Everything Being Built is Being Leased
Across Houston, the population growth is not slowing down but speeding up, which is great for retail, along with industrial, which are neck and neck, both at 95% occupied.
HOUSTON—Going back as far as 2010, Texas’ economic engine was beginning to rev up. Dallas and Houston have led the charge, with Dallas in the driver’s seat but Houston right on its tail, says a brokerage expert from HFF.
“Bigger picture is that Texas is winning,” HFF director John Indelli tells GlobeSt.com. “Across Houston, retail and industrial are both 95% occupied. They are neck and neck on occupancy, and everything being developed is being leased. The population growth is not slowing down but speeding up, which is great for retail.”
This economic and population growth naturally leads to investor interest. One property, a fully leased retail strip center at a highly visible location in the Washington Memorial Heights neighborhood, recently caught the eye of a private buyer. Indelli adds there was a competitive field of buyers seeking quality strip centers and the transaction closed only 28 days after the initial marketing launch.
The Inner Loop/River Oaks retail submarket is one of the tightest and best-performing in the Houston MSA and services some of Houston’s most affluent residential neighborhoods, including River Oaks, Washington/Rice Military, Montrose, the Heights and Downtown. More than 166,000 residents earning an average annual household income of approximately $144,000 live within a three-mile radius of the property.
The retail center is situated on .57 acres at 4902-4930 Washington Ave., where it intersects with Durham Drive, exposing the center to more than 27,500 vehicles per day. Completed in 1999, the Washing and Durham retail center is fully leased to FedEx Kinko’s, MT Nails & Facial Salon, Vapor Shop, Bell Cleaners and Subway.
HFF’s investment advisory team representing the seller, Orr Commercial, included Indelli, senior managing director Ryan West and real estate analyst Charlie Strauss.
“This in-fill retail center has a great story–located at the hard corner of Washington and Durham, inside Loop 610 with in-place rents below market and robust residential growth along the Washington Corridor,” West said. “These types of retail centers are in high demand.”