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If Chef Ben Merritt’s decision to open a restaurant this year in the heart of East Rosedale Street at Texas Wesleyan University surprised many (the university even included an exclamation point at the end of the headline announcing the news), Merritt thinks it makes perfect sense.
Texas Wesleyan is investing heavily in its campus and the “Rosedale Renaissance,” the revitalization of its East Rosedale Street front yard, and the city has kicked in with street-front improvements. Texas Wesleyan cut Merritt a deal on the lease and found federal urban development grant money it will use to restore the building shell.
Merritt, who opened his Fixture – Kitchen and Social Lounge on the Near Southside’s West Magnolia Avenue two and half years ago, began looking for the location of a second restaurant after year one on West Magnolia. He considered West Magnolia, but didn’t like the rents. He drove Riverside’s emerging Race Street, but didn’t think it ready. Then he drove East Rosedale and sat in the lot of a car wash one day, watching traffic.
“There was so much traffic and no restaurants,” Merritt said one recent afternoon, finishing off a sandwich at the Subway in the same strip at East Rosedale and Wesleyan Street where he’ll open the 3,400-square-foot Ben’s Triple B: Biscuits, Burgers and Brews this spring.
“It is a risk, but I feel with the lease and the whole project, I’m going to do OK,” says Merritt, who's already pitching restaurant friends on moving into the remaining 4,000 square feet available in the strip.
A week after he drove the street, Merritt ran into Todd Miller, a Wesleyan backer, at the Near Southside’s Friday on the Green and mentioned an interest in East Rosedale. Miller made an introduction to Fred Slabach, Texas Wesleyan’s president.
The university has secured $570,000 in federal money it will use to revitalize the center, including Merritt’s space. Merritt and the university agreed to a five-year lease, with a five-year renewal option.
The restaurant will have a rear deck. The university is paving two parking lots – one behind the strip with Merritt’s restaurant and the second on the west end of the center.
When he first saw it, Merritt noticed the building sits on a high spot. He plans a second-phase rooftop patio, with views overlooking the downtown skyline.
The restaurant will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and have a casual vibe, with a full bar, TVs for sports fans, strong Wi-Fi, copious power outlets, and a menu featuring breakfast items, biscuit concoctions, salads and “old-fashioned burgers done right,” Merritt says.
Having a nonprofit landlord helped bring Merritt over. Slabach says securing the federal money to bring the storefronts back to “white box” condition was a big win. “We knew that was the biggest impediment to getting retailers in.”