As One Hughes Landing nears its scheduled completion in September, The Woodlands Development Company has already begun work on Hughes Landing's second office building.

Alex Sutton, co-president of the Development Company, said the roof is in place on One Hughes Landing, which is close to 50 percent leased already. Current tenants already pre-leased at the 197,000-square-foot, 8-story building include Layne Christiansen, which will occupy 51,000 square feet, PetroQuest Energy, which will occupy 13,000 square and Post Oak Bank Bank, which will occupy 4,000 square feet. The Development Company already is in discussions with companies which could almost fill the building.

With One Hughes Landing almost 50 percent leased, Sutton said the Development Company has begun preliminary work on Two Hughes Landing, adjacent to One Hughes Landing. He said TWDC is pre-ordering, preparing contracts, examining financing options and making sure it has materials on hand for the second building in the development.

"We're going ahead with [Two Hughes Landing] right now, we feel so strongly about that," he said.

The building will be nearly identical in size and design to One Hughes Landing at eight stories and 197,000 square feet, Sutton said, and could break ground sometime in the fall with a 15-18-month timetable for completion. The third building should begin construction once the second nears completion, and future buildings will follow suit, Sutton said. The third building could be as tall as 12 stories, while the fourth could be 14 or higher.

Sutton said the market will determine how quickly Hughes Landing will develop, but the buildout of the entire project could take 5-10 years. He anticipates similar types of businesses will show interest in Two Hughes Landing as did One Hughes Landing, particularly in the oil and gas industry.