The Grand Concourse Restaurant, the tony 500-seat eatery in the renovated Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad depot in Station Square, has been acquired by a Texas restaurant chain.
Landry's Restaurant's Inc. of Houston acquired the Grand Concourse as part of its $28 million buy of the C.A. Muer Corp. chain of 16 fine dining and upscale seafood restaurants that have annual revenues of about $60 million.
Landry's also proposed opening a Joe's Crab Shack restaurant as part of the Bessemer Court development at Station Square set to open this summer.
The C.A. Muer holdings include establishments under the names Charley's Crab, Big Fish, Muer's Gandy Dancer and Chuck & Harold's.
"We have been following the Muer chain since the tragic death of its founder, Chuck Muer, in 1993," said Tilman J. Fertitta, Landry's chairman.
In March 1993, Muer and his wife, Betty, were lost at sea when their 40-foot boat got caught in a storm on the way home from a Bahamas vacation, and they were never heard from again.
Muer was one of the first investors in Station Square, along with the Allegheny Foundation and Pittsburgh businessman John Connolly. Both the restaurant and the shopping complex opened in 1978.
With the addition of the Muer holdings, Landry's now operates 213 restaurants in 36 states, including Landrey's Seafood House, Joe's Crab Shack, Willie G's, Rainforest Cafe, The Crab House and the Kemah Boardwalk.
