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Marketing and Survey Research Projects
Housing Demand Study
for Downtown and Midtown Houston
Situation
The Houston Downtown Management District and Midtown Redevelopment Authority were seeking new residential development to aid their efforts to create an active, urban and walkable central city that would appeal to companies and the young, educated professionals they would require in greater and greater numbers. In 1993, CDS Market Research was selected to conduct a broad survey of Harris County households to determine their level of interest in living in Downtown and in Midtown, as well as their preferences for different types of housing. CDS conducted a benchmark survey in 1993, followed by two update surveys at five-year intervals in 1998 and 2003.
Approach
The base survey was conducted among 400 randomly selected heads of households residing in 103 of the 129 zip codes of Harris County. This base sample was supplemented by an additional 350-400 respondents who were either “high end renters” or Downtown, Midtown or Texas Medical Center employees, in order to obtain statistical validity on certain questions for these important groups. CDS designed the survey questionnaire to include 16 primary questions and 10 demographic questions. Once interviewing was completed and responses tabulated, an analysis of the results was completed and summarized in a final report that pointed to a surprisingly high level of potential demand for Downtown/Midtown housing. In addition to reporting the overall level of demand, CDS was able to describe buy vs. lease, type of product, pricing, bedroom/bathroom/parking space, location and lifestyle preferences of the respondents.
Action to date
When the results of the initial 1993 survey became known, there was a surge in property acquisitions and development/redevelopment in Downtown and Midtown. In Downtown, a number of former office and warehouse buildings were converted to lofts, and a 37-story luxury high-rise apartment tower was constructed near the new 12-acre Dicovery Green park. In Midtown, several mid-rise apartment complexes and a large number of townhomes have been built by a number of developers. In 1990, the combined population of the two districts was 14,156. By 2008, population was estimated by PCensus (Claritas, Inc.) to have risen to 25,997, an increase of 83.6%.
Shopping Center Customer Study
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Situation
The Greenspoint Mall, the second largest shopping center in Houston, was experiencing declining store sales, and needed to confirm the reasons why. CDS was contracted to perform both a telephone survey of trade area residents and an intercept survey of actual mall shoppers to determine why the mall was not more popular with retail buyers.
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Research
CDS defined the market area, calculated the sizes of samples required to yield acceptable accuracy in the results, designed the questionnaires, managed both surveys, tabulated and analyzed the results and produced reports summarizing the results. The survey results revealed that large percentages of trade area residents and even some mall shoppers did not feel safe, particularly in the mall parking lot. In addition, they frequently preferred store names and restaurants that weren't present in the mall. There was fairly high disagreement with statements that the mall was “an inviting place to shop”, had stores they “like to shop at”, had stores that “offered good value” and attracted people who “like the same fashions and styles” the respondents did. In addition, it was evident - based on the frequency of movie attendance and associated shopping and dining expenditures elsewhere - that the mall was at a disadvantage without a movie complex compared to other malls and shopping districts.
Action to Date
Security was substantially increased, particularly in parking areas. Plans are now being developed to add a beautifully landscaped life-style center addition on one side of the mall featuring popular restaurants, clubs and boutique shops. In addition, a theater complex is planned for a vacated anchor store space.
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