Kathy Richter of Richfield Investments told GlobeSt.com that a massive retail center will be constructed on part of the site, with an opening being eyed for 2001. "I don't like the term 'mall,'" she says. "The exact size is yet to be determined," says Richter, adding that other projects ticketed for the site are still in planning stages as well. "It will definitely be a multi-use site when it is done." The rest of the site will see the rise of "a hotel or an office building, or more likely both," she says.

Richfield last year had purchased the West8 site--about 100 acres--from Baker Hughes for an estimated $50 million. The property fronts along the east side of Beltway 8 all the way from Richmond to Westheimer.

Grubb & Ellis has been hired to lease the existing West8 office building as well as the adjacent Richfield-owned 40,000-sf Meadowglen Building at 10011 Meadowglen. The two buildings represent some of west Houston's largest chunks of vacant space.