Mysterious Demolition at Ciro’s Italian Grill

I was checking Swamplot over my morning coffee today, as I do every morning, when I saw something that caught my eye:

Daily Demolition Report: Ciro’s Down

Ciro’s is being torn down today?  Wait…what?  I was flummoxed, and let me tell you why…

This incarnation of Ciro’s replaced one that was previously located on the north side of I-10, which was also demolished (to make way for the widening of the Katy Freeway).  Ciro’s has always been a very popular restaurant for the families in Memorial and the Villages, and it still is to this day.  Even if I don’t particularly care for most of their food, there’s no escaping its longstanding popularity.

This new Ciro’s was only built a few short years ago, along with a brand-new Guadalajara’s and a Denis’ Seafood.  This little “restaurant row” is owned/operated/serviced by Metro National, a large real estate development and management company that also runs Memorial City Mall, the Memorial Hermann hospital campus next door, and virtually every other piece of property in the area.  Their restaurant row is hugely popular both during lunch, when they have shuttle service that takes people to and from the restaurants, the mall, the hospital campus and the office buildings, and at dinner.

Lastly, the Ciro’s is attached (rather strangely, I always thought) to a Darque Tan in a unique configuration.  If one were torn down, the other would have to go, too.  But Darque Tan isn’t listed on the demolition permit list that Swamplot gets from the city each day.  Very curious.

Being the Nosy Parker that I am, I called Ciro’s this morning to hear their side of the story.  After all, their website is still operational and nothing is listed in their news section about a closure.  The gentleman who answered the phone stated they were most definitely open for business.  When I asked him about the scheduled demolition, he became very flustered and said that it was the first he’d heard of it.  He got off the phone rather quickly after that.  Not satisfied, I had a coworker call back and ask them again.  This time, a woman answered and gave a definitive, “Yes, we are open for business today.  There is no demolition scheduled.”

I emailed the webmaster at Swamplot, just to give him a heads up.  He forwarded me a copy of the city’s demolition permit report and there it was, in bold, black letters:

It remains to be seen whether or not Ciro’s will actually fall today.  And I simply don’t have the time to research this little oddity any further than this.  My money is on the city making some sort of awful typo in the permit department.  But it would certainly make for an interesting lunch service if the wrecking balls and Caterpillars rolled up as people were getting their antipasto.