HS Development Group’s Seabrook Town Centre Breaks Ground

More than three years later than originally envisioned, HS Development Group’s long-anticipated mixed-use project aimed at giving a small Galveston Bay town an urban core is officially underway.

Construction kicked off this month on Seabrook Town Centre, a 19.5-acre development along Galveston Bay between the intersections of Repsdorph Road, Highway 146 and Lakeside Drive in Seabrook that will bring 320 apartments and roughly 28,500 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space to the small waterfront city, according to the Houston Business Journal. The Houston-based development firm is building the $85 million project.

HS first announced plans for the site in mid-2022, shortly after buying the property from Santa Barbara-based Pacific Ridge. Then the capital markets turned hostile. Rapidly rising interest rates sidelined construction lending and equity, freezing progress on the project for more than two years.

That logjam finally broke in the second half of last year, HS COO Steve Helm told the outlet, as banks cautiously returned to the market. Dallas-based NHK Real Estate Investments joined the deal as an equity partner, while Houston-based First Horizon Bank provided construction financing.

HS spent the delay pre-leasing commercial space and lining up tenants. Signed so far are Pomodoro’s Cucina Italiana, Neighborhood Tap and Tropical Smoothie Café, with negotiations underway for additional food, fitness and service concepts, according to the publication.

The retail component will be anchored by two buildings totaling about 20,000 square feet, set on either side of a landscaped courtyard with a stage and water feature. Those buildings are about 55 percent pre-leased. The broader plan also includes a 7,500-square-foot building off Highway 146, a 5,000-square-foot building along Lakeside Drive and four pad sites fronting the highway.

The residential piece, dubbed The Edge at Seabrook Town Centre, will be a four-story apartment complex with two courtyards, pools, pickleball, gyms and community space. One- to three-bedroom units will range from about 700 square feet to 1,440 square feet, with monthly rents projected between $1,500 and $3,100.

Apartments are expected to go vertical in eight to nine months, with retail following later this year. HS, acting as its own general contractor, expects initial apartments and the first commercial spaces to be completed in less than two years. Full buildout is targeted for the second quarter of 2028.

Multifamily development is rare in Seabrook and neighboring communities, a barrier that HS believes strengthens the project’s positioning. City approval hinged on pairing apartments with commercial uses, creating what Helm described as a “game changer” for the local market.

The project also benefits from the recent completion of Highway 146 improvements, which have spurred new investment along the corridor after years of construction-related disruption.

— Eric Weilbacher