HOUSTON-A local franchisee for Interior Door Replacement Co., marking the Southern California firm's first foray into the area, has signed a three-year lease for the Centre at Bunker Hill.

The franchisee will open doors on a 1,080-sf spot in the 50,000-sf shopping center at the northeast corner of Bunker Hill and Interstate10 West. Interior Doors, which not only replaces but customizes doors, will open early next year.

"They took the space as is," Kevin Block of Levcor Inc. in Houston, tells GlobeSt.com. "The space was formerly occupied by a dry cleaner's so they were able to build it out and modify it to their needs." He represented local retail developer Jim R. Smith in the transaction for a center that's slightly more than 90% leased. Phyllis Peak with Allison Spear Realtors in Houston was on hand for the tenant, Durango Capital Corp., which is doing business as Interior Door Replacement Co. of Houston.

Block says the quoted rates range from $20 per sf to $25 per sf. "They were on the lower end of that," he says.

Though this is the franchisee's first opening in the area, Block suspects it isn't his last. "I think he does intend to do others," he adds.