PDF of the Presentation. Link to the Video.

​CDS President Steve Spillette recently spoke to members of the West Houston Leadership Institute, a group affiliated with the West Houston Chamber of Commerce. In this presentation, Mr. Spillette provided an overview of the latest demographic trends affecting Greater West Houston. He discussed recent population growth, employment activity, increasing ethnic diversity, and income trends, among other topics.

Click on the image below to watch the video on the CDS Youtube channel.

Reports of the death of the big American home have been greatly exaggerated. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the size of new American homes has been on the rise since hitting a low point in late 2009. In that year the median average fell to 2,159 square feet (SF), down from the pre-recession high of 2,295 SF in 2007. During that short period of decline, some pointed to the end of the big American home trend—citing the downsizing of baby boomers and the differing preferences of millennials. But since 2009, the median average home size in America has steadily increased. In 2014, the median average was 2,517 SF—a  17% increase since 2009 and a 60% increase since 1974.

​The Houston Business Journal reported on February 5, 2016 that The Kirby Collection, a $146 million mixed-use project in Houston's Upper Kirby is targeting boutique office tenants. 

The article quotes Jack Bousquet with Thor Equities’ (the developer) who states that he has received interest from law firms, real estate companies, brokers, and other small but high end office space users (link to article). According to Bousquet, Thor Equities has "...specifically designed this 13-story, 210,000 square foot Class A office building to attract a non-energy user." 

Last Thursday, Walmart ended its Walmart Express concept, shuttering all 102 such stores. Walmart announced earlier in January that they planned to close several underperforming stores across all of their formats, but it was the entirety of Walmart Express that made up the bulk of the planned closures. Despite that fact, the Walmart Express format meets a relatively quiet end, as discussion of Walmart store closures as an economic indicator largely drowned out discussion of the Express format itself. It is a format that deserves some further examination.