KEMAH WATERFRONT

Boardwalk Razzle Dazzle (and Refinement) Texas-Style!

 

 

"Houston has the third largest port in the United States and every major city has a 

waterfront or festival marketplace that is a showplace for that city" Tilman Fertitta

Tilman Ferritta, the driving force behind the astonishing success of the Landry’s Seafood Restaurants, Inc., has developed Kemah Boardwalk, a 14-acre entertainment and retail complex filled with family attractions that spread out on the water’s edge in Kemah, Texas.  The waterfront project has themed restaurants, retail shops, a first-class hotel, a specialty aquarium restaurant featuring a 50,000-gallon tank of tropical fish, a water garden, and amusements for the entire family.  Winding through the project and linking its components are a boardwalk promenade, a pedestrian corridor, and a miniature train ride.

 

According to Fertitta, “Houston has the third largest port in the United States and every major city has a waterfront or festival marketplace that is a showplace for that city.  The Kemah  complex is a destination that will attract and please millions of visitors. It will put the Kemah waterfront on the national map.”

 

Kemah Boardwalk was completed in the fall of 1998. But  projections already indicate that the success of this entertainment complex will soon double the number of visitors drawn to the area from 2 million to an estimated 4 million each year.

 

 “Visitors to Kemah waterfront are captivated by the many activities and dining and shopping options that are now available to them,” Fertitta says.  “Some visitors feel they have traveled many miles to experience such an exciting and adventurous place, when in fact, they come from Houston, which is so close and easily accessible.”

 

Kemah is located less than 20 miles from downtown Houston, and it has been a destination for generations of Houstonians seeking an easy getaway for boating, fishing, dining or shopping for crafts, collectibles and other unique items. But in its long and colorful history, Kemah has seen nothing like Fertitta’s entertainment retail destination project.

 

Kemah, which is the boating center of the Texas Gulf Coast,  was founded in 1898.  Gulf-related businesses, including boat building, commercial fishing and tourism, helped Kemah grow into a town of 1,300 by 1922.  During the 1930s, Kemah was Houston’s playground with wide-open gambling, drinking and prostitution.

 

A cafe on the bottom floor of The Edgewater Casino, which opened 1950, was the unlikely seed from which the Kemah entertainment specialty project grew. Commonly known as  Jimmie Walker’s Edgewater Restaurant and Supper Club, it was closed down in 1954 because of gambling.  In 1989, it was re-established as Jimmie Walker’s and soon caught the eye of Fertitta, who seems to have always had a soft spot in his heart for Kemah.  In 1989, Fertitta decided to buy the historic Kemah restaurant location and agreed to name the new restaurant “Landry’s at Jimmie Walker’s.”  According to the Houston Chronicle, when Fertitta started Landry’s at Jimmie Walker’s in 1990, “the waterfront featured a fledgling marina and a handful of local restaurants anchored the small business development.” For years, the waterfront land was prone to flooding, even in the driest of seasons, city officials said. Customers were reluctant to venture to the strip if it meant a trip in the mud, and the city didn’t have enough money to build a street for the business owners to use.  But Fertitta stuck to his guns when locals sold out.  He kept a low profile, did his business, and purchased restaurants from the local legends.  He believed in the location.  And his belief was rewarded.

 

“We had been very pleased with business at the Landry’s at Jimmie Walkers on the Kemah waterfront,” Fertitta says. “It is the largest grossing location of all of Landry’s and has welcomed such distinguished visitors as Shirley MacLaine, Doris Day, Teri Garr, Gene Hackman, many astronauts and a prince from Saudi Arabia.”

 

By 1997, when Fertitta unveiled his $25-million project, the proposed Kemah Boardwalk was expected to garner $1 million in sales taxes yearly and bring up to 5 million tourists to a city with a population of barely 1,500 citizens. Fertitta expects the development to garner $40 million in revenue per year.

 

At a city council meeting in June 1998, Fertitta told Kemah council  members that he wanted to buy Second Street, which runs beside the restaurants in the project. Fertitta wanted to make the street into a pedestrian walkway; he purchased Second Street for $300,000 in July of 1998.

 

Mayor Rick Diehl said selling the street was a win-win situation for Kemah.  Diehl said the negotiations with Fertitta were simple and straightforward, adding, “He has a vision for the waterfront.”

 

Fertitta says that the Kemah Boardwalk project was obviously a good business venture.  “It makes sense to build where you have success,” he said. “It’s unique because you have one channel that all the boats have to go through to get to the bay. They aren’t all along the coast.”

 

The city will have to continue to add police and street workers and expand staff to handle growth from the development. But Bob Zanelli, chairman of Zann Comm Brokerage, a real estate development company in Kemah, says, “Good development attracts good development.  Kemah still has a lot of raw land and there will be more development. When it comes to development, look to the residential base, homes and apartments.” 

there has to be more for us. He also hasn’t come in here looking for handouts and I like that.”

 

Boardwalk Inn, a New Orleans-style hotel of 60 rooms and four luxury suites, is at the center of Fertitta’s waterfront adventure.  “Guests will find the hotel to be very comfortable and elegant, providing a very at-home and relaxing feeling,” Fertitta says. “The Gulf Coast architecture and size of the hotel offer a sense of intimacy and first-class personalized service.”  The hotel features waterfront views, custom interiors, and a balcony overlooking the plaza. A rooftop terrace, with a small lap pool,  provides a quiet zone for watching sailboats and sunsets. The marble and wood lobby features a custom elevator and a winding wrought-iron staircase. Yellow, white and denim blue run throughout the facility and help create the seaside cottage look of the hotel.  An executive boardroom is located on the third floor, providing a casual but elegant setting for corporate meetings of up to 100 people.

 

The first floor of the Boardwalk Inn contains more than 18,000 square feet of space devoted to a collection of retail specialty shops.  Ten covered kiosks of approximately 300 square feet have been designed for an additional 3,000 square feet of retail outside the hotel along the walkways.  According to Jay Plotkin, senior associate for Wulfe & Co. (713-621-1700), the Houston real estate company handling the retail leases, about six retailers are in place, including the Marble Slab Creamery (ice cream), the Toy Crossing, On the Park (plush animals), Christmas at Kemah (a seasonal store ­ editor’s note: Kemah celebrates Christmas with a parade of more than 100 lighted boats), Thomas Kincaid Gallery (art and gifts), and Crescent City (pastries).  A woman’s clothing boutique, themed around the 1940’s, is under construction.   Plotkin told E.S.P. that all lease terms, including tenant allowances, are negotiable.   A few weeks later, when E.S.P. interviewed Fertitta, he told us that all the 18,000 square feet of retail space at Kemah was already leased.  We recommend interested parties check with Plotkin.

 

In addition to the Landry’s flagship operations operating in the Kemah Boardwalk, which include Landry’s Seafood House, Joe’s Crab Shack and a Kemah Crab House,  Ferritta opened a Mexican restaurant called the Cadillac Bar and a new, local restaurant dubbed The Flying Dutchman.  He is transforming the collection of eateries into one of the most dynamic groupings of destination restaurants in the region.

 

The jewel of the Kemah project is the Aquarium Restaurant. “Our newest restaurant, the Aquarium, which we call an ‘underwater dining adventure,’ adds a tremendous amount of excitement to the area,” Fertitta says. “This one-of-a-kind specialty restaurant features three large aquariums, sea-themed decor, porthole windows, bars, banquet facilities, and a gift shop with sea-related merchandise. It also provides the illusion of being in an underwater garden.”

In its long and colorful history, Kemah has seen nothing like Fertitta’s entertainment retail destination project

 

A third-floor ballroom has a seating capacity of 130 and is available for banquets and other pre-booked special events. The ballroom’s balcony and three walls of windows offer spectacular views of the channel, bay and plaza. Guests reach the second and third floors by elevator or by climbing a circular staircase that winds around a 15,000-gallon, 35-foot tall cylindrical aquarium that is eight feet in diameter.

 

The family amusements, which create as much excitement for the children as the hotel and restaurants do for the adults, are designed by Chance Rides, Inc. The unusual selection of rides include the C.P. Huntington, a gas-powered train that is a handcrafted replica of an 1863 Central Pacific train; a 36-foot classic carousel, which features elaborately designed horses, menagerie figures, crests, head shields, ornate panel art, and distinctive music; a 65-foot Century ferris wheel with gondola seating; and an enormous slide. Decorative fountains, located at the courtyard near the hotel, complete the fantasy setting for the project.  The display is designed so that 75 water jets, spread in the shape of a 40-foot pinwheel, come up through the pavement and release water that rises up to 12 feet in the air, allowing children to dance and play in the resulting spray.  At night the fountains are lit in colors.

 

Although the Kemah Boardwalk is a project of Landry’s Seafood Resaurants, Inc., which Tilman Fertitta controls, Fertitta is also the sole shareholder of Fertitta Hospitality, a development, hotel and entertainment company that independantly owns and operates the Galveston Island Hilton Resort, the San Luis Hotel and Conference Center, specialty shops and various other projects.

 

Although no specific plans were revealed to E.S.P.  for the development of other major entertainment retail destinations,   Fertitta did say that he will open one or two Aquarium restaurants each year, after identifying unique locations throughout the country.  Regarding the Kemah project, Fertitta comments, “Kemah Boardwalk provides a wonderful experience for the entire family.  With amusement rides, retail shops and themed restaurants, there are plenty of reasons to come to Kemah for an exciting getaway adventure.”

 

For leasing information contact Jay Plotkin, senior associate, Wulfe & Co., 11 E Greenway Plaza, Suite 1700, Houston, TX 77046; 713-621-1700.  For more information on the Kemah Boardwalk project, contact Andy Slavin, director of development, Landry’s Seafood Restaurants, Inc., 1400 Post Oak Boulevard, Suite 1010, Houston, Texas 77056; 713-850-1991.