Hines reels in New York “clubstaurant” Catch

Hines reeled in a top-notch tenant for its Maple Terrace development in Dallas.

Catch, a celeb-loved New York-imported “clubsteraunt” has signed on as the first restaurant tenant in Hines’ 3-plus acre Uptown development, according to Eater Dallas.

Set to open in 2024, Catch Dallas would be the franchise’s eighth location, following the 2023 opening of its Miami Beach outpost. First launched in NYC’s Meatpacking District, the chic seafood and steak spot can also be found in New Orleans, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Aspen.

The Kardashian-Jenner clan, Jaime Foxx, Cindy Crawford, and the late Bob Saget attended its 2016 opening in Los Angeles.

Maple Terrace, at 3001 Maple Avenue, was first designed as apartments by famed English architect Sir Alfred Bossom in 1925. Famous past residents include Elvis Pressley, Dean Martin, Judy Garland and her daughter Liza Minelli.

Houston-based Hines did a full renovation of the historic property in 2021, adding a 22-story luxury residential building with 12,000 square feet of street-facing restaurant space. When Maple Terrance broke ground in 2021, D Magazine reported the full space was already leased by the hospitality group What If Syndicate.

With two-time Michelin-starred chef Danny Grant attached, the space was going to be home to the Texas flagship location of the award-winning steakhouse, Maple & Ash. It’s unclear if that Chicago-based restaurant pulled out or if the two franchises would be sharing the space.

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“We couldn’t think of a better location to open our first Texas outpost than Maple Terrace,” Catch partner Mark Birnbaum said in a news release, which indicated that Catch Dallas would resemble its New York location — two floors complete with a raw bar, lounge and dance club.

Since its opening in 2011, Catch and its affiliated hospitality company EMM Group, founded by Birnbaum, has been through controversy. Within a year of Catch’s grand opening, the company was hit with a investor lawsuit in federal court alleging EMM’s partners of fraudulently misleading investors and misappropriating funds from restaurants to use on Catch.

In 2015, head chef Hung Huynh, who won Top Chef in 2007, resigned before his contract ran out. Huynh, who’d helped build the brand since its founding, said at the time, “I had to cook food to please two guys [Mark Birnbaum and former EMM partner Eugene Remm] based on their palates. There was only so much I could do since I couldn’t do anything too weird or authentic.”

The New York restaurant’s security guards were accused in 2019 of a homophobic assault on two patrons after they kissed on its rooftop dance floor.

That was two years after Birnbaum sold half of EMM Group to Texas billionaire and Houston Rockets owner Tilman Feritta — the money man behind Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Rainforest Cafe, and former staff of the CNBC show “Billion Dollar Buyer.”

“We look forward to expanding our renowned brand to my hometown state,” Fertitta said. “The Maple Terrace development is the perfect backdrop to debut our first Catch in Texas.”

— Maddy Sperling