HOUSTON—The founding partners of Houston-based Capital Retail Properties have come a long way since the 11/11/11 launch of the commercial brokerage firm. The trio of former Texas A&M University students, Eric Walker, Anderson Smith and Ford Scott, honed their real estate skills at NewQuest Properties. Smith and Scott befriended Walker, at the time a vice president of leasing development, who began his career as assistant to the president, personal aide to the US secretary of education and associate director of the White House office of combating terrorism.

Now a unit of nine, Capital Retail Properties has forged a niche specializing in the development, marketing and disposition of anchored and shadow-anchored retail shopping centers, along with tenant representation and retail land sales. Clients range from Midway and McDonald's to Prosperity Bank, Academy Sports, Grub Burger Bar, Starbucks and Corner Bakery. In recent months, Capital Retail Properties has not only met key milestones for three suburban developments, but been involved in center sales totaling $25 million.

The team just completed the Shops at Spring Village, located minutes from the ExxonMobil campus, Springwoods Village and the Grand Parkway at 2209 Spring Stuebner Rd. The project, which offers two direct access points to Interstate 45, broke ground in April 2017. It features a total of 20,800 square feet of retail space in two buildings, parking for 117 cars plus landscaped patios with custom lighting elements. Tenants, including a drive-thru location of Dunkin Donuts, AT&T, Sports Clips, Serenity Dental and Shoku Sushi Bar, are anticipated to unveil storefronts in the first quarter of 2018. Spring Village should benefit from synergy with the neighboring and newly debuted 170,000-square-foot Market at Springwoods Village, anchored by Kroger Marketplace and encompassing Torchy's Tacos and MOD Pizza.

Gleannloch Crossing is in the midst of its inaugural retail openings. The first phase of the Capital Retail Properties development, which broke ground in November 2016, spans 32,917 square feet with 184 parking spaces. In June 2017, space was delivered to tenants including AT&T, Popeye's, Regions Bank, Subway and UPS for build out. The nine-acre project is slated for a second phase with another 19,792 square feet of retail planned. At the entrance to the Gleannloch Farms residential enclave located at Champion Forest Drive and the Grand Parkway, Gleannloch Crossing also benefits from its proximity to the H-E-B Champion Forest market, which opened in summer 2017.

Situated at Birnham Woods Drive and the Grand Parkway, and adjacent to a future Regal Cinemas, Capital Retail Properties' Birnham Woods Marketplace began welcoming its first tenants, including a Kroger Marketplace store, in late September. Incorporating more than 200,000 square feet with five pad sites and 497 parking spaces, the Kroger is the first in Greater Houston to debut a new urban look for the chain. Among the signed leases for the lifestyle destination are Postal Annex, 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza, Great Clips, Sprint, PetSmart, GNC and Amazing Lashes. Among the special features of the project, which broke ground in July 2016 and delivered space to tenants in February 2017, are enhanced landscaping and patio elements plus larger parking stalls to better accommodate guests with SUVs.

Smith represented the seller, Shops at Rayford Crossing LLC, in the sale of Rayford Crossing and Scott represented the buyer, Dallas-based Crow Holdings Retail Fund. Just across Birnham Woods Drive from Birnham Woods Marketplace, the retail center, which is anchored by a Walmart Supercenter, features 36,704 square feet of retail along Riley Fuzzell Road in three buildings with tenants that include Starbucks, AT&T, Mattress Firm, UPS Store and Pet Supplies Plus.

Smith and Capital Retail Properties associate Connor Lynch represented the seller, Beacon at Kingsley Crossing LP, in the sale of Kingsley Crossing. Located at 12810 Broadway St. in Pearland at Shadow Creek Ranch, the 14,451-square-foot retail center is 100% leased with tenants including Goodwill, Smile Village Dental Care and Marco's Pizza.

Smith and Lynch represented the seller, and Sumner Hollingsworth of Los Angeles-based NNN Equity Advisors represented the buyer in the sale of Kuykendahl Crossing. Fully leased with tenants including Floors for Living, Northampton Dental and Swing Zone, the 10,000-square-foot retail center is situated at 24036 Kuykendahl Rd. with access back to W. Rayford Road. The property is ideally positioned in a high income growth area, just across Rayford from a Kroger Marketplace-anchored development.

“The opening of the Grand Parkway has fueled activity in North Houston, especially around the 2,000-acre Springwoods Village mixed-use community, home to a growing number of corporate campuses like HP and ABS joining ExxonMobil and Southwestern Energy. Office and residential growth are creating increased demand for retail–our focus in the area are businesses with daily appeal–both from the consumer and investor side,” Smith tells GlobeSt.com. “Local as well as out of state buyers are seeing the appeal in well placed centers with strong tenants that draw on increasingly affluent surroundings.”

Instant Insights /

Grand Parkway Boosts North Houston

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