The pews from Westminster United Methodist Church's sanctuary went to an Ethiopian church in Sugar Land. The carpet went with them. The lights went to a Presbyterian church in the area. The congregation found takers for nearly all of the furniture through Facebook Marketplace, and by early September its roughly 100 weekend worshipers had moved into a smaller worship center elsewhere on the campus.
When the Houston Chronicle reported those details on September 6, 2026, the story also mentioned that the church was selling about half the land it has historically owned to "a group building a restaurant." It didn't name the buyer.
On October 5, the Houston Business Journal did. The buyer is Johnny Carrabba, the restaurateur behind the Original Carrabba's, Grace's and Mia's Table. He bought a 3-acre parcel at 5801 San Felipe for an undisclosed amount and plans to build a multi-restaurant destination modeled on his Kirby Drive campus.
Most coverage will start with the restaurants. For anyone who drives past San Felipe and Bering every day, the order of events matters more. A congregation decided its main building cost more than it was worth. The land sale came out of that decision, and the restaurant campus came out of the land sale. Each step runs on its own schedule, and the church's schedule is the only one with dates attached.
A Church Deciding to Be Smaller
Westminster dates itself to January 13, 1952, when 11 people formed the congregation at Henry W. Grady School. The church now sits at San Felipe and Bering, the corner it describes as part of the Galleria and Uptown area.
The Rev. Meredith Mills was direct with the Chronicle about why the sanctuary had to go. The building was not structurally sound and kept needing costly repairs that the church decided weren't worth paying for.
"The building, instead of being a tool for ministry, was an anchor around our neck."
Mills also said the church may be downsizing but is "not going anywhere." The church is staying on San Felipe in a smaller form, on less land, in a building that fits a congregation of its current size. Selling the other half of the property is what pays for that plan, and that sale is what brings Carrabba to the corner.
The church's own website still describes worship in the sanctuary. The September Chronicle report says the congregation has already moved to the worship center, so the website is most likely out of date.
The Sequence, as Far as Anyone Has Filed It
The dated public record for the site is a church filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Project TABS2026027940 was registered August 14, 2026, and its review is complete.
Here is what is on paper, in order:
- Already done. The congregation has moved into its smaller worship center, and the sanctuary furnishings have gone to other churches.
- November 2, 2026. Church construction work is scheduled to start, with an estimated cost of $870,771.
- December 31, 2026. That work is scheduled to finish.
- Throughout 2027. Carrabba says plans for the San Felipe campus will be worked out over the year.
- Opening date. None has been announced.
The two sources describe the winter work differently. The Chronicle says the congregation is demolishing its larger sanctuary. The TDLR filing, which carries the same cost and the same dates, describes a narrower job: partial demolition of the church administrative building connected to the existing sanctuary and day school. It also covers rebuilding the back wall of an existing gable end, adding new columns where required, and rebuilding the exterior wall of an existing storage room. The filing lists 1,821 square feet.
The public record doesn't yet explain how those two descriptions fit together. They may cover different phases of the same plan, or the filing may cover only the portion that needed state accessibility review. What both sources agree on is that the construction work scheduled at San Felipe and Bering this winter is the church's own.
What Carrabba Means by "Similar to Kirby"
Carrabba told the Business Journal that he wants to recreate the setup on Kirby Drive, where his three signature restaurants sit within steps of one another. The Kirby campus wasn't built all at once. It took nearly three decades:
- The Original Carrabba's, 3115 Kirby Drive, opened in 1986.
- Mia's Table, 3131 Argonne Street, opened on Memorial Day 2012, right next door to the Original Carrabba's.
- Grace's, 3111 Kirby Drive, opened February 13, 2014, directly across the street from the Original Carrabba's.
All three share a five-story parking garage, according to the Chronicle's coverage when Grace's opened.
The San Felipe version starts from a different place. On Kirby, each restaurant was added to an existing anchor, one at a time. On San Felipe, Carrabba starts with 3 acres and no restaurants. He has said which concept comes first, but not what will sit beside it.
Mia's Table Is the Only Confirmed Concept
"We are not sure what the other concepts will be, but we know we are going to do a Mia's," Carrabba told the Business Journal. "We love our property on Kirby, and, if I am being honest, we love the property on San Felipe just as much."
Mia's is the family's fast-casual concept, named as a tribute to Carrabba's daughter. Guests order at the counter and the food is brought to the table. The current menu leans on Southern comfort food, with chicken-fried chicken, burgers, fried catfish and meatloaf. A 2018 Chronicle story described a similar lineup with a Texas slant, including queso, chicken-fried steak, fried seafood, tacos and shakes.
Carrabba's choice for the first commitment is the family's everyday counter-service restaurant. A white-tablecloth room would have pointed to occasional dinners. A Mia's points toward weeknight meals and a quick lunch.
Mia's has grown well beyond Kirby. The family's current roster lists locations in Shenandoah, Webster, Katy, Cypress, Memorial City at 1035 Gessner Road, and Bellaire at 5413 Bellaire Boulevard, along with the original on Argonne Street. Until a San Felipe location exists, those are the options for someone in Tanglewood or Briargrove.
The original location isn't open right now. Its page on the Mia's website says the Kirby restaurant is temporarily closed after a kitchen fire, that cleanup is underway, and that reopening updates will come as soon as the team has them. The page gives no date.
What Remains Undecided
The parts of this project that will matter most day to day haven't been described in the coverage so far. The Chronicle and the Business Journal coverage don't define the exact boundaries of the land the church is keeping, or say what each remaining building will be used for. Carrabba hasn't named any concept beyond Mia's. The sale price wasn't disclosed.
The questions about parking, driveways onto San Felipe or Bering, and how a restaurant campus will sit next to a working church and its day school belong to the 2027 planning Carrabba described, and the reporting so far doesn't address them.
Westminster says it is staying put, and the church's own construction work is scheduled to run from November 2 to December 31, 2026.
When a familiar corner like San Felipe and Bering starts to change, it often brings up quieter questions about timing, value, and what the next few years on your own street will look like. If you live near the Westminster campus and want to talk through how a project still in planning fits into your own plans, Blake Kunetka is glad to share what she knows. Schedule a Private Consultation.
