Houston restaurateur Mack McDonald, the name behind The Rouxpour, is scaling up his Creole playbook in a big way. His new upscale Creole-and-seafood concept, Mack Allen’s, is headed to the ground floor of 5POP, the renovated tower at 4400 Post Oak Parkway in Uptown Houston. The restaurant will span roughly 16,000 square feet and is being built out as both a nightly destination and an on-site perk for the building’s office tenants, with designers planning multiple bars, several private dining rooms and a bakery-to-go counter aimed squarely at client dinners and weekday lunches.
What the space will include
McDonald has signed a lease for a 15,858-square-foot space that will sit next to a landscaped private park and include about 4,000 square feet of private dining, according to a CP Group press release on Business Wire. The same release notes that Mack Allen’s is slated to feature unique char-grilled oyster recipes, fresh Gulf seafood and premium steaks, backed by a whiskey-forward bar program. The concept is pitched as flexible enough for weekday client lunches, after-work drinks or private events of up to about 75 people.
A lease built for corporate clients
Industry coverage has described the agreement as one of the largest restaurant leases in the region at the time it was signed and highlighted how the private dining rooms, including a largest room with its own bar, are intended to serve the building’s tenants. Bisnow quoted broker David Littwitz pointing to the site’s access to high-income neighborhoods and nearby corporate offices that can support higher-end dining. Those corporate ties are expected to help turn weekday lunches and business dinners into reliable traffic.
When it might open
CP Group said in a later release that Mack Allen’s is scheduled to open on the ground floor in 2026, aligning the restaurant’s debut with the landlord’s $12 million renovation that has helped spark new leasing at the tower. Business Wire framed the restaurant lease as part of nearly 50,000 square feet of new deals at 5POP and noted that additional spec suites are expected to arrive this summer to keep up with demand…