The industrial park will include 10 buildings totaling more than 3 million square feet that will be built in three phases, said Charlie Meyer, president and co-owner of Lovett Industrial, the firm developing the project. The site plan shows a 3.19-acre plot plus three buildings that are planned for retail space as well.
“Interchange 249 is a phenomenal use of land. ... Undoubtedly, it will be a premier business park in our region,” Tomball Mayor Gretchen Fagan said during the March 9 groundbreaking.
The park’s first phase includes four buildings for light industrial space, one of which spans more than 900,000 square feet for Macy’s, which was under construction as of early March. Phase 1 is estimated to be completed in the first quarter of 2023, according to a March 9 release from Lovett Industrial.
Community Impact Newspaper previously reported Macy’s will relocate its distribution center from Houston to Tomball, bringing more than 100 employees. Tenants for the other buildings had not been announced as of press time.
“The landscape is changing, literally, for Tomball,” City Manager David Esquivel said during the groundbreaking. “We’re seeing exponential growth in residential development; we’re seeing our fair share of growth in the commercial development; and now we’re starting to see a lot of our industrial development happen.”
However, residents living outside the city off Boudreaux Road, south of the project, said they believe increased traffic and environmental impacts, such as flooding and noise pollution, outweigh the benefits the industrial park will bring.
“This roadway cannot support this development the way it is, so combined with traffic and flooding, it will basically make Boudreaux [Road] potentially unusable at some points and cause even more flooding,” Hayden Lakes resident Sarah Weaver wrote in a Facebook response to Community Impact Newspaper.
Annexing the project
Interchange 249 is located within the city of Tomball following City Council’s annexation approval Dec. 6.
Tomball City Council first approved starting negotiations with Lovett Industrial to develop the 240-acre tract Sept. 7, Community Impact Newspaper previously reported. Council members also approved implementing a tax increment reinvestment zone and a municipal management district over the development, two tools to aid developer costs, on Dec. 6.
The management district will have the ability to levy a property tax within the district, Assistant City Manager Jessica Rogers said in an interview. Meanwhile, a TIRZ can fund development with future tax revenue. This means 75% of the property tax revenue generated by improving the site will go back into the project for public infrastructure, Rogers said.
Once the 30-year lifetime of the TIRZ expires, the city will keep 100% of the tax revenue from the property, Community Impact Newspaper reported Nov. 29. The city is expected to collect about $10.73 million in property tax revenue over the 30-year lifetime, according to TIRZ documents.
While the city is providing water and wastewater services to the property, the developer is responsible for extending the necessary infrastructure at its own expense. Esquivel said the infrastructure expansion could spur more development at the Hwy. 249 and Grand Parkway intersection.
“It would be much [more] feasible for us to continue to extend those type of [utility] services,” he said in an interview. “It does open the door for some of those corridors of development to be brought into the city.”
Meyer said during the groundbreaking ceremony an infrastructure investment of approximately $40 million is planned.
“The city’s going to be left with a project that I think will stand the test of time, and it will be something that is a legacy for our company and something that we will be proud of and I think will be a major economic generator for this part of Houston for years to come,” Meyer said during the groundbreaking.
Generating jobs
While Macy’s is the first confirmed tenant, city officials previously said the Interchange 249 project will provide about 1,300 jobs.
“This facility, when it opens in just over a year from now ... will help Macy’s achieve a goal of becoming a premier digitally led omnichannel retailer,” said Stacy Bobbitt, Macy’s’ Houston facility leader, at the groundbreaking. “We are excited to provide new job opportunities to the surrounding area, and, in addition, we anticipate settling ourselves as a valuable partner within the city of Tomball.”
Meyer said the Macy’s facility will be used for store fulfillment and returns processing as well as its e-commerce business. Because other tenants for the park are still unknown, he said the number of new jobs generated could be higher than the city’s estimate.
“If we get an e-commerce facility, one facility could have 1,000 employees,” he said. “But then sometimes you get more straight distribution type space that has lower employee count, so you’re kind of guessing as to what the ultimate impact will be.”
Meyer said the property was attractive for an industrial site because of the availability of workers and transportation access.
Data from NAI Partners, a commercial real estate firm, shows 38% of industrial space under construction in the Greater Houston area was concentrated in the northwest region—from west of Hwy. 249 to west of Hwy. 290—in the fourth quarter of 2021. With the Hwy. 290 and Hwy. 249 corridors built out at Beltway 8, Meyer said he believes the next hot spot is along the Grand Parkway.
“We feel like we’re kind of at the epicenter here of where the growth will be occurring,” he said in an interview. “This site is relatively untapped ... for industrial labor, so that’s another reason why we think it will be very successful.”
Traffic woes
However, residents said they are concerned with an industrial park so close to neighborhoods.
For example, Hayden Lakes residents wrote in Facebook responses to Community Impact Newspaper that removing trees from the site has increased noise pollution from the highways and could increase flooding.
Residents also shared concerns about additional traffic along the two-lane Boudreaux Road.
“My main concern ... is that Boudreaux Road really needed to be widened to a four-lane road before that work began,” Hayden Lakes resident Tawnya Hopkins said in an email. “Boudreaux Road is already dangerous with accidents happening all the time. There are too many subdivisions on this road now for the amount of traffic.”
The most recent data available from the Texas Department of Transportation shows annual average daily traffic counts on Boudreaux Road east of Shaw Road nearly doubled from 5,290 vehicles in 2011 to 9,939 in 2016.
According to Harris County Precinct 4’s Infrastructure Division, Boudreaux Road will be upgraded to four lanes with a raised median between Rocky and Telge roads. The county is pursuing a partnership with a developer to build the approximately $6 million segment between Shaw and Rocky roads, likely beginning in 2023.
“We’re in discussion with the county now about potentially speeding that project up to enable it to be completed while we’re building out our property,” Meyer said in an interview.
The widening between Shaw and Telge roads would likely begin in mid-2024, according to Precinct 4.
“Nothing about this [park] feels good for the local residents,” Wildwood at Oakcrest resident Ashley Moore wrote in a Facebook response to Community Impact Newspaper.
Chandler France contributed to this report.
