PEARLAND, Texas – The crown jewels of remaining land on Pearland’s 288 Corridor on Houston’s south side are being snapped up quickly for medical-related buildings and what will be the first urban-styled dense apartment.
NewQuest Crosswell, a Houston-based development firm, controls 40 acres on the west side of Highway 288, just south of McHard Road.
Several parcels are under contract, NewQuest Crosswell reports, and one of the deals is multifamily project that is unique for the area – a four-story mid-rise residential building, says realty broker Brad LyBrand of NewQuest Properties.
“It’s a first for Pearland,” LyBrand says.
The dense urban-like development plan for the Pearland site makes sense because two hospitals (read: job base) are under construction within walking distance, says Houston developer Allen Crosswell, the Managing Principal of NewQuest Crosswell.
Crosswell bought the land over five years ago from the Collins Brothers, the Las Vegas-based firm that developed the adjoining Shadow Creek Ranch, a 3,000-acre master planned community. The site was originally planned as the prime commercial reserve for Shadow Creek. But Crosswell has been the one banging out the home runs as the Houston realty market caught fire.
In recent years, Crosswell sold a significant amount of acres to McCann Partners for apartment development that occurred along Business Center Drive. In addition, a 360-unit project, Radius at Shadow Creek Ranch is under construction nearby.
AMD Asset Holdings bought a corner tract from Crosswell for a 100,000-sf medical office building, which is being marketed by Transwestern.
The remaining 40 acres also has buyers under contract to purchase additional sites for a medical office building and the four-story multifamily project, Crosswell said.
The remaining acres are set-aside for new office buildings and perhaps, some restaurants. This swath of land, north of FM 518 on the west side of Highway 288, has attracted strong medical users.
HCA is constructing a 150,000-square-foot hospital across the street from the Crosswell tract. Memorial Hermann is constructing a 64-bed hospital about a half-mile to the south. Both projects and under construction and should be completed in 2015.
The whole area has become hot with medical-related development, including new clinics from Methodist Hospital and Kelsey Seybold. In addition, a 170,000-square-foot building was recently completed as the administrative headquarters of the Kelsey Seybold medical organization.
Pearland, which is less than 10 miles south of the Texas Medical Center, has attracted interest from biomedical companies. Merit Medical Systems recently completed 120,000-sf medical device manufacturing facility in Pearland, not far from the Crosswell site.
New multifamily and single-family residential, retail and restaurant construction has been in a high-growth mode in the last couple of years, Crosswell said.
“Construction west of Highway 288 is huge,” he said.