Strong year for leasing
But Sugar Land Town Square has some space available as Cosentino takes its leave.
“It has been able to excel despite less than ideal market conditions.” Fernando Urrutia, Lionstone Investments
After a record year for office leasing in the Sugar Land Town Square mixed-use development, some space is freeing up with the upcoming departure of Cosentino.
The office portion of the project, which spans 566,000 square feet in three midrise buildings including the Minute Maid headquarters, opened in 2006. Since then, only two out of the project’s 72 tenants have not renewed their lease.
“It was our strongest leasing year ever, including lease transactions of some 210,000 square feet,” Don Janssen, a principal with Planned Community Developers, said in an announcement.
“This means that more than 37 percent of our total office space experienced some type of lease transaction.”
Since the beginning of the year, more than two floors in the six-story Texas Drive building have become available. Cosentino, a manufacturer of quartz counter surfaces that is relocating its headquarters to Miami, has hired Planned Community Developers to lease out is its space, totaling about 29,000 square feet, on the sixth floor and part of the first floor. It could be leased directly from the landlord, or subleased from Cosentino, Janssen said.
CVR Energy moved its offices on the fifth floor of the Texas Drive building across the street to 2277 Plaza Drive. Its space, totaling nearly 25,000 square feet in the Texas Drive building, is now on the market for sublease.
Sugar Land, unlike many markets in the Houston area, does not have a surplus of empty offices.
Class A office space in the Sugar Land/East Fort Bend County region is 9.4 percent vacant, among the lowest in the Houston area, according to CoStar. The market overall stood at 17.4 percent vacant at year end.
The leases and renewals in Sugar Land Town Square included Amica Mutual Insurance Co., CVR Energy, MEGlobal Americas, Source Energy and IIR, among others.
Sugar Land Town Square, at the southeast corner of U.S. 59 and Texas 6, was among the first town center developments in the Houston area, combining walkable areas to shop, dine, work and live.
Since 2003, Sugar Land Town Square has grown to include 34 restaurants, 245,000 square feet of retail space, a 1.4-acre plaza, a Marriott Hotel & Conference Center and 167 condos in addition to the office buildings. It’s also the site of Sugar Land City Hall.
“We have been extremely pleased with the performance of Sugar Land Town Square since we acquired it in 2013,” said Fernando Urrutia, vice president of asset management at Lionstone Investments.
“As a mixed-use property, it has been able to excel despite less than ideal market conditions.”