The Leader • Saturday, May 5, 2018 • Page 1B
Allegiance, Post Oak banks merge
Call today 713-240-9314 or email zach@jandkbattery.com
For The Leader Allegiance Bank has announced a merger agreement with Post Oak Bank, according to a statement from both financial institutions. Allegiance Bancshares, Inc., the holding company of Allegiance Bank, announced on Monday, April 30, the signing of a definitive merger agreement with Post Oak Bancshares, Inc., the holding company of Post Oak Bank, N.A., whereby Post Oak will be merged with and into Allegiance. Post Oak Bank operates 13 banking locations in Houston and Beaumont. As of March 31, Post Oak, on a consolidated basis, reported total assets of $1.43 billion, total loans of $1.15 billion and total deposits of $1.24 billion. Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Allegiance will issue 0.7017 shares of Allegiance common stock for each outstanding share of, and option to purchase a share of, Post Oak capital stock, subject to certain conditions and potential adjustments. “We are excited about the opportunity to become partners with Post Oak, an exceptional institution that, like Allegiance, prides itself on being a strong community bank,” said George Martinez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Allegiance. “I have admired the leadership and growth that the entire Post Oak organization has achieved, and I am elated that we will soon be on the same team. “Post Oak’s success can be attributed to its experienced financial services professionals and the culture they have created,” Martinez said. “We believe
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June 2, 2018!! Photo by Zach Maxwell The Post Oak Bank branch at Antoine and 34th Street is one of 13 branches across SE Texas.
our banks will fit together nicely and are thrilled for our respective customers, bankers and shareholders to realize the near and long-term benefits and value creation opportunities this combination provides.” With this merger, Allegiance will surpass $4 billion in total assets. “The combined company will be well-positioned to take advantage of organic and strategic growth opportunities that will further enhance shareholder value as Houston’s largest community bank,” Martinez said. “We all look forward to this new partnership - both for the positive impact it will have on the combined customer and associate base, and also the contributions it
will make to the communities our combined company will serve.” Roland Williams, President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Post Oak, added, “We are pleased to be joining with an organization that so strongly complements and builds upon Post Oak’s established tradition of customer, employee and community focus. Both we and Allegiance are committed to the idea that Houston deserves an impactful financial services institution with significant scale that operates with the culture of a community bank with local decision making
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See Allegiance P. 2B
Don Pablitos open where Fiesta Tacos closed By Zarah Parker zarah@theleadernews.com For Don Pablitos, the sauce may be boss but this boss has a new, um “office.” After Fiesta Tacos closed in December, leaving loyal customers in the dark, th chile sauce company settled into the vacant spot as its first brick and mortar. Don Pablitos got its start in the late eighties, early nineties and still competes yearly in Austin at the biggest hot sauce festival in the state. “Almost every other year we’re in the top five or have an honorable mention,” said Trey Perez, the part owner, executive chef, general manager of Don Pablitos. The company has been doing festivals since its inception and was once listed as one of the top things to try in Houston. From there the company spring boarded into food starting out with taco stands, but the location at 4620 West 34th Street is the first time roots were put down. “The opportunity came up [to lease the property], I’ve heard stories about Fiesta Tacos and I think they’ve set the bar high because people have been coming here a long time and they’ll come in and tell me stories,” said Perez. Perez mentioned that although many customers have told him about Fiesta Tacos, he’s not sure what happened to make them close the doors. And after hearing so many different stories about what happened to Fiesta Ta-
Photos contributed The new Don Pablitos restaurant at 4620 W. 34th St. (Right) Don Pablitos homemade, fresh empanadas.
cos, he thought the best thing to do was to have the place blessed. He had a priest from St. Jerome’s do the blessing, which many customers appreciated. As a new restaurant on the block, Perez is thankful for the encouragement from the returning customers. Many people from other local businesses have become regulars as well. The owners of Don Pablitos acquired the lease in January and their target open date was somewhere in the middle of February. That was before they realized how much work they had ahead of them. “When we got started in here there was no staff, so we came in and we were like we’ve got to fix this place up and so we spent the first two months doing repairs,” said Perez, “The heavy rains from Hurricane Harvey had
destroyed the roof, we pretty much had to start all over there. We would fix a roof leak and another would pop up.” To gain employees Perez put signs in the windows indicating they were hiring. Little by little much of the staff that worked at Fiesta Tacos came back, with 60 percent on staff from the previous occupant. Don Pablitos is still getting a few things ready, like a sign to indicate that its open. “People don’t know we’re here yet, even yesterday we had people drive up and say, ‘I didn’t know y’all were open, I just saw the cars’,” said Perez. Perez doesn’t mind the confusion and jokes it off,
“Word is getting out that we’re here, they just think we’re Fiesta Tacos. No, we got a new floor man! We don’t have a new sign, but we got a new floor!” As for the food they bring in special select cuts of meat that they use for their popular fajita and barbacoa tacos along with fresh fruits to cook and render for the fillings of the empanadas. The empanadas are all hand made fresh every morning with a recipe that gives the bread a flakier and pie-like crust, opposed to typical Mexican empanadas which are solid breads. “[Empanadas are] starting to take off, customers come in buying half a dozen all the time. They come in pineapple, apple, strawberry,” said Perez. Don Pablitos tamales are also growing in popularity. They are hand made fresh every morning as well. They See Don Pablitos P. 2B
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SING moving to Lowell Street Market
There has been a change in plans for Singaporean inspired eatery SING, which was planning to open this spring at Ella Oaks, Revive’s 34th and Ella development. SING is now planning to open at Lowell Street Market at 718 West 18th Street. It will occupy the space previously spoken for by Seaside Poke. SING’s Cuc Lam and business partner Jerry Lasco wanted a small footprint for their casual eatery after looking at various spaces throughout the city. The Lowell Street location will be about the same square footage as Ella Oaks and
Lam says she hopes to attract some of the same customers. The reason for the move was some unforeseen city permitting restrictions on the patio they wanted to have on 34th. Lam and Revive parted amicably. Lam said they will keep permitted plans that Seaside had gotten approved and will have a small patio, with additional seating available in the development’s community area. There have been no changes to the planned menu, other than the fact that they will now have craft beer available in cans because there was no way to have the variety they wanted otherwise. “Hopefully we can find the same energy,” said Lam. “[The new space] is exactly what we wanted.”
Ella Oaks Update
With the addition of Branché Boutique to Ella Oaks, which is what Revive has branded their development at 34th and Ella, the final pieces are coming together for phase one of the development. Monica Danna at Revive says that they expect to close on the final two tenants, who
will occupy the remaining 2,750 square foot on the east building endcap, in the next few weeks. A promotional flyer is online at Revive’s website for phase two, which offers 6,500 square feet close to Ella Boulevard. Danna said they have increasing interest from medical uses, due to the proximity to the Memorial Hermann Heights Hospital. “The one-story building will have high ceilings, allowing lots of natural light and a potential mezzanine for medical offices, a unique offering in the neighborhood.” she said. There is another 3,400 square feet building even closer to Ella which was recently vacated by Heights Cleaners. “It’s the morning side of the street and with over 50,000 cars a day on Ella Boulevard, so a morning use business would be a good fit,” said Danna. Crowned the “hood ornament” by Bryan Danna, the former tire center will be a coffee shop and Monica Danna said they are sav-
See Briefs P. 2B
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Business Briefs SING moving to Lowell Street Market SING’s Cuc Lam and business partner Jerry Lasco are looking forward to opening at Lowell Street Market. Friendswood Development Company President John Hammond, along with members of the Friendswood Development Company and Lennar teams are pictured with Kiki Neumann at the ribbon cutting and official grand opening of the Neumann Oaks community located off N. Shepherd at Lehman Street.
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