Asian-themed restaurant seen fueling renewal of Huntridge Shopping Center

An Asian-themed restaurant from the owner of Downtown’s Carson Kitchen is among several businesses expected to revitalize the Huntridge Shopping Center and nearby area over the next year.

Carson Kitchen owner Cory Harwell, who also owns Standard & Pour in Henderson, will build his latest restaurant inside part of the former Mahoney’s Pro Music and Drum Shop off East Bonneville Avenue and Maryland Parkway.

Late last year, developer J Dapper, of Dapper Cos., and partners, bought the 62,000-square-foot Huntridge Shopping Center for $5.2 million. They also acquired the former drum shop, a residential fourplex next door and an empty commercial building nearby.

Dapper has pledged to pour millions into the properties.

“We’ve gutted this entire building and already re-roofed it,” said Dapper, referring to the 10,000-square-foot former drum shop.

The residential fourplex they acquired beside it was demolished to make room for more parking.

“It takes some vision to do what J’s doing and what we’re coming along for the ride with,” said Harwell, standing inside the battered building.

Harwell has not released the restaurant’s name, which he expects to open as early as April.

The former drum shop will be carved up to house four tenants total. In addition to Harwell’s restaurant, another dining option will be coming in, though Dapper declined to elaborate.

The remaining two tenants will not be restaurants, though Dapper is open other uses. The investor plans to pay homage to the structure’s musical history by branding it with a sign that reads “Mahoney’s” and with several murals.

The building has a narrow alley that leads into a small courtyard, which Hartwell intends to incorporate into his restaurant.

“I kept thinking, ‘how can we play on the alley?’ So we’re gonna embrace the food alleys of Japan, China, Thailand, the Philippines and Korea,” said Hartwell.

Harwell plans to double the courtyard’s size and extend the alley.

On one end of the courtyard will be the kitchen area, visible through sliding glass doors, and on the other side will be indoor and outdoor seating, with a bar in between. The restaurant will seat about 100 people total.

Harwell compared the new restaurant to his investment in Downtown Las Vegas which has flourished in recent years.

“People are just waiting for the next ‘it’ place to pop up and I think we have it,” said Harwell.

Interior Design firm Henriksen Butler will relocate from its current space at the Holsum Lofts to Dapper’s building on South 11th Street, the former site of the Gambler’s Book Club.

Across the street, a new $375,000 sign — made to look old-fashioned — will welcome motorists to the Huntridge Shopping Center. The building that houses the tavern, pharmacy, barber shop and recently-closed diner will also undergo changes. The diner space is being split into two with incoming tenant Wing Stop set to occupy one. The barber shop will move to a newly created, larger space and the pharmacy will move to a smaller space at the end. Restaurateur Harwell is in talks to run a breakfast and lunch spot in the final space.

Dapper said he expects those renovations to be complete by mid-2017. At that point, construction will begin on two adjacent buildings of 2,000 to 3,000-square-feet apiece on the site of a former Farm Basket restaurant that Dapper had demolished. Ideally, Dapper said he would like to put restaurants there.

Dapper has hired security to patrol since renovations began but plans to increase it.

Contact Alexander S. Corey at acorey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0270. Follow @acoreynews on Twitter.