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HOUSTON-Bed, Bath & Beyond is expanding its Houston presence with the leasing of a combined 83,839 sf in two shopping centers. The gist of the dealmaking is one store has just opened, one comes on line in a month and two are under negotiation.

The retailer took 30,000 sf in Cypress Towne Center at the corner of US Highway 290 and Spring Cypress Road inside the Houston line. Meanwhile, doors have already opened on a 53,839-sf spot in Baybrook Shopping Center along West Bay Area Boulevard in Webster. Steven Lieberman, CEO of the Retail Connection in Dallas, represented Bed, Bath & Beyond in both transactions. Clay Torzzo of Property Commerce represented Cypress Towne Center's owner, Kimco 290 Houston LP, while Jennifer Reynolds of Kimco Realty Corp. represented the Centre at Baybrook Ltd., which owns Baybrook Shopping Center.

According to Lieberman, Bed, Bath & Beyond has a master plan when it comes to expansion in Texas--and Houston is a viable part of that plan. "We negotiate, on average, about four of these stores a month for Texas and the surrounding markets," he tells GlobeSt.com. "We have a number of additional stores in the pipeline in Houston, both in leased negotiations and letters of intent." He says a new lease "will be executed within the next month or so in Houston" and the company is at a letter of intent stage for another possible Houston outlet.