The Bellaire Food District Broke Ground in May. Diho Square Already Moved On.

Mai Garden Terrace sits at the corner of Kirkwood and Bellaire, which puts every resident within a few blocks of the busiest stretch of Asiatown. The development's Vietnamese name, Mai Gia Thon, translates to "Cherry Blossom Village," but the more useful translation for daily life is simpler: you live at the intersection where the corridor's next big food project just broke ground, and where the plaza across the street has already rewritten its own restaurant lineup twice this year without waiting for anyone's permit.

That's the part worth sitting with. A $9 million food hall is under construction two blocks from your door and won't seat a single diner until spring 2027 at the earliest. Meanwhile, the corner plazas that have anchored this stretch of Bellaire for two and three decades keep changing on their own schedule, with or without a groundbreaking ceremony. If you're waiting for the new development to make this neighborhood worth walking to, you're missing what's already happened.

What's Actually Under Construction

Permits filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation show construction on the Bellaire Food District starting May 1, 2026, with a completion target of May 1, 2027, at 9229 Bellaire Blvd. The filing puts the project at roughly 45,000 square feet and about $9 million, with Kenco Properties, LLC listed as owner and Citiscape Architecture & Planning as the design firm. Developer Kevin Kan has been candid that even that timeline is optimistic, telling What Now Houston that some of the eventual tenants will likely open later than the spring 2027 target as individual restaurants finish their own build-outs.

This is Kan's second run at the same idea. His original Bellaire Food Street opened at 9393 Bellaire Blvd in 2019, initially planned at 24,000 square feet with nine concepts and a 10,000-square-foot shared food hall before the developer shifted to individual storefronts instead. The new project is nearly double that footprint. Kan has described the goal plainly:

"Our mission is to showcase the best of global multicultural cuisine in a familiar setting."

A second, separate project is also filed for the corridor: a Bellaire Market District with a two-story Vietnamese food hall and expanded retail and parking. No completion date has surfaced publicly yet. Between the two, Asiatown currently has two major food developments in the pipeline and zero completed floors.

The Plaza That Never Waited on a Groundbreaking

While that construction clock runs, Diho Square keeps doing what it's done for years. The plaza started as Ding Ho Guang Chang, built by the Wong family around their first grocery store, 99 Market. As the corridor's population shifted, the Wongs rebranded it as Diho Square, also known as D2 or D-Square, renovated the exterior, and diversified who leases space inside. Longtime standbys like Hong Kong's Cafe, Shanghai Restaurant, and Tapioca House have stayed put, but Korean barbecue joints, Japanese ramen spots, shabu-shabu concepts, and a Vietnamese dessert café have all moved in alongside them, according to reporting in Houstonia Magazine.

None of that required a state permit filing or a 12-month construction schedule. It happened tenant by tenant, inside a building that's stood on that corner since long before anyone announced a food district.

Even the Original Food Street Turns Over

The comparison holds up even inside Kan's first project. Bellaire Food Street opened in 2019 with 13 concepts under one roof. By early 2025, one of its original vendors, Captain Bbang, had already closed, a detail confirmed independently by both Hoodline and What Now Houston, citing Houston Chronicle reporting. A food hall doesn't get a pass on turnover just because it's new. Six years after opening, the flagship location had already lost a tenant. Whatever finally fills the Bellaire Food District's 45,000 square feet in 2027 will likely look different again by 2030.

What's Already a Five-Minute Walk From Kirkwood and Bellaire

None of this means residents are stuck waiting. The corridor's current lineup is dense enough that a construction fence two blocks away barely registers on a Tuesday night. A few fixtures worth knowing by name:

• Welcome Food Center, at 9211 Bellaire, functions as the everyday grocery for the neighborhood rather than a specialty stop.
• ECK Bakery for egg tarts and cha siu bao, the Chinese-American answer to the Korean-French bakeries.
• Tous Les Jours and Paris Baguette anchor that Korean-French bakery category with milk bread and strawberry shortcakes that move all weekend.
• Six Ping Bakery is the Taiwanese stop locals point out-of-towners toward.
• Tea Top, Sharetea, and Tiger Sugar cover the established boba tier, with newer shops still opening around them.
• Earlier this year, the team behind Duck N Bao and Hongdae 33 opened a new all-you-can-eat sushi concept in Asiatown, one more sign the dining scene keeps expanding without waiting on any single development.

A Festival Calendar That Doesn't Wait on Permits Either

The corridor's cultural calendar runs on its own rhythm too. The Chinese Community Center has organized a Lunar New Year Festival on Bellaire since 2003, and this year's edition landed on Valentine's Day, February 14. The corridor's own parade and lion-dance procession typically routes through Hong Kong City Mall and Dun Huang Plaza each winter. Mid-Autumn Festival in September ranks as the second-biggest weekend of the year on Bellaire, which puts it squarely on the calendar for anyone reading this in August.

Earlier this year also marked the seventh run of AAPI Restaurant Weeks, from May 1 through June 15, where a $15 donation gets diners a QR code good for discounts across dozens of participating restaurants, with proceeds funding rice and noodles for low-income seniors. Beyond the seasonal events, the Chinese Community Center runs ongoing programming most months, including recurring mahjong workshops and bus tours through Asiatown Bellaire and the nearby Mahatma Gandhi District for anyone who wants the corridor's history explained rather than just eaten through.

The Corner Isn't Waiting Either

The honest read on this stretch of Bellaire is that the biggest headline, a $9 million food hall with a name and a permit number, is also the slowest-moving thing happening on the block. Everything with real momentum right now, the new sushi spot, Diho Square's shifting tenant mix, the September festival on the calendar, is happening in buildings that already exist. That's worth knowing if you live at the corner of Kirkwood and Bellaire and keep hearing about the district that's coming. The neighborhood isn't pausing for it.

If you're curious what else has changed along this corridor, or you're weighing a move within Fort Bend County or the wider Houston Metro, The S Group Houston knows these blocks well enough to tell you what's actually open before you drive over to check. Work With Us when you're ready for a local read on the market, not just a press release.