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Houston

Howard Hughes lands tenants in the Woodlands

Local firm hired JLL to exclusively lease its 4.2M sq ft office portfolio in Houston suburb

Howard Hughes' David O’Reilly and JLL's Christian Ulbrich
Howard Hughes' David O’Reilly and JLL's Christian Ulbrich (JLL, Howard Hughes)

The Howard Hughes Corporation landed three big office leases in the Woodlands recently, after hiring a worldwide brokerage.

Kodiak Gas Services, Kraton Corporation and US Oncology signed leases totaling 134,000 square feet in the smaller of two Class AAA towers at 9950 Woodloch Forest Drive. The Woodlands Towers, the Houston suburbs’ tallest buildings at 31 and 32 stories, total 1.4 million square feet of rentable space. 

Hughes tapped JLL to lease its 4.2 million-square-foot office portfolio in the Woodlands. The agreement also includes 2.5 million square feet of planned development. 

Hughes, which is based in the Woodlands, also holds One Hughes Landing, Two Hughes Landing and Three Hughes Landing, at 1800, 1790 and 1780 Hughes Landing Boulevard. They comprise more than 700,000 square feet of rentable space. 

While the Woodlands has seen better returns on its office market than average, the area has also been hit by Greater Houston’s office market woes. It currently has a 23 percent vacancy rate, four percentage points below metro’s 27 percent average, but among the highest of Greater Houston’s 24 submarkets, according to Avison Young’s Q1 2023 office report. 

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Howard Hughes has become an integral part of the Woodlands’ landscape, having acquired the development corporation established by the planned suburb’s visionary, George Mitchell. Since initiating its investment strategy in 2004, the firm has made significant contributions to the area, such as the mixed-use Hughes Landing. 

In 2011, Hughes acquired the Woodlands Development Company for $117 million from Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing. Hughes moved its headquarters from Dallas to the Woodlands in 2019.   

Leading the leasing efforts will be Scott Fikes and Jack Russo of JLL. 

The two are also leading leasing in Hughes’ other northwest Houston master-planned community, Bridgeland. Particularly, that development’s 55,000 square foot mass timber office building, the Bayou City’s first, which is currently under construction. 

JLL Houston is also planning on opening a leasing office in the Woodlands, according to a news release.

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Howard Hughes CorporationJLL
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