- Downtown Can Absorb Another 350K SF of Shopping Space, Finds Retail Task Force [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
- Downtown High-Rise Apartments Being Designed To Attract Young, Urban Renters [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Woodlands Residents Petition Kroger’s Plans To Build 24-Hour Gas Station [The Isiah Factor]
- Third Ward Seeing New Developments Near Planned Metro Line [abc13]
- Commissioners No Closer To Placing Astrodome on Ballot [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Sunday’s Tour de Houston ‘Ride’ To Cycle Past Historic Neighborhoods, Hobby Airport, Clear Lake [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of Museum District Metro: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool
I have a really hard time believing that downtown can absorb another 350k sf of retail when there already is a ton of vacant or bad or poorly performing retail downtown.
Yeah, absorption is a function of rental rates. If you build it, they WILL come, however as Houston Pavilions should have taught us, that won’t necessarily mean that your development will recognize enough revenue to cover its note and prevent foreclosure.
This is a key problem with downtown retail in Houston. Because of a successful Class A office market, property is expensive. Thus developers and property owners have to get a high lease rate out of ground-level retail space, but there are few tenants who can justify paying that amount with the limited market potential downtown offers, especially for comparison / soft goods.