"Harrison Avenue is blowing and going," Matt Robert told nola.com in 2024. He was explaining why his family, the owners of Robért Fresh Market, had bought the empty lot beside their store at Allen Toussaint and West End boulevards. "We've seen how successful it has been and we think there is demand for more neighborhood-centric commercial space."
Two and a half years later, that lot has a café that serves breakfast. A second new building just up the boulevard is being finished for a fitness studio and a salon. Lakeview's lake end is getting its own everyday corner, and the people building it have run a grocery store there for three decades. That's why the corner looks the way it does. It's being built to fill gaps for the people who already shop there, and it isn't trying to copy Harrison Avenue.
How the lot sat empty for so long
The timeline shows how long the corner waited, and how fast it has moved since.
- 1965. The Robert E. Lee Theater opens with 600 seats. It was one of the last grand single-screen neighborhood theaters, built just as multiplexes were taking over.
- 1990. The theater closes.
- 1996. The Robert family opens its supermarket next door, at what was then Robert E. Lee Boulevard.
- 2009. The theater building is torn down, and the site becomes a vacant lot inside the strip center.
- 2010. The same family opens Lakeview Grocery on Harrison Avenue.
- Early 2024. The Roberts reveal they bought the lot the previous fall and plan a two-story mixed-use building.
- March 2025. Chef Alon Shaya's group announces a restaurant for the new building and aims to open by the end of 2025.
- Spring 2026. Safta's Table opens.
- September 15, 2026. The new building at 300 Allen Toussaint passes its rough framing inspection.
The theater lot sat empty for roughly fifteen years. Then a single owner, the business next door, filled it in a little over two years.
A building planned by the store next door
Most strip-center infill is designed by developers who don't operate anything on the site. This one comes from the anchor tenant. The Robert family runs six supermarkets. Marc Robert III, general manager of Robért Fresh Market and Lakeview Grocery, described the project as a way "to help grow our offices, enhance the center as a whole, and give Lakeview some of the services it needs."
The design follows from that. Steven J. Finegan Architects drew a 15,000-square-foot, two-story building with a courtyard-style arcade and outdoor seating. Part of the second floor was set aside for the family's growing corporate offices. The rest would go to office and retail tenants, "and, perhaps, a café or restaurant."
The family named its inspiration plainly. Harrison Avenue, less than 1.5 miles away, filled with boutiques, salons and restaurants over the past decade. The Roberts already had a front-row view of that growth through their own store on Harrison. The new building takes that idea to the lake end and lands it next to a grocery store open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at 135 Allen Toussaint.
What opened on the theater site
The "perhaps" turned into Safta's Table, at 129 Allen Toussaint, Suite 103. It comes from Alon and Emily Shaya's Pomegranate Hospitality, the group behind Saba Uptown and Miss River at the Four Seasons. It's the couple's first counter-service restaurant. Their other places are full-service fine dining. Safta's Table takes orders at the counter, brings the food to your table, and keeps a grab-and-go case stocked with harissa olives, meatballs in red sauce, roast chicken and tiramisu parfait.
According to Gambit's review, the room has tiled walls, a checkerboard floor and a basket of toys for kids. It seats 50 inside and 40 outside, and those outdoor seats are the ones the Finegan plan made room for. Breakfast includes cured salmon on a Flour Moon bagel. Later in the day, the spiced lamb ragu over hummus comes over from Saba's menu, served with puffed sourdough pita. There's wine on tap, beer and a few cocktails.
Emily Shaya describes the regulars directly.
"We get a lot of people who walk here from the neighborhood. We see retirees, young families, a lot of the same faces coming back already."
That's the same "neighborhood-centric" demand Matt Robert described two years earlier, now showing up at the counter. Safta's Table wasn't quick to arrive. When it was announced in March 2025, the target was the end of that year. It opened in spring 2026. That few months' slip is useful context for the next two openings on the boulevard.
The next building up: a workout and a haircut
The second new building, at 300–302 Allen Toussaint, extends the same idea. City permit records list the site's existing use as "Vacant Lot" and its proposed use as a fitness center, with Keta Construction Company as the contractor.
Two tenants have been announced:
- ALIGNÉ Studios, 300 Allen Toussaint. Owner Abbi Boudreaux grew up on the Northshore. She plans Lagree classes on Megaformer machines plus mat Pilates, sculpt and yoga. The Lagree room has just eight machines, and other classes cap around 15 people. Boudreaux told nola.com she hoped to open by October. A waitlist is running at alignestudios.co.
- Paris Parker, 302 Allen Toussaint. The Aveda salon and spa's Lakeview page says "Opening Early October 2026." It describes an interior in sage and eucalyptus tones with travertine, marble and pale white oak, plus "subtle nods to Lake Pontchartrain."
As of October 4, neither business has confirmed it's open. Paris Parker's page still says "Coming Soon" and is hiring staff. The city's permit record shows the building passed rough framing on September 15. Final inspections and the certificate of occupancy are still outstanding, and the permit's estimated completion date of August 1 has already passed. Both businesses are planned, not open. Given the time between Safta's Table's announcement and its opening, a slip of a few weeks wouldn't be surprising.
How the corner adds up
None of these new tenants competes head-on with the businesses already in West Lake Shore Shopping Center. In a roundup of permits filed in late February 2024, New Orleans CityBusiness listed the center's tenants as Walgreens, Ochsner, Anytime Fitness, Goodwill, Smoothie King and Smith Lupo Center. That list is more than two years old, so check any one business before you count on it. Ochsner Urgent Care's Lakeview location is listed at 111 Allen Toussaint.
Put together, the stretch is close to a complete morning errand loop:
- Groceries, prepared food and the bakery at Robért Fresh Market, 135 Allen Toussaint, open from 7 a.m.
- Breakfast or a take-home dinner from the case at Safta's Table, 129 Allen Toussaint
- Pharmacy and urgent care in the existing center
- Once open, a small-group Lagree or Pilates class at ALIGNÉ and a salon appointment at Paris Parker, 300–302 Allen Toussaint
One piece is still open. The same 2024 permit filing lists Suite 203 at 129 Allen Toussaint as new commercial shell space, with no tenant named. Whoever takes it will be the next sign of what the Roberts think the lake end still needs.
The family runs grocery stores at both ends of Lakeview. They chose to put sit-down food, outdoor seating and office space next to the 1996 store, on the lot where the theater stood until 2009. They haven't added more retail to Harrison, where their second store already sits. That makes Allen Toussaint a second hub for Lakeview, one that works alongside Harrison Avenue.
Changes on a corner like Allen Toussaint and West End tend to show up in daily routines first and in how people think about a street later. If you live near the lake end and want to talk through what the theater lot's return means for your block, The Kathryn Collection is happy to sit down with you. Schedule a free consultation, and bring your questions over coffee from Safta's Table.
