The Manvel Town Center is one of the biggest planned commercial projects in the city, officials said.[/caption]The planned Manvel Town Center will add to development in the growing city, and officials expect a significant economic impact from the 75-acre commercial retail site.
Located at the northwest corner of Hwy. 288 and Hwy. 6, the Manvel Town Center will cater to a population of 918,354 residents within a 15-mile radius, according to 2013 statistics obtained by The Weitzman Group, the center’s developers.
“[The Weitzman Group] had come to the city several years ago and discussed an economic development agreement that since has been approved by City Council,” Manvel City Manager Kyle Jung said. “The plan for the development is big anchor stores, retail shopping, commercial and pad sites for restaurants or other standalone businesses.”
The planned site near two heavily traveled freeways made it an appealing location for the new center. In 2013 Hwy. 288 and Hwy. 6 experienced 52,000 and 25,000 car trips per day, respectively, according to Jung.
“[The Weitzman Group] identified it as a very lucrative intersection of two state highways,” he said. “It’s one of the last major intersections in the Houston metropolitan area undeveloped at the moment.”
Ground has yet to be broken on the Manvel Town Center, and the project is not expected to be complete for a couple of years. The Weitzman Group is waiting to secure anchor tenants before beginning construction, Jung said.
“Once they start construction, it’s probably going to take them anywhere from a year to 18 months to complete all of the infrastructure before the first building is ready for the tenant to move into."
–Kyle Jung, Manvel City Manager
“Once they start construction, it’s probably going to take them anywhere from a year to 18 months to complete all of the infrastructure before the first building is ready for the tenant to move into,” he said. “They’re going to have to put in quite a significant amount of money in the way of roads, water, sewer, drainage—all that infrastructure—before they can get a business to move in.”
Manvel has an economic development agreement with The Weitzman Group to reimburse the developers approximately $20 million in infrastructure costs in addition to $20 million in interest. The Weitzman Group estimates around $300 million in capital investment, which would generate about the same amount in ad valorem property value, Jung said.
The city of Manvel and its extraterritorial jurisdiction has nine subdivisions either under construction or in the development process. When built out the approximately 30,000 new residents will continue to spur development, Jung said.
“There’s going to be commercial development that needs to follow that residential development,” he said. “[The Manvel Town Center] is a very keystone area in the city of Manvel for commercial development. Right now it’s one of the larger commercial areas that we have planned.”
