LAS VEGAS-No doubt that Houston has emerged as one of the darlings of the commercial real estate industry by virtually any standard. It's also one of the Top Five cities for international investment. So it's of little surprise that retail is hot there too. How hot? Nick Hernandez, managing director at Transwestern, explains it all in this exclusive Q&A.

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GlobeSt.com: What is the Houston retail market like against the backdrop of the national retail scene?

Nick Hernandez: I would dare to say it's the strongest retail market in the country right now. There's been incredible economic growth overall in the city, and the retai sector is really benefiting from that expansion.

GlobeSt.com: Where is most of the growth taking place?

Hernandez: Growth has occured mostly in the urban Inner Loop area, thus far. Houston suburbs have seen aggressive positive absorption, but not much new development, although we believe that's coming.

GlobeSt.com: What is the dynamic in Houston concerning the web and brick-and-mortar?

Hernandez: We're seeing more multi-channel retail initiatives as an increasing number of consumers shop for merchandise both online and in stores before making a purchase. The most successful online retailers are those whose customers have the ability to return merchandise purchased on the Internet to a brick-and-mortar store. J.Crew is an example of a retailer that has been very successful in multi-channel retailing.

GlobeSt.com: So when we meet again here in 2015, what will be the Houston retail story?

Hernandez: I think we will have seen more of the same very strong performance on the retail side and a lot more proposed new developments in the suburbs. We expect to see proposed development of suburban power centers for the first time in five or six years. We will also see the continuation of urban infill retail as part of mixed-use developments.