Palm Center (Houston)
The Palm Center Business and Technology Center, commonly known as Palm Center, is a municipally-owned services complex in southeast Houston, Texas. It is 6 miles (9.7 km) from Reliant Stadium and is in proximity to the Third Ward area.
As of 2011 the 26-acre (11 ha) complex includes a 268,000 square feet (24,900 m2) former shopping center, which is one story tall, and the Park at Palm Center (PAPC). The complex is at the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Griggs Road. Tenants include small businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits.
It opened as the Palms Center in September 1955. Keiji Asakura, an architect, described it as "the first of its kind that we know today as a shopping center, which means you drive up park and shop."Oscar Holcombe and Sterling T. Hogan, Sr. had the shopping center built to serve White Houstonians living in newly developed neighborhoods in Southeast Houston that were not in proximity to the shopping places in Downtown Houston. Irving R. Klein & Associates had designed the center, Stanley Krenek and James Bishop served as the project architects, and Fisher Construction Company completed the structural framework; Holcombe and Hogan had selected Klein & Associates in 1954. The construction of Palm Center started after that of Gulfgate Mall, but Palm Center opened first. Hogan stated that market surveys at the time stated that the Griggs and South Park Boulevard area would have immense growth, so the developers chose this location.
At the time of opening there were 41 stores and 2,000 parking spots. Albert Thomas, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, cut the ribbon to the facility. J.C. Penney, Oshman's, Walgreen’s, and Woolworth had stores at the time of opening. The library had opened around that time.
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