Memorial City to expand north of interstate
The developer of Memorial City will spread its footprint for the first time to the north of I-10 with a new office building.
MetroNational’s development of Memorial City will spread its footprint for the first time to the north of Interstate 10 with a new office building.
The Houston-based developer announced plans Tuesday to build a 240,000-square-foot building on an 18-acre tract, as part of the company’s long-term vision to redevelop the area. It comes at a time, however, when the west Houston office market will likely see more empty office space after the drop-off in oil prices since late last year.
Mexico-based Cemex, which has had an office in Memorial City since 2005 and is expanding, will anchor the new development as the building’s first tenant. The company will occupy 80,000 square feet on the building’s second and third levels.
The Houston location will be the cement and building materials company’s U.S. headquarters. The six-story building will be at the northwest corner of Gessner Road and the Katy Freeway at 10100 Katy Freeway, directly
across from Memorial Hermann Tower.
“The northwest corner is MetroNational’s newest commercial development and the first step in expanding Memorial City north of I-10,” Jason Johnson, president of MetroNational, said in a statement.
The company also owns a JPMorgan Chase call center north of I-10 and east of Gessner.
The announcement for the building comes at a time when available space in Houston’s office market is rising.
Office sublease space has reached 7.7 million square feet in Houston, double the historical average, according to the latest available data from brokerage firm NAI Partners. About 3 million square feet of that is concentrated in west Houston, which includes Katy West, Katy East and Westchase.
“We have extraordinary availability, and almost 50 percent of that surplus is in that area in particular,” said Nat Holland, chief research and data scientist for NAI. “There could be empty space alongside other empty space in that area. There will be a lot of potential choices for businesses.”
He said downsizing in the energy sector because of falling oil prices has caused sublease space to spike.
That space competes with the new buildings coming online.
Bias toward the new
The dramatic increase in the amount of sublease availability comes at a time when businesses are more biased toward higher end and newer space, according to an NAI statement. Large blocks are coming available due to consolidations into newly constructed buildings, NAI partner Dan Boyles said. The commitments to the new buildings were made prior to the decline in oil prices.
Shuttle service
The Metro National building will feature 40,000-square-foot floor plates. The first floor will have 15,000 square feet of retail. Among the amenities will be 24-hour security, card key access and connections to other Memorial City locations via a shuttle service.
A Metro National spokesman said it has had “significant interest” from companies interested in leasing new building space and the space that Cemex will be vacating.
The project is slated to break ground this fall and open about a year later.