McCord Development Inc. offered more details on its mixed-use project within a 4,000-acre business park in northeast Houston.
The development will be a lively, walkable area with restaurants and retail inside Generation Park — the business park in the Lake Houston area where Houston-based FMC Technologies (NYSE: FTI) purchased 173 acres in January.
The mixed-use portion, dubbed S.PA and pronounced es-pa, is a necessary step toward recruiting more tenants to the business park, said Ryan McCord, president of the Houston-based development company.
“The No. 1 reason why we are doing this is because it’s what employees want,” McCord said. “It’s what we would want in our own office — to get a sandwich and find a green spot outside or come in on the weekends and have a place for the kids and family to enjoy while you work.”
McCord envisions the mixed-use development to be widely visited not just by people who office there, but also by drivers that pass by on Beltway 8.
“We’ve been asked many times to make sure there are restaurants in the area and places to go eat — it is a completely underserved quadrant of town,” he said.
McCord discussed how the entire project is a multigenerational one, with many aspects. At the Commercial Real Estate Women luncheon last week, McCord officially announced plans to include the mixed-use portion.
The S.PA will include restaurants and retail as well as amenities like a fitness facility, childcare, car center, hotel and auditorium. The auditorium will serve a dual purpose for convention space and concert/event space in the evenings.
McCord said construction on the mixed-use development will begin within six to 12 months.