MANVEL, Texas (Realty News Report) — Weitzman, a Dallas-based shopping center developer, broke ground Tuesday on the first phase of its 1 million-square-foot Manvel Town Center, a major retail development south of Houston.
Anchored by an H-E-B supermarket, the open-air shopping center will sit at the intersection of Highway 288 and Highway 6.
“Manvel Town Center’s groundbreaking marks the start of one of the largest retail-focused projects in the Houston region and will be the largest project in Weitzman’s 31-year history,” said Herb Weitzman, executive chairman and founder of Weitzman. “Together with this world-class H-E-B, we envision a balanced mix of leading retail anchors, shops, restaurants, fitness, health and beauty services, and entertainment that will draw shoppers and visitors for decades.”
The new H-E-B is planned to exceed 100,000 square feet of retail space and will include a fuel station and car wash. The first phase of Manvel Town Center, which includes the H-E-B and several pad sites, is scheduled to open in late summer 2022.
The 273-acre Manvel Town Center will benefit from strong population growth in Brazoria County. In recent years, the Houston metropolitan area has competed closely with Dallas as one of the nation’s top markets for homebuilding.
During the pandemic, with mortgage rates near record lows and many millennials eager to buy homes, suburban home construction surged. Retail developers have since positioned projects to meet that suburban growth.
Robust residential development around Manvel Town Center is a key factor in projected population growth: the trade area is expected to increase by nearly 16 percent by 2025. Major nearby residential communities include Lakes of Savannah, Meridiana, Del Bello Lakes, Rodeo Palms, Lakeland, Sterling Lakes, Sierra Vista, Pomona and Sedona Lakes, among others. In total, 28 active home communities surrounding Manvel Town Center report about 25,000 future lots, representing roughly 72,000 potential housing units.
Retailers at Manvel will benefit from the top retail location within the trade area. This zone, defined by a 15-minute drivetime, reports average household incomes above $110,000 and nearly 291,000 residents. The daytime population in this trade area is approximately 242,735, a valuable indicator for retailers and restaurants because it suggests steady daytime traffic.
Manvel — experiencing substantial residential growth and expected to expand significantly over the next two decades — is the primary growth market south of Pearland. Within a seven-mile radius of Manvel Town Center, the area now includes nearly 182,000 residents, with an average household income of $119,567.
Residents of Manvel, in Brazoria County, can use Highway 288 to commute to Houston’s Texas Medical Center, which employs about 106,000 people.
Manvel Town Center also benefits from more than 6,600 feet of frontage and direct access from Highway 288, enabled by Weitzman’s construction of a feeder road modification and curb cut into the site.
June 22, 2021 Realty News Report. Copyright 2021.
For more on Texas real estate: Houston 2020: America’s Boom Town — An Extreme Close Up by Ralph Bivins (ebook and print editions available).
Images: Courtesy Weitzman
File: Herb Weitzman Breaks Ground