The industrial city of Baytown, just east of Houston, has long been ignored by residential developers who create masterplanned and amenitized communities.  CDS performed a series of studies for the Baytown – West Chambers County Economic Development Foundation in 2008 – 2010 covering both retail and housing demand in the area.  Our work showed that both new retail and housing development serving middle class households was justified by existing market conditions.  Since then, Baytown has had great success in attracting well-known retail businesses to fill shopping and dining gaps, plus new quality apartment development.  

The last piece of the puzzle was attracting a developer to create a new amenitized residential community serving the well-paid professionals and managers who work in the fast-growing industrial facilities nearby.  This customer base has long been buying homes in more distant suburban communities such as the west Lake Houston area and Clear Lake, and increasingly in the adjacent community of Mont Belvieu.  We demonstrated that a new higher-priced single family development was feasible in Baytown itself, especially if the community supported its development.  Finally, 2016 has brought the news Baytown has waited for.  The city has accomplished a lot since CDS’ studies, and it’s a credit to local leaders who have worked to attract new investment.  See the article linked below.

CDS Community Development Strategies

The Energy Corridor District recently released the 2016 Land Use and Demographics report, completed by CDS Community Development Strategies. This report presents a complete profile of the population and development located within the boundaries of The Houston Energy Corridor. CDS has completed a similar report for the Energy Corridor over the last several years. ​​

​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." 

Link to article.  PDF of article. 

The Houston Parks Board is asking for public input at open house meetings on a case study examining ways to implement the Cypress Creek Greenway... Meredith Dang, land use transportation coordinator for the Houston-Galveston Area Council, said the case study is part of a larger grant to study regional sustainable development. The larger study is focused on the 13-county region. "One of the components of that is we are looking at ways to promote (sustainability) at the local level," Dang said.

...Steven Spillette, president of CDS Market Research, has been involved in the information-gathering process with the Houston Parks Board and Marsh Darcy Partners since December 2012.

"We've been doing a lot of background work to compile demographics and economics in the area, the status of governance … and developing a public outreach strategy," Spillette said. "In many ways, the core of this effort is having very extensive dialog with the community in the Cypress Creek corridor."

Since then, CDS Market Research - an urban consulting and market research group - has conducted numerous small group meetings.

See the link for the full article.

Link to article.  PDF of article.

Judging by its tenants, the commercial area of Houston known as the Energy Corridor is the nerve center of the world’s energy capital.

From the late 1960s to today, the stretch of Interstate 10 between Kirkwood and Fry roads has served as a hub of oil and gas commerce. Today, the area is a home to major industry players including BP America Inc., Citgo Petroleum Corp., ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil Corp., as well as a host of other exploration and production, oil services and peripheral oil and gas companies...

As more companies established their headquarters in the area, it began to coalesce into a real estate submarket with developed commercial and residential areas. That growth is expected to continue after the Energy Corridor shrugs off the latest recession. In a recent study commissioned by the Energy Corridor Management District, Houston-based consulting firm CDS Market Research says the number of employees in the area is expected to increase to more than 97,028 by 2025, with total office space increasing by 36 percent.

See the link for the full article.