Sears Closure Clears Path for Memorial City Redevelopment
Memorial City is near the Katy Freeway in west Houston.
HOUSTON – (By Kyle Hagerty for Realty News Report) – MetroNational has hired the team behind some of Texas’s most successful retail developments to lead a comprehensive redevelopment of Memorial City Mall, a 1.7 million-square-foot property in west Houston. Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Company, known for retail and mixed-use projects, will craft a new vision for the 265-acre campus.
“We will be working closely with the Johnson family and other stakeholders in the community over the next 12 months to develop an actionable plan for taking Memorial City Mall to the next level,” said Tommy Miller, Trademark’s Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer, in Trademark’s announcement. “This strategic property is poised to strengthen its position as the dominant shopping destination in west Houston for decades to come.”
MetroNational, a Houston-based developer, originally built Memorial City along the I-10 corridor just inside Beltway 8 in the mid-1960s. The mall underwent a significant renovation in the early 2000s and outlasted a nearby competitor, Town & Country Mall. Over time Memorial City has become a major focal point of development about 10 miles west of downtown Houston. More than 7 million square feet of built real estate surrounds the mall, including Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center, the ZaZa Memorial City hotel, and roughly 3.1 million square feet of Class A office space, Trademark reports.
A central element of the redevelopment will repurpose the recently vacated 209,000-square-foot Sears department store. Sears, a longtime mall tenant and a retailer founded in 1893, closed this location as part of wider store reductions. That vacancy opens up new possibilities for redevelopment on the mall’s south side.
The project’s objectives include creating more public gathering areas, improving walkability, expanding retail, restaurants and entertainment options, introducing curated mixed-use elements, and producing a master plan that guides the site’s evolution for the next 50 years and beyond.
“If you don’t embrace and capitalize on the paradigm shifts occurring in the retail and shopping center world today, you are losing ground fast,” Trademark Property Company CEO Terry Montesi said in the release. “This is an evolving legacy asset, and MetroNational and Trademark are thrilled to partner in its transformation.”
MetroNational has also been extending Memorial City’s momentum to the north side of I-10, signing new tenants such as Mia’s Table, Johnny Carrabba’s, Torchy’s Tacos and Kirby Ice House as part of the northern expansion phase.
“With Trademark’s expertise in mixed-use developments and MetroNational’s six decades of experience in west Houston, the end result will be spectacular and undoubtedly benefit the community for generations to come,” said MetroNational President Jason Johnson.
Trademark has a track record of major retail and mixed-use projects, including work in Houston’s Rice Village, Dallas’ Galleria Dallas and Corpus Christi’s La Palmera. The firm reports having developed or redeveloped 14.7 million square feet of retail and mixed-use assets valued at approximately $2.5 billion.
As west Houston continues to rise as a prominent submarket, these updates aim to keep Memorial City Mall at the forefront of the city’s evolving retail landscape.
