Wu Buys Woodlake Square Retail, Market briefs

In Houston, CBRE facilitated the sale of Woodlake Square, a 157,465-SF shopping center in the Westchase District in Houston.

Mark Witcher, Jolie Duhon, Chris Cozby, Jim Batjer and Harrison Tye with CBRE National Retail Partners represented the seller, EDENS, in the transaction.

The shopping center was purchased by Houston-based Wu Properties.

Located at 9600 Westheimer Road at Gessner Road, Woodlake Square is located at the entrance to the Westchase District and serves established neighborhoods including the Memorial Villages and Briargrove Park. Redeveloped in 2010, the center has been anchored by Randalls and Walgreens since the 1970s. Woodlake Square was 80% occupied by 21 tenants at the time of the sale.

“Woodlake Square’s location, combined with the established presence of its food and drug anchor tenants, presents a unique opportunity for new ownership to capitalize on the center’s cosmetic upgrades and re-tenant recent shop vacancies,” said Mark Witcher, senior vice president at CBRE.

In 2013, AmREIT purchased Woodlake Square Shopping Center, for $41.6 million. The seller in the 2013 deal was AEW Value Investors II, L.P., a value-added real estate fund managed by AEW Capital Management. The AmREIT company was purchased by Edens in 2015.

Other Wu Acquisitions

In 2022, Wu Properties, a firm led by Steve Wu, purchased a 231,000-SF retail center at 12972 Willowchase Drive in Northwest Houston, near Texas 249 and FM 1960. That year Wu also purchased the Market Square at Eldridge, a 262,556-SF regional power center in West Houston on 32.52 acres at 2660 Eldridge Pkwy S

The Westchase District is located on the west side of Houston near the Sam Houston Tollway, which opened in 1988.

Decades ago, the area was mostly ranch land controlled by R.E “Bob” Smith, who worked with Judge Roy Hofheinz to build the Astrodome in the early 1960s. Westchase development advanced after Friendswood Development (1969) and Westchase Corp. (1973) purchased large tracts,