Former Rich's Nightclub Sells

An iconic Midtown building has a new owner—the former home of Rich’s at San Jacinto and McIlhenny sold to a Houston-based LP. It’s just one sale in quite a bit of nightclub activity in the area. (Normally "nightclub activity" isn't appropriate for a business publication.)

The Weitzman Group’s Edward Heap negotiated the sale of 2401 San Jacinto, which was recently updated and now houses another nightclub, The Limelight. Edward says the biggest hurdle to the sale was finding a buyer that suited the seller—most prospective buyers wanted to repurpose it or were owner/operators who wanted to use it for their own business. There are a handful of multifamily and mixed-use projects in the Midtown area that will subsequently create more demand for bars, restaurants and nightclubs, Edward tells us. Most recently, Barbarella (an Austin-based dance club) opened just across the street from Limelight. There’s another project underway at 2301 Main that will make room for multiple nightlife concepts.

The property has a unique history, which Edward says made the deal fun. Rich’s, a Houston nightlife institution, had occupied the 14k SF property for more than 30 years. Before that, it was the HQ for the Richland Fan Co, which manufactured stainless steel cooling fans for the HISD. Weitzman is working on another Midtown project—Yuri Bouharevich and Randy Hopper are handling the retail leasing at Central Square Midtown. That 21k SF block is under a 14-story Class-A office building. Edward and colleagues James Namken and Kyle Knight are also leasing the ground-floor retail at 2929 Weslayan (12k SF in River Oaks).