The "Missing Mile" in the Energy Corridor is Finally Complete

HOUSTON – The “Missing Mile” roadway in the Energy Corridor has been completed.

The “Missing Mile” is a recently constructed stretch of Park Row, a street that runs parallel to Interstate 10 in west Houston.

David Wolff leads Energy Corridor panel. — **David Wolff, left, leads Energy Corridor panel with Billy Burge, Jon Lindsay, Larry Johnson, Matt Khourie and Carl Sewell.**

“The completion of Park Row not only represents a dramatic improvement in transportation in West Houston, but also Houston’s can-do attitude. This was a very complicated project which required many different businesses, organizations and governmental entities to work together to ultimately increase economic activity and quality of life,” said David S. Wolff, Chairman and President of Wolff Companies.

Wolff, a veteran Houston land developer, is credited with popularizing and marketing the Energy Corridor, one of the nation’s most well-known submarkets. Currently, the Energy Corridor is dealing with a soft office market and an oversupply of sublease office space following a rapid crash in oil prices.

Park Row, a four-lane major thoroughfare that runs parallel to the Katy Freeway (I-10), now stretches continuously from Dairy Ashford Road at I-10 to the City of Katy. The new segment, which connects Dairy Ashford to the Addicks Park and Ride, broke ground in 2013 and was opened to traffic earlier this month. The road provides an important alternative route to the Katy Freeway and the new segment will open up public transportation options for those who work, live and play in The Energy Corridor.

The Missing Mile of Park Row street is in the Energy Corridor of West Houston. Wolff Cos. developed the Central Park business park there on the north side of Interstate 10. — The Missing Mile of Park Row street is in the Energy Corridor of West Houston. Wolff Cos. developed the Central Park business park near there, one of many business parks Wolff has developed since 1970. In addition to his Houston holdings, Mr. Wolff also owns a stake in the San Francisco Giants.

Park Row is home to some of the largest corporate headquarters in Houston, including ConocoPhillips, Worley Parsons and Mustang Wood Group. More recently, it has become a new address for some of the city’s best medical institutions – such as Texas Children’s Hospital and Houston Methodist, which own land on both sides of Park Row in Wolff Companies’ Ten Oaks, and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, which owns land on both sides of Park Row in Wolff Companies’ Central Park.

Wolff and the Energy Corridor District recently sponsored a gathering of business leaders to celebrate the new roadway completion of the long awaited Missing Mile.

“We brought together leaders in the West Houston community who represented a variety of sectors – housing, office, land development, retail and government. They represent a larger body of leaders who have worked together to make West Houston what it is and who will continue to collaborate to ensure West Houston’s continued growth and success,” said Carolyn Wolff Dorros, Executive Vice President of Wolff Companies.

In a panel discussion, with David Wolff serving as moderator, panelists were William Burge, president of Ayrshire Corp. and Chairman of the Grand Parkway Association; Larry Johnson, President of Johnson Development; Matt Khourie, CEO of Trammell Crow; auto dealer Carl Sewell and Jon Lindsay, former Harris County Judge.

“The evolution of quality in West Houston is noteworthy. Developers along I-10 have upped their game with projects built to last. Continued investment in schools and healthcare will be catalysts for continued growth,” said Matt Khourie of Trammell Crow.

Asked what West Houston might look like in 25 to 50 years, Burge quipped, “We’ll be in San Antonio by then, but you will always see the initial footprint by people like David Wolff and many others who came here when there was nothing but rice fields.”

**Danny Miller of HFF was one of a number of Houston business leaders at the Missing Mile event.**

The first segment of Park Row was developed in the 1970s in Park Ten by Wolff, who envisioned the need for an alternate route to the Katy Freeway.

The newly opened “missing mile” segment included the design and construction of Park Row from the intersection of the I-10 HOV/Tollroad access ramp at the Addicks Park & Ride lot to the thoroughfare’s existing terminus just west of the intersection with North Eldridge Parkway; a four-lane bridge over Langham Creek; water, sanitary sewer and storm water drainage infrastructure; and street lighting and landscaping. The two-phase project was facilitated by a public/private venture between The Energy Corridor Management District and the City of Houston.

Now in its fifth decade, Wolff Companies has developed a number of master-planned, mixed-use business communities in the Houston area, including: Beltway; Park 10; Interwood; Westway Park; First Crossing; Ten Oaks at the Texas Medical Center – West Campus and Central Park.