Howard Hughes’ Houston Mass-Timber Office 80% Leased

Howard Hughes Holdings’ mass-timber office building — the first of its kind in Greater Houston — is leasing up quickly months after the start of construction.

The Woodlands-based firm has pre-leased nearly 80 percent of One Bridgeland Green, a 50,000-square-foot development at 20203 Bridgeland Creek Parkway in Cypress, Bisnow reported.

Leasing efforts are being handled by Howard Hughes’ Kevin Stutts and JLL’s Scott Fikes and Jack Russo.

Howard Hughes’ own development team will occupy 14,000 square feet, along with the Bridgeland Welcome Center, and Advanced Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine took the largest of the building’s leases so far with 18,000 square feet. CrossCover Insurance leased 8,600 square feet.

One Bridgeland Green is part of the larger Village Green development, which will include a variety of amenities such as an H-E-B grocery store.

One Bridgeland’s design focuses on eco-friendly materials and cutting-edge technology to create an efficient workspace that aligns with modern environmental standards. This includes energy-efficient photovoltaic panels and a rainwater harvesting system that is expected to reduce water consumption by 80 percent.

Scheduled for completion next summer, One Bridgeland Green is poised to become a central part of the Bridgeland community. Earlier this summer, Howard Hughes acquired the 140,000-square-foot Waterway Plaza II, a Woodlands office building situated in the developers own master-planned community. The purchase price was $19.2 million, or $135 per square foot.

Trophy assets are leading the recovery of Houston’s wobbly office market, according to Avison Young. About 358,000 square feet of office space was leased in newer Class A buildings in the second quarter, while older buildings struggled to find occupancy. Buildings constructed in the 1980s are about 30 percent vacant in Greater Houston, while those built since 2010 are only about 5 percent vacant.

— Andrew Terrell