Business park replaces former Tang City
Trammell Crow behind commercial venture after earlier project a success
The planned development of a 128-acre business park is putting Missouri City on the map as a business-friendly community.
Park 8Ninety is being developed by Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. and Canada’s Artis REIT at the intersection of Beltway 8 and U.S. 90A where Tang City Plaza stood in the early 1980s.
“We were very fortunate a number of years ago when Trammell Crow stepped up and took over the old Willowisp Golf Course and built what is today, one of the finest commercial developments in the city of Missouri City and Fort Bend County,” said Missouri City Mayor Allen Owen, in reference to the Lakeview Business Park. “We are fortunate that Trammell Crow stepped up and bought the corner of 90A and Beltway 8.”
Park 8-Ninety is envisioned to be 1.7 million square feet that is expected to attract key suitors looking for warehouse or office space related to the energy industry.
Construction begins in August on the first phase, which will include three buildings totaling more than 330,000 square feet each.
Jeremy Garner, senior vice
president for development and investment at Trammell Crow, said it was the cooperation with city leaders in Missouri City that helped ensure the success of Park 8Ninety.
“Our bread and butter is speculative development,” Garner said. “There are a lot of risks with speculative development and that’s where a lot of cooperation is required with cities, economic development councils and utility districts. There is just a great team here in Fort Bend County that has allowed us to have continued success.”
A big part of that success is Lakeview Business Park.
Trammell Crow purchased the former Willowisp Country Club in 2007 and began transforming the 168-acre site into a business center.
Between 2008 and 2013, revenue from Lakeview has added an estimated $235 million in assessed taxable value in commercial property.
A large part of that revenue was generated during the worst economic recession on record, Garner said.
“We were in the fortunate position of paying for builds at peak construction prices and delivering them in the midst of the worst recession in decades,” Garner said.
“The timing was not fortunate, but the cooperation we’ve gotten from the EDC and Missouri City to allow us to be successful in that park was, and that’s what allowed us to make it through the recession and eventually have some success,” Garner added.
The hope, it seems, is that Park 8Ninety will be a harbinger of the same level of success and economic development as Lakeview.
Garner said the development of Lakeview Business Park helped Missouri City become a bit of a magnet for industrial-type businesses, and by attracting those businesses the city was able to generate property tax revenue by having that strong industrial base.
While attracting tenants associated with the nearby Energy Corridor seems like common sense to most, Garner cited the proximity to the Texas Medical Center, which could ultimately attract those industries related to the pharmaceutical or biomedical industries.
“You can get from this site to the Texas Medical Center in only 13 minutes, depending on the traffic,” Garner said. “That just blows people away.”
Meanwhile, work has begun on Park 8Ninety.
The land is being cleared, and because it is in the flood plain, the land is in the process of being raised, or built up to prepare for the first three speculative buildings, which should be completed by August 2016.
As a result, Garner believes the Park 8Ninety can enjoy similar, if not greater success.
“We have a master plan that we think will work for our purposes, and the purposes of our clients,” Garner said.