HOUSTON – (By Ralph Bivins, Realty News Report) – In the early 1960s, planners began conceptualizing the Grand Parkway, a 180-mile circumferential roadway that would someday bisect seven counties around the Houston metropolitan area.
Texans say it will be the longest beltway in the United States when it’s finally completed a few years from now.
The Grand Parkway’s first section opened on the west side of Houston in 1994.
By then, people in Houston and suburbs like Richmond, Katy and Fulshear had figured it out: the Grand Parkway would open up vast swaths of prairie to new development.
Bigger thinkers were looking ahead. With home construction taking off in the 8,000-acre Cinco Ranch master planned community, located about 25 miles west of downtown, and other construction along Interstate 10, the demand for retail and restaurants was going to be huge.
The Grand Parkway could bring enough traffic to support a regional mall, a common retail genre in that era – an air-conditioned shopping center anchored by Sears, JCPenney, Foley’s and Dillard’s or other big department stores.
“It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the far West Houston/Katy area was going to be an area of substantial growth for a number of reasons — mainly the number of master planned communities on the horizon and the attraction of the nationally acclaimed Katy Independent School District,” said LaCenterra’s original developer, Woody Mann Jr., head of the Vista Companies.
So, Mann’s group bought land on the Grand Parkway in the Cinco Ranch master planned community.
“When we bought the original 18-acre tract in 2003, our initial plan was to do a grocery-anchored shopping center at that location,” said Mann. “However, (Cinco Ranch developer) Ted Nelson convinced us to ‘think outside the box’ and create something that could be a magnet, not only for the entire Cinco Ranch community, but the other surrounding master-planned communities such as Grand Lakes and Seven Meadows as well.”
Mann’s site was three miles south of Interstate 10 and that’s where the competition had already staked a claim.
“Our biggest concern at the time was that (shopping center developer) Simon owned a 130-acre tract at the northeast corner of I-10 and the Grand Parkway, which they intended to develop into a large outdoor center called The Grande. We knew we couldn’t compete with Simon, and a number of the prospective tenants we were talking to at the time were also talking to Simon,” said Mann in comments published in the book *Houston 2020: America’s Boom Town,
“So we bought an additional 16 acres from Newland which allowed us to substantially increase the LaCenterra footprint to over 400,000 SF of retail and office space.”
With the greater mass, Mann won the market and Simon scrapped their plans for The Grande.
Construction of LaCenterra started in 2006. Martin Fein later added a 217-unit apartment community. And the18-hour a day LaCenterra activity hub was thriving.
Late in 2017, Mann’s exit strategy arrived in the form of an institutional investor. Mann’s Vista Companies, along with partner Denver-based Amstar Group, decided to sell LaCenterra to PGIM Real Estate, an arm of Prudential Financial.
The 2017 sales price was not officially disclosed, but Colliers placed it at $143.4 million. It meant Mann created $350 per SF of value on the Grand Parkway — enough to inspire a lot of copycat developers.
PGIM’s time to hold LaCenterra as an investment came to an end in July 2025.
Brixmor Property Group, New York-based REIT, acquired the LaCenterra at Cinco Ranch for $223 million. The gross sales price was approximately $100 million more than its purchase price eight years ago.
More news could be in store for the 409,000-SF open-air center which sits on 34 acres at 23501 Cinco Ranch Boulevard at the Grand Parkway.
Late last year, Trademark Property Group was retained to upgrade LaCenterra and its retail roster.
Trademark’s Daniel Goldware, Senior Vice President of Leasing said Friday it will continue with its leasing endeavors.
“Trademark Property Company is continuing our leasing assignment at LaCenterra at Cinco Ranch,” Goldware said. “The property holds significant upside potential as a market-dominant destination in a high-growth region, and we are actively unlocking new opportunities with a thoughtful mix of retailers and F&B users. Since joining the LaCenterra team last year, Trademark has generated significant interest in available space as local and national tenants seek out strong visibility and foot traffic in an ideal location.”
New retailers, new restaurants or maybe the addition of a bit of new space – LaCenterra carved out a desirable niche in the western suburbs.
A few years ago, LaCenterra ranked No. 6 in Chain Store Age’s Top 10 Retail Experiences of 2021 in the United States.
From a flat tract on the Katy Prairie to a nationally recognized “retail experience” – it’s a transformation that may surprise those who snark about metropolitan spread and sprawl.
*Excerpt from ‘Houston 2020 – America’s Boom Town – an Extreme Close Up.’ Author: Ralph Bivins. Copyright 2018 Ralph Bivins through Fifth Estate Media.
Aug. 4, 2025 Realty News Report Copyright 2025
Photo: Courtesy Poag
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File: Born on the Grand Parkway
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