The New Saigon: The Death of Houston's Soulless Asiatowns

Part 1: "The New Saigon" From Asiatown To Little Saigon

The New Saigon, is a massive breath of fresh air. A nearly 20-acre mixed-use development at 11111 Bellaire Boulevard and Boone Road, actually gives you a reason to come and then STAY.

At the end of the day Asiatown/Chinatown was always Little Saigon with a few Chinese and Korean spots. It morphed into something for non-asians and tourism.

Here's everything the culture hungry Houstonian has been waiting for:

Dining & Food:

• Market Hall - A vibrant traditional Vietnamese fresh market with produce, seafood, Asian food stalls, and specialty items that serves as a community gathering space, not a sanitized H Mart knockoff

• Express Supermarket - Modern one-stop shopping combining Asian specialties with mainstream groceries, featuring automatic payment counters and clear signage for convenient daily shopping

• Night Market & Asian Street Food - Fully-equipped vendor stalls (electricity, water, coolers, refrigerators) offering Thai, Vietnamese, Filipino, Japanese, and Korean cuisine alongside shopping stalls for clothes and handicrafts, with live music and art exhibitions

• Waterview Restaurant - Premium dining establishments overlooking actual water features within the development's water park area, not parking lots

• Rooftop Restaurants & Sky Bars - Houston's first real Asian nightlife district featuring cosmopolitan sky bars with panoramic city views, full beverage service, and open-air settings designed for actual social interaction

• General Merchandise & Food Kiosks - Quick-service food vendors and convenience items strategically placed throughout the complex for grab-and-go access

Health & Wellness:

• Beauty Center - Professional beauty treatments providing convenient on-site medical care and spa services

• Fitness Center - State-of-the-art fitness facility with modern equipment and comprehensive workout programs

• Pickle Ball & Badminton Court - Dedicated professional sports facilities promoting active lifestyle and recreational play for the community

• Senior Activity Center - Purpose-built space for elderly Vietnamese residents to gather daily, socialize, and participate in age-appropriate programming

Residential:

• The New Saigon Hotel - Luxury hotel offering exquisite accommodations designed to attract tourists and business travelers

• Lotus Luxury Condo - High-end condominium residences for those who want to actually live where Vietnamese culture thrives, not just visit

• Office & Professional Building - Modern professional office spaces for businesses seeking strategic location in Houston's thriving Asian business district

• Saigon Midrise Apartment - Contemporary rental housing with convenient access to all development amenities for those not ready for ownership

Retail & Entertainment:

• Shophouses, Merchandising & Retail Outlets - Mixed-use retail spaces inspired by traditional Asian shophouse architecture, featuring high-end and branded merchandise

• Indoor & Outdoor Event Center - Versatile event facilities for Vietnamese weddings, cultural performances, conferences, and large-scale community gatherings

• Performing Arts Theater of TNS - Professional theater venue specifically for Vietnamese and Asian cultural performances, not rented hotel ballrooms

• Outdoor Festival - Large-scale outdoor spaces with festival-ready infrastructure for Lunar New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Vietnamese Heritage Month celebrations

Unique Amenities:

• Heliport, Heli-Tours & Air Taxi Services - Professional helicopter facilities offering aerial tours of Houston and convenient air taxi transportation for high-net-worth residents and executives

• Photography Garden & Children's Playground - Beautifully landscaped outdoor spaces combining photo-worthy gardens with family-friendly recreational facilities

• Historical Landmarks - Architectural recreations of symbols from North, Central, and South Vietnam based on feng shui and East-West harmony, providing tangible heritage connections

When's the last time Katy Asian Town offered helicopter tours?!!

The project splits into 2 phases:

Phase 1 (currently leasing: Market Hall, Express Supermarket, Night Market, Waterview Restaurant, kiosks, medical clinic, fitness center, sports courts, senior center, apartments, shophouses, outdoor festival)

Phase 2 (rooftop bars, hotel, luxury condos, offices, event centers, theater, heliport, gardens, landmarks). Architectural design comes from Keiji Asakura of Asakura Robinson Architect Firm, with ownership by Phan Brothers Partnership.

Renders:

Part 2: Chinatown is a Soulless tourist trap, not a cultural experience

As someone whose lived and worked in Zhuhai, China, and Flushing, NY, and frequent visitor of San Francisco's Chinatown, Houston's Asiatown always left a bitter taste in my mouth, just never from the food.

I wanted to do something after eating. Chinatown had all the space for EDM clubs, rooftop bars, internet cafe's and wasted it on copy paste boba tea places, and 3-4 benches you can sit at that almost no one uses. Houston's Asiatown dining scene has been mistaken for an Asian cultural hub, when in reality, it's just a boring soulless food court with Popfancy, Soho Chicken and Beard Papa doing all the heavy lifting. Asiatown lacks the following

• no commitment to any culture displayed, just food

• no Temples

• no art

• no 24-hour Internet Cafes (网吧) with beds, instant noodles, and cigarettes

• no breakfast carts

• no instrument shops

• No major Lunar New Year Festivals (Those are now being held at POST Houston and will be bigger than it ever was in Asiatown)
  

(To be fair you can BYOB in a lot of KTV places and kick it with your friends after eating around the plaza, drink up, listen to music you like while taking turns on the AUX, and play card/board games.)