HOUSTON – A 22-acre portion of Greenspoint Mall, including the old Macy’s store, has been acquired for the development of a truck stop, reports Houston real estate broker Jim Mattox of Jim Mattox Properties.
The 1.4 million SF Greenspoint Mall in north Houston suffered through the closure of a number of stores, including Macy’s, which shut down earlier thus year.
Spring Real Estate Investments LLC, led by Zulfiqar Karedia, purchased the 314,000-SF Macy’s building and its surrounding parking lot. Mattox said the site, which fronts Interstate 45, will be used for a 17,000-SF truck stop with retail space.
The empty Macy’s building will be leased to other users, Mattox said.
Other parts of Greenspoint Mall are under contract to be purchased by a Chinese investment group, Global Plaza Union, led by Feng Gao.
Greenspoint Mall, which opened in 1976, was a retail powerhouse in its heyday.
However, the 1.4 million square foot north-Houston mall was bypassed long ago by The Woodlands Mall as growth moved northward. Lord & Taylor, J.C. Penney, Montgomery Ward and Sears are long-gone.
The mall has a high vacancy rate. Dillard’s and Palais Royal are the only remaining department stores.
Triyar Cannon Group, owner of the Greenspoint Mall, which is located west of Bush Airport at the northeast corner of Interstate 45 and Beltway 8. The Triyar group is led by movie producer Bob Yari.
In 2015, Triyar Cannon sold another one of its regional malls – the aging San Jacinto Mall in Baytown. It was purchased by Houston’s Fidelis Realty, which is redeveloping the Baytown property.
The Greenspoint Mall has been viewed as key to turning around the Greenspoint area. The office market there has one of the highest vacancy rates in the city. The Greenspoint district suffered a big blow when Exxon Mobil elected to vacate 2 million square feet of Greenspoint office space and move the employees to its new campus near The Woodlands.