A third phase of Highland Park Marketplace, the upscale retail center at the intersection of Highland Road and Perkins Road East, will be slightly smaller but feature more parking spaces than originally planned. The new building, which will house a Kean’s Dry Cleaner and a Juban’s concept restaurant, will also be configured slightly differently than originally planned.
As a result, developer George Kurz and Juban’s owners have applied with the Planning Commission for a rezoning permit to allow the restaurant to serve alcohol.
The move is really a technicality. Juban’s already has an alcohol permit for the restaurant it develops on the site. However, because the configuration of the building has changed, the property must be rezoned.
“This is really a rezoning to fit the new footprint of the building, which will be better for everyone,” Kurz says. “We’ll have more parking, and we’ll also be able to keep the live oak tree.”
The owners of Juban’s remain tight-lipped about their plans for the restaurant, which originally was to be called Juban Grille. Juban’s Inc. President Michael Boudreaux says plans have changed since they were originally announced in 2012, and that the name may change as well. He declines to give further details.
Still, Kurz says the restaurant is moving forward and he hopes construction on the building, which will now be 11,000 square feet instead of 14,000 square feet, could begin by the fourth quarter of the year.
Meanwhile, construction on the 8,000-square-foot second phase of Highland Park Marketplace is well under way, though weather delays have hampered progress. That building will house a Zoe’s Kitchen, European Wax Center, Smoothie King and two still-undisclosed tenants.
