NewQuest Properties will break ground in early April on the Shops at Rock Creek in northwest Houston after ground-leasing a pad site to Mudslingers Drive-Thru Coffee, a brand-new name for the developer's book of business.
The 4.5-acre Shops at Rock Creek will be positioned at the hard corner of Spring Cypress and Grant roads in Cypress. The project's inaugural tenant is a Houston franchisee of Michigan-based Mudslingers, who has scooped up one of two pad sites in a development that will add 22,000 sf of class A retail space to a well-heeled residential pocket. The average annual household income is $144,000 within a one-mile radius of the development site.
"Mudslingers Drive-Thru Coffee is a really cool concept that's being introduced to NewQuest's portfolio at this location," says Andrew Alvis, senior associate of the Houston-based brokerage and development firm. "We're really hoping we can replicate this model in some of our other centers with large parking lots."
The Shops at Rock Creek will neighbor a 90,000-sf freestanding H-E-B grocery store, with built-in synergies between the two because of a cross-access parking lot agreement. The NewQuest project has 10 tenant spaces, five of which are in various stages of lease negotiations.
"We want the Shops at Rock Creek to feel like it is part of H-E-B. That cross-access agreement is what made it so desirable for NewQuest to develop a center in this location," Alvis says.
The H-E-B is the only supermarket in the immediate area and draws customers from a five-mile radius. The trade area's population has spiked to more than 201,200, up 31% in the past decade. The neighborhood includes an elementary school and Rock Creek Community Center.
"There is not much retail space available in this quadrant," say Alvis, who grew up in the area. "It's all residential and much of it is new."
NewQuest has mapped out a neighborhood center with two retail structures, totaling 22,000 sf, and pad sites of 0.84 acre and 0.1 acre. Mudslingers has ground leased the smaller tract for an innovative kiosk-style building featuring patio space and ample parking. The tenant, who was self-represented in the negotiations, is eyeing an opening in early September just as the first multi-tenant building is going vertical.
Mudslingers Drive-Thru Coffee is one of the fastest growing chains in its category. Its special brews are made with certified fair trade, shade-grown and organic coffee beans. The menu features gourmet hot/cold coffee, smoothies, energy drinks, lattes, cappuccinos, doughnuts, bagels and specialty sandwiches.
SOUTH TEXAS SALE
Shelly Arasceli Saldana has sold a 2,400-sf structure on 0.46 acres at the intersection of Yale and W. 26th streets, Houston, to Yale Ventures Inc. Chris Dray and Alex Wright of NewQuest Properties represented the seller. Rigoberto Juarez of Global Investment Realty represented the buyer.
SOUTH TEXAS LEASES
The Simmons & Fletcher law firm has renewed 10,284 sf of office space in Memorial City Place, 9821 Katy Freeway, Houston. Randy Nerren of NewQuest Properties represented the tenant. Brad MacDougal and Warren Alexander of MetroNational represented the landlord.
Mudslingers Drive-Thru Coffee has ground-leased a 0.1-acre pad site in the Shops at Rock Creek, located at the intersection of Spring Cypress and Grant roads, Cypress, from NewQuest Properties. Andrew Alvis of NewQuest Properties represented the landlord, in the direct deal.
NewQuest Properties, founded in 2001, is a privately owned, full-service commercial real estate firm specializing in development, land brokerage, leasing, tenant representation, investment sales and property management services. Headquartered in Houston, NewQuest owns a portfolio encompassing more than 60 retail and mixed-use projects valued at $2.2 billion and provides leasing services for more than 12 million square feet of commercial space in Texas, Louisiana and throughout the U.S.
