The building boom anticipating 10,000 Exxon Mobile employees converging onto the emerging 385-acre Exxon Mobil mega campus continues to roar ahead. A nearly 2,000-acre master-planned community is now on the drawing board for just north of The Woodlands.
The Howard Hughes Corp., the Dallas-based parent company of The Woodlands Development Co., outlined the project in its second-quarter earnings report this week.
In May, HHC acquired about 1,343 acres of undeveloped land located 13 miles north of The Woodlands for $67.3 million. The company is under contract with another seller for some 652 adjacent acres. More than 4,600 single-family residential lots are planned for the combined properties, with the first lots expected to be delivered in 2016.
The land under question is actually located off Interstate 45, a spokesperson with The Woodlands Development Co. confirmed, rather than adjacent to I-45 as the report states.
More than 4,600 single-family residential lots are planned for the combined properties, with the first lots expected to be delivered in 2016.
In addition, the report reveals, more than 160 acres of commercial development is to be included on the combined sites. "The actual timing of development and sellout will be subject to several conditions, including market demand for residential lots and commercial properties," the report states.
Meanwhile, another 60-acre mixed-use development located just south of The Woodlands is already in the works.
Formerly known as Springwoods Village Town Center, the upcoming development — situated at the nexus of I-45, the Grand Parkway and the Hardy Toll Road — has been renamed CityPlace and will feature millions of square feet of office, retail and living space, as well as restaurants and at least two hotels.
Springwoods Village, developed by Coventry Development Corp. in New York, is a 1,800-acre master-planned community along the west side of Interstate 45 between Springwoods Village Parkway and the future Grand Parkway. Its first residents moved in in late July.
Houston Methodist has also joined the scramble to build in The Woodlands with a new 193-bed, full-service community hospital to help met the health needs of the expected 10,000 employees moving to the Exxon Mobil corporate campus there.
Hospital board members recently approved plans for the $328 million Houston Methodist The Woodlands, "giving that community close-to-home access to Houston Methodist’s unparalleled safety, quality, service and innovation," Dr. Marc L. Boom, president and chief executive officer of Houston Methodist, said in a statement.
Houston Methodist The Woodlands is to be located at the intersection of I-45 and Texas Highway 242. Groundbreaking on the 470,000-square-foot hospital is expected early next year, with its opening scheduled for 2017. The Exxon Mobile mega-campus is expected to be complete sometime next year.
And that's not all. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, along with HHC, is in the fray with plans for the 302-room hotel that will overlook The Woodlands Waterway and feature 15,000 square feet of meeting space, plus an outdoor pool, a workout studio and business center.
The hotel, The Westin The Woodlands, which is scheduled to open in late 2015, will also include a 150-seat restaurant, lobby bar and second-level pool deck with direct access to the fountains at Waterway Square.
Exxon Mobil is vacating a number of its office facilities around Houston, including its downtown skyscraper, to make the move to its new campus on the north side of Houston The new Exxon Mobil campus, which will have three million square feet of office space in 20 new buildings, is reportedly the largest privately-owned construction project currently underway in the nation.
A row of houses in Springwoods Village.
