Aug 17, 2017

Exclusive: Braun Beefs Up Portfolio With Midtown, North Houston Properties

HOUSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL

Houston-based Braun Enterprises has several more properties to add to its growing Bayou City retail portfolio.

The development company, which has become well-known for acquiring older Heights-area properties and flipping them into viable retail developments, is building a 4,316-square-foot retail property at 311 West Gray Street near Midtown, Braun's Zach Wolf told the Houston Business Journal. Braun's already leased the property to three tenants – Feather & Fur Animal Hospital, Asian Stir Fry and Ship & Shield, a Viking-themed bar and pub currently at 403 West Gray St.

It's unclear if Ship & Shield will continue operating this location. Asian Stir Fry is the same restaurant group behind Viet's Express at 8057 Kirby Drive in the Texas Medical Center.

The development at 311 West Gray Street should deliver in six to eight months, Wolf said.

In the past several months, Braun's acquired several other properties throughout the Houston area. Braun acquired the property at 4602 Dacoma, which is currently home to a smoke shop. Braun plans to redevelop this property into a multitenant building, Wolf said. Additional information wasn't disclosed.

The building sits across the street from Fidelis' redevelopment of the 200,000-square-foot Exxon Brookhollow campus.

Braun also recently acquired the property at 12910 Northwest Freeway, which is currently leased to Brick House Tavern.

Braun Enterprises has a busy book of business in Houston. Most recently, the company acquired the historic Heights waterworks property in June and plans to turn the property into a collection of four freestanding restaurants, a new 5,000-square-foot retail building and a lawn area.

"It’s a very important project to us. The Heights is important to us," Wolf told the Houston Business Journal in June. "You've got to be careful with who you do deals with nowadays. You don't want turnover."

The site currently features a 750,000-gallon brick reservoir building from 1928 that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a 1939 Art Deco pumping station built by the Works Progress Administration and a 1949 pumping station.

Braun also recently began work on a new project west of T.C. Jester at 1900 W. 18th St. and is redeveloping the Pizza Hut property at 1805 W. 18th St., where Italian restaurant La Vista will relocate.

Read original article here.