A development more than 10 years in the making, Black Forest Venture's Technology Park is scheduled for completion this year. The final building—an 84,800-square-foot, Class A office at 2829 Technology Forest Blvd.—recently broke ground and should be finished by the third quarter of this year.

"It's exciting," said Haydar Kustu, director of marketing for Black Forest Ventures. "With this, we are going to run out of space. But we still have over 20 acres of undeveloped land in The Woodlands' Town Center."

Kustu said the land was cleared for the four-story building about eight months ago. He said pre-leasing for the building has begun, and he anticipates similar tenants to the other nine Black Forest Ventures buildings within the Technology Park. Other tenants include oil and gas companies such as RPC, Clariant Oil and Mining and TriEagle Energy, as well as medical technology companies, including the Bruker Corporation and MolecularHealth, which recently moved into the development.

"We have some oil and gas related energy companies in our office park, but we also have some non-energy companies occupying our buildings," he said. "So it's a good mix. It's not just the energy companies occupying it, and that's probably going to carry over to our new building."

The cleared land for the new building—adjacent to The Woodlands Township offices—also features a pad site for a restaurant. Although the site has been leased, Kustu said he could not reveal the information as of press time.

"It's going to be an amenity to that building, as well as the surrounding buildings as an on-site restaurant," he said.

Kustu said the office park first broke ground a little more than 10 years ago, but he has not been surprised at the speed with which it developed thanks to growth in the energy sector.

"I think a lot of people knew this was coming," he said. "Some people are scared by the energy sector. People think that eventually there will be alternative technology to energy problems, but these energy companies will still solve these problems. So there's a big demand for oil and gas business. They're not going anywhere."

An asset management and financial services company, Black Forest Ventures owns hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space in The Woodlands, including the Black Forest Tower at 24 Waterway Ave. The company also owns Hubbell & Hudson and Black Walnut Cafe, and recently opened the new Galaxy FBO in Conroe at the Lone Star Executive Airport.

Although the Black Forest Technology Park is near completion, Kustu said the company still owns 20 acres of undeveloped land in The Woodlands. The company possesses 10 acres of land near the Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital, as well as land behind the Hubbell & Hudson Kitchen on Research Forest Drive. With Hubbell & Hudson announcing the closure of its market in March, Black Forest Ventures could see an expansion of the Bistro at 24 Waterway Ave.

Kustu said the owners have emphasized diversification within the company not only to stay away from Wall Street, but to provide development and jobs within communities.

"It's kind of a payback to the community," he said. "That's why we're getting into so many different things, because it's diversification of their assets, and also it's helping them create jobs."

For more information on the building or Black Forest Ventures, visit www.blackforestventures.com.