Located at 5750 Sam Houston Pkwy. East, High Ridge Industrial Park will have 125 flex office and warehouse buildings, ranging from 1,950 sf to 2,100 sf. Also included will be a central conference facility and high-tech connections in a "smart park" design. Construction will begin in April, with build-out to be done by year's end.

Robert E. Legault, president and COO of Worthington Development LLC, says his company and the Betz Cos. will roll out "smart parks" all along the Beltway 8 corridor. He says they own enough acreage for two more developments and have options to buy two more parcels.

Legault tells GlobeSt.com that the plan is to start work on a second site, situated at Texas 290 and West Road, in the fourth quarter and begin pushing dirt on a third location at Beltway 8 and Interstate 10 in March 2008. Beyond that, development will depend on demand.

But not all the parks will be mixed use. "Some will have 100% office, with no warehousing, while others will be a mix," Legault explains. "What we develop will depend on the market. As we examine the spots around the Beltway, we'll identify what the demand is."

While the parks might be different in product, they will have some similarities, including a separate facility for a conference center, high security and T-tree lines for broadband connections. Legault acknowledges that development costs are a little more expensive on such projects, but indicates they're worth the extra costs. "The way we're doing these parks wires them for the future," he says, adding that the Internet connections alone will be faster. "Basically, these folks will be using high-speed Internet for a fraction of what they might pay for DSL."

High Ridge was designed by Identity Architects of Houston. Builders Technical Services Inc. of Spring, TX is the general contractor.