"There are plans to add additional retail as more office andhotels are developed," says Rip Reynolds, vice president withStaubach Co.'s Houston office. The new space at 24 Waterway onWaterway Avenue was just completed while the crew's hard at work toadd retail space the front of the project's parking garage. Alsounder construction is the 216,600-sf 4 Waterway Square,an office building that recently broke ground at the corner ofWoodloch Forest Drive and Waterway Square Place.

Reynolds, who has the retail leasing assignment, isn't divulgingquoted rates for the retail space. However, developers have beengetting about $40 per sf, triple net for shop space in theWoodlands. The corridor's 1.3-million-sf inventory has asingle-digit vacancy.

"People want to be in the Woodlands. That's the number one ortwo trade area in which retailers enter the market," Reynolds tellsGlobeSt.com. Even with the current market conditions, he saysactivity is still good due to residential growth and more recently,corporate growth. "Demos and traffic that's what the retailerslike," he stresses.