One of Houston’s most dynamic submarkets is the “Energy Corridor,” home to many of Houston’s major energy firms and a magnet for employment and real estate development. The Energy Corridor is located along West Houston’s Katy Freeway Corridor. The larger submarket flanks the freeway as it runs west from the new Houston City Centre at Beltway 8 all the way west to the City of Katy and the Katy Mills Mall development.
On Thursday, April 29, Houston’s Commercial Real Estate community gathered for a development overview program on the Katy Freeway and Energy Corridor markets, hosted by Commercial Gateway. Both participants and attendees walked away from the presentations with increased knowledge of those west Houston areas and many of the major projects shaping their landscape.
Listing brokers presented detailed information on nine office buildings, four retail/retail development sites, and five raw land sites. The listings brokers and the properties they represented included:
- Three Eldridge Place – Jessica Ochoa, CB Richard Ellis
- Energy Crossing I & II – Stewart Lyman & Adam Jackson, Stream Realty Partners
- 1200 Enclave – Ronnie Martin, Colvill Office Properties
- 1330 Enclave – Tommy Alexander, CB Richard Ellis
- Eldridge Oaks – David Baker, Transwestern
- Westgate Service Center – Raquel Benitez, Whitestone REIT
- Briar Forest & Eldridge Retail – David Wise, Page Partners
- The Grand – Ed Page, Page Partners
- Millenium Tower & Energy Center II – Steve Rocher, CB Richard Ellis
- The Reserve at Park Ten – Doug Little, PM Realty Group
- Interstate 10 Land sites – Ron Dagley, The Betz Companies
- Katy Green – Eric Johnson, Transwestern & Randolph Wile, Wile Interests
- Highway 6 at Interstate 10 Land sites – Richard Perwein, Bernstein Perwein Properties
- Katy Ranch Crossing – Mike Baker, Freeway Properties
The program opened with a welcome greeting from David Hightower, Wolff Companies, and kicked into full gear with market overviews from Clark Martinson with the Energy Corridor and Lance LaCour with the Katy Area Economic Development Council. Both men discussed the latest happenings in their respective areas and explained the unique qualities that make their areas desirable places to do business. As noted, the close proximity to Terry Hershey Park to many of the office buildings in the Energy Corridor make it a great place to set up company headquarters. And did you know that the Katy Area Economic Development Council offers incentives for commercial real estate investments starting at $30 million, far lower than any other area in Greater Houston.
In all, it was a well received event with many attendees and presenters glad to have taken part. Ronnie Martin, a presenter from Colvill Office Properties, had this to say of the event, “I think the way you guys do this for the different markets is about the best way it could be handled. You don’t have so many [properties] that it becomes a chore and you time them in such a way that it does not disrupt even half of a business day. Plus, I always end up seeing somebody I haven’t seen in awhile as well as meeting a couple of [new] people.”
This presentation was the third in a series of development overviews sponsored by Commercial Gateway, who will be hosting two more development overviews this year focusing on the Northwest Houston area (U.S. Highway 290 & S.H. 249) and also The Woodlands. Dates and other details for these programs can be found on the Commercial Gateway events calendar at: www.commercialgateway.com.
