League City Real Estate News

Commercial / Office / Industrial Development

• It appears as though Endeavour Holdings may acquire the largest chunk of contiguous property on the north shore of Clear Lake in Seabrook. They’ve purchased the Lake House, a ‘vintage’ apartment community on the waterfront and also have under contract more parcels adjoining their marina property. What they’ll do with all this isn’t crystal clear .. yet .. but an office building, hotel, restaurant, boardwalk, high-rise lofts, more boat slips and retail are ideas floating around.
• Thirteen acres are under contract on League City’s west side for a commercial project. Located on the NE corner of Brittany Bay Blvd. and Bay Area Blvd., the developer envisions a village town center that will cater to young professionals, their families and children. Restaurants, retail, medical and ‘healthy’ food stores are on the wish list. This tract is adjacent to Magnolia Creek’s hike and bike trail.
• A local developer is buying several properties in Friendswood’s downtown area. Proposed is a 100,000 SF mixed-use center on 2.5 acres in the 500 block of Friendswood Drive where a pawnshop now stands. A four-story building with high-end lofts on the third and fourth floors would be built with office space below. Same developer also bought a former gas station in the 300 block (and the three lots directly behind it) and plans to convert the property into a professional/commercial space. The latest buying spree includes an old drive-in and auto parts store, also in the 300 block of Friendswood Drive, plans are to build a medical center.
  Webster’s new community, Edgewater, blasted off in January … literally.
• The former Texas Genco power plant was imploded and now the building has begun! The property is bordered by Clear Creek to the south, NASA Parkway to the north, Highway 3 on the west and residential neighborhoods on the eastern edge. Construction has begun on Water Street, the main thoroughfare. Already in construction, the NASA Bypass will fly over the northern edge. The team of Cherokee Investment Partners and Johnson Development Corporation will spend $55 million to develop the site and then sell off parcels.
• New office condominiums are being built at Hobbs Road and the League City Parkway. The development is slated for 11 buildings to be sold as shells only, with build-out available. The design should be completed in two weeks; delivery is six to nine months.
  Clear Lake Crossing (FM 2351 and Hwy. 3) has a new 40,000 SF multi-tenant building coming soon; additionally, two-phased office condominiums are under construction, 13,500 SF in each phase. They’ll be delivered in August.

NEW LEASES!

• 132,000 SF – Canal Warehousing leased space at Bayport North Distribution Center.
• 25,000 SF – CheckFree has pre-leased space at Corporate Centre Texas in Webster. The 50,100 SF building is class A, 18 ft. ceiling height and currently under construction on Texas Avenue.
• Krist Law Firm has taken 6,000 SF at the Marina View building in League City.
• Star Tex Title, Trade Star Professional Staffing, and Ceres Terminals leased space at 6021 Fairmont in Pasadena.
• Anytime Fitness leased 4,128 SF at Marina Bay Village Shopping Centre on Marina Bay Drive in League City.
• First Choice Emergency Room and Gateway Chiropractic Health and Rehabilitation Clinic have signed leases at Two Harbour Square in League City.
  DONE DEALS!• 570 acres — Wynne/Jackson-Eland Development has closed on 570 acres with an option on another 1,704 – all part of a huge 4,600-acre master-planned community on League City’s west side. The first phase is estimated at $50 million for commercial buildings, homes, schools, churches and parks. The group is ready to begin utility and infrastructure work, then initial construction will be home starts, about 51% of the 570 acres. Scott Davis and Laura Smith / CB Richard Ellis represented the buyer.
• 52 acres – Powers Holdings purchased land in Bayport North Industrial Park II. Billy Gold with CB Richard Ellis represented the buyer.
• 30.7 acres on I-45, just south of SH 646 in League City, was purchased by Magnolia Crossing. Simmi Jaggi & Elizabeth Clampitt / CBRE represented the seller.
• 6.9 acres at Bayport North Industrial Park was purchased by GSL. Plans are to develop single-tenant industrial buildings on the site.
• 5 acres – Church and land on Bay Area Blvd. at Reseda has closed. The buyer plans a shopping center on the site. Coy Davidson / Colliers represented the seller and Stephen Robinson / Alliance Commercial, the buyer.
• 5 acres on Beltway 8 and Crenshaw in Pasadena. Word is that a long-term, acute-care facility will be built.

Retail and Hospitality Development

• What a ride! The Kemah Boardwalk has under construction a wooden roller coaster. How fast, you say? The coaster will move at a maximum speed of 51 mph, have a 92-foot drop, lots of tunnels and 42 crossovers. All this on an acre of land near Saltgrass Steak House! The new ride, all 3,236 feet of it, should be ready to roll by late spring or early summer.
  Baybrook Gateway – The former Kmart building will, at last, have a new lease on life
• Linens N Things leased 28,300 SF with plans to open April 2008. Circuit City will leave their existing location on the west side of I-45 and relocate to this new spot taking 31,600 SF. And, Cost Plus World Market – new to this area – will be the third tenant with 18,300 SF. This popular Webster shopping center on 19 acres just changed hands.
• Holiday Travel Trailers is purchasing the former Boot Kikkers Bingo building near I-45 and Calder Road in League City.
• Bailey’s American Grille should open early Spring on NASA Parkway in Seabrook. They’ll offer made-from-scratch entrees, delectable dishes, steak, seafood and a fine wine list. Extras include Chicago brick and Texas limestone in the building design, a wood burning grill, an open kitchen and “The Wine Cellar” for small private events.
  UTMB Ophthalmology signed a lease for 5,100 SF in Friendswood’s new Acadiana Centre at FM 518 and Sunset.

Residential Development

• What a catch! It’s a done deal for two large waterfront parcels in League City. The first is a 26-acre tract off Enterprise Boulevard within the 2,200-acre South Shore Harbour master-planned community. It’s not known yet what Crow Holdings and the Verandah Companies partnership has in store for the property.
  The same development group also closed on the 35-acre Lighthouse Island, also within League City’s South Shore Harbour area. Within the next two months, infrastructure work will begin on the island. The grand plan includes a fitness center plus a variety of luxury residential units such as single-family homes, patio homes, townhomes and mid to high-rise condominiums. These two transactions add up to almost 8,000 feet of prime shoreline.
• New apartments will be built at The Village at Clearpoint Crossing on Space Center Boulevard. The $26-million project will have 288 units on 14 acres. Planned are one, two and three bedroom units averaging 945 SF. Surrounding area includes medical and professional offices, automotive, personal conveniences, and casual dining as well as a 38,000 SF restaurant – Cullen’s Upscale American Grille.
• Challenger Park, a 358-unit luxury apartment complex, is planned for League City on a 16-acre site, west of the Gulf Freeway on FM 528. The $30 million project will bring rental rates in the range of $748 to $1,532.
• The Lighthouse at 4011 — Details are out for El Lago’s new condominium project on NASA Parkway – it’s green and may turn silver! This will be the only LEED-certified high-rise condominium project on the Texas Gulf Coast. The developer plans a 19-floor structure with parking on the first through fourth floors and residential starting on the 5th. A marina will also be built for homeowners. Price range is $500,000 to $2.9 million.
• Friendswood’s West Ranch Creekside Section 1 was platted; it contains another 65 homes. West Ranch is a total of 1, 500 homes.
• Forest Cove in Dickinson has a new community of 28 custom homes being built off FM 517, east of I-45. Lots are wooded, some with bayou frontage. Underground utilities are in place on ½ to 1 acre lots.
• Twin Towers for Seabrook? The 20-story twins are still in the proposal stage but the developer is working on the permits. They will be built on Jennings Island. More details as they happen.
• Martin Fein Interests is now building the second phase of apartments in League City’s Tuscan Lakes community. Sorrento at Tuscan Lakes will have 204 units and should open late Summer or early Fall. Already completed is the 244-unit apartment community – Ravello at Tuscan Lakes; a third phase is also planned.

Infrastructure News Plus!

• Pasadena’s Bayport Terminal is officially open and expected to triple the port’s overall container handling capacity. When fully developed, the terminal will have a total of seven container berths with the capacity to handle 2.3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit). Economic impact to the region is more than $1 billion in new business revenues and more than $40 million in new tax revenues – each year.
  The first departure at the new cruise terminal, also in Pasadena, is planned for 2008. Three berths could accommodate as many as 1.7 million passengers; parking capacity is for 3,000 cars. Forty acres of onsite co-development is available.
• Plans are in the works to construct a $15 million Armed Forces Reserve Center and a $6 million Battle Projection facility for the arriving Predator drones at Ellington Field. The two-story reserve center is for the thousands of troops currently stationed at the Old Spanish Trail Reserve Center. Planned to be approximately 170,000 SF, it will house every branch of service. By 2010, there could be as many as 6,000 to 10,000 employed at Ellington Field. The operations complex for the Predators, unmanned aerial vehicles, should be completed before 2010.
• The City of Nassau Bay has issued a contract to Altair Development to dredge the boat channels in and around the city. The value of waterfront properties has been undermined by the silt build-up, creating a boating hazard, and also could impede fire and rescue boats to do their jobs. This project should be complete by the end of March.
• Galveston’s city golf course is being scraped down to the dirt and will emerge as one of the best municipal courses in Texas – but it will take about 18 months to do the work. Next to Scholes Field airport, the 209-acre course will undergo a $14.1 million makeover. The existing links will become a premiere public course attracting both local golfers and out-of-town visitors. The course will be renamed Moody Gardens Golf Course on Galveston Island. Under the agreement, Moody Gardens will operate the course for the next 40 years.

Road News ……

• Webster
• May, 2007, is the projected letting for the Gulf Freeway / NASA Parkway exchange. The final product will be a flip …. the freeway will pass over the parkway.
  League City
• TxDOT will begin construction of the I-45 and League City Parkway (SH 96) interchange in September of this year.
  Big Stuff!
• The NASA Bypass is on schedule for completion by summer, 2008.