Health Meets Entertainment Meets Co-Working

HOUSTON—For the first time, downtown Houston will have healthy living and entertainment programs/lifestyle experiences combined with a co-working space that promotes a healthy and fulfilling work life. Life Time, the healthy lifestyle brand, is bringing its luxury athletic club and premium workspace, Life Time Work, to GreenStreet as it continues building a major presence in the Houston market.

“GreenStreet aligns well with our vision to meet the changing needs of consumers by bringing Life Time through our athletic destinations and co-working space as a lifestyle asset to bustling and successful developments,” said Parham Javaheri, Life Time executive vice president of real estate and development. “We look forward to becoming an anchor to this new model of urban living in 2020.”

Life Time will be positioned on Houston’s Innovation Corridor, linking the Texas Medical Center and Rice University to downtown’s major corporate headquarters, legal offices and financial institutions. Located at 1201 Main St., Life Time will include more than 56,000 square feet of wellness space and more than 38,000 square feet of co-working space. With modern architecture and an abundance of amenities, the two-level luxury athletic lifestyle resort will provide a highly personalized approach to health and wellness.

Life Time GreenStreet delivers a competitive advantage for companies recruiting the most sought-after workforce, says Fernando Urrutia, vice president, real estate asset management for Lionstone Investments, and owner and operator of GreenStreet in partnership with Midway.

“Being able to attract and retain workers who place a premium on work/life balance sets a company’s culture apart,” he observes. “Combining GreenStreet’s state-of-the-art work environment with the highest level of health and wellness amenities in the middle of downtown’s expanding variety of new residential developments will be a game-changer.”

Life Time originated its urban athletic resort concept in Houston at Midway’s CityCentre more than a decade ago and chose that development for the Houston market launch of Life Time Work in 2018.

“We are happy Life Time has selected another Midway development after our successful collaboration at CityCentre,” said Chris Seckinger, vice president, investment manager for Midway. “Life Time adds an all-important healthy living component to GreenStreet, a mixed-use district that is being redeveloped as the new model of urban lifestyle. “

The vision of Lionstone and Midway has been to create an urban campus environment at GreenStreet. Spanning four blocks from Main to Caroline streets, GreenStreet is becoming a meeting ground where major companies and investors in Houston’s downtown central business district collaborate with technology startups, sparked by Houston’s academic, medical and energy communities.

GreenStreet is upgrading the office tower experience with a new three-story lobby to create a hospitality-quality arrival point. Life Time will access the tower lobby on levels two and three to activate the entry, which will connect from Polk Street to the GreenStreet Lawn, an open area programmed with live music and other community activities.

In addition to creative and high-rise office spaces, GreenStreet is home to technology accelerator, MassChallenge, popular restaurants, national retail and pop-up shops, local art installations and a changing lineup of events. Hotel Alessandra and the House of Blues concert hall bring after-hours activity to the property beyond the workday population.

“GreenStreet’s urban campus is undergoing a strategic transformation designed to increase flexibility and collaboration,” Midway CEO Jonathan Brinsden tells GlobeSt.com. “Encouraging healthier lifestyles and social interaction is a high priority for innovative, high performance companies. GreenStreet also is continuing to enhance retail, entertainment and restaurant offerings with pop-up activations and art installations. These changes position GreenStreet to better serve the growing downtown residential population as well as the business community.”

Life Time currently operates nine clubs in the Houston market with three additional clubs planned in the coming years (including Greenway, GreenStreet and Shenandoah). The Greenway Plaza facility is an 80,000-square-foot fitness center currently underway, the project at CityCentre is in its final stages and a resort near NASA debuted at the beginning of the year. In addition, Life Time Fitness signed a 120,000-square-foot lease at Baybrook Mall in the Southeast submarket in one of last year’s largest leases.

Leasing activity totaled 1.5 million square feet in fourth quarter 2018, almost unchanged quarter-over-quarter, although down 37% from this time last year, according to a report by NAI Partners.  The tight retail market continued to push the Houston metro average annual asking rents up, reaching $17.50 per square foot to start 2019 at a record high. As of the end of the 2018, prices have climbed 22% from the average asking rent of five years ago ($14.34 per square foot).

While retail availability is especially limited across the Houston area, it is particularly tight within the Inner Loop area, with a total inventory of approximately 28 million square feet with a vacancy rate of 4.8% and the average asking triple net rent at $25.29 per square foot. Although concessions such as free rent and tenant improvement allowances make posted rents less meaningful as a market indicator, the price of Houston’s retail space is climbing. The highest-quality space with the best location and ease of accessibility will generate the highest rents, says NAI Partners.