave Rossman, Freelance / Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 11 Caption Close Palace Bowling Lanes to be revived as Southside Commons mixed-use development 1 / 11 Back to Gallery

The shuttered Palace Bowling Lanes will be redeveloped into a family entertainment and office project named Southside Commons, the developer announced.

And yes, there will still be bowling.

Triple Crown Investments, a real estate investment, redevelopment and acquisition firm, will modernize the two-story, 1955 building, with entertainment, restaurant and retail space on the ground level with office and medical office space above.

“Out of all of the uses our team explored during the redevelopment process, the best, and not necessarily most economical, was to preserve the building and bring back family entertainment and other amenities that the community so desires,” Triple Crown Investments managing partner John Morton said in a statement.

Design architect Michael Hsu and architect of record Tramonte + Johnson Architects have been tapped to revitalize the property, which sits on 2.5 acres at 4191 Bellaire Blvd. in Southside Place. Opening is planned in summer of 2019.

Hsu’s firm is responsible for designing the Heights Mercantile development, which incorporates existing buildings and new ones into the shopping center on Heights Boulevard. The firm was recently hired to create Understory, a community hub and culinary market on the tunnel level of downtown’s Capitol Tower.

The Palace Bowling Lanes property was operated by the Lillard family for some 45 years before the business was sold in 2015. The lanes, which were briefly operated by a different company, closed in October 2016.

Houston-based Arch-Con Construction is handling the remodeling, which includes raising the ceiling height on the existing second floor.

Arch-Con, which started work on the project Friday, plans to remove and replace the front façade of the 80,000-square-foot building. Materials on the front of the building include a mix of fiber-reinforced concrete panels, interlocking zinc tile, wood rainscreen and perforated metal sunshades. The existing terra-cotta block on the rear and sides of the building will be refreshed with paint.

The first floor will have 10,000 square feet of retail and 30,000 square feet of entertainment/restaurant space including bowling. Offices and medical offices will occupy 40,000 square feet on the second floor.

Arch-Con will remove the roof and replace the second-level columns with ones that are four feet longer.

“One of the challenges we had to overcome was that the original building’s second-floor office ceilings are too low for what today’s market demands,” Arch-Con senior vice president Marc MacConnell said in an announcement.

The project is 70 percent pre-leased, according to the developer, including a 30,000-square-foot lease with a yet-to-be named family entertainment center.

The number of bowling lanes and whether any of the original Palace lanes will be salvaged has not yet been determined.

No tenants were disclosed in the announcement, but previously Moody Rambin announced a 20,010-square-foot medical office with The Center for ENT at the project. Josh Marcell and Ryan Fassett with Moody Rambin represented the tenant in the lease.

The project is planned for three to five retail tenants and three to five medical/office users, with a mix of national and local companies. Independent Bank provided financing. The project cost was not disclosed.

Neighboring properties on Bellaire Bouevard have also been developed recently. The Alexan Southside mid-rise apartments by Trammell Crow Co. sit immediately east, and a CubeSmart self-storage facility built on the former Black Eyed Pea restaurant site is near Moeller’s Bakery to the west.

The parcel presents a rare opportunity for redevelopment in Southside Place, an affluent city primarily made up of residences between Bellaire, University, Edloe and Auden streets near West University.

“We are honored to breathe new life into this important community asset and will thoughtfully select the tenant mix to make it a well-rounded destination for families to eat, shop and play,” Morton said.