​Every year CDS produces a land use and demographic profile for The Energy Corridor District—a business district on Houston’s west side. Each edition includes a thorough land use and demographic profile as well as projections for the future. For the 2017 edition CDS provided multiple future projections, accounting for a new land use trend that is gaining popularity in Houston and other parts of the country: place-oriented and mixed-use development.  

​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 developer of the Mosaic condominium tower on the edge of Hermann Park has filed for bankruptcy protection, averting foreclosure of the 29-story building... The Mosaic was announced in 2005 and twin towers were built at the 5925 Almeda site.

...With other big developments around the city being shelved or called off entirely, the Mosaic bankruptcy is just another sign that the national recession and credit crunch is affecting the Houston real estate market.

R. Kent Dussair, president of CDS Market Research in Houston, said the Mosaic was designed to fit a market niche that wasn’t being addressed — affordable high-rise living.
The average price per square foot at Mosaic is $325, meaning a 900-square-foot unit would cost around $292,500.

But the high number of units combined with the economic slowdown was bound to take its toll on the project.

“Eight hundred units of anything is a major project and makes it even more difficult during these kinds of times when there’s less of a demand for housing in general,” said Dussair, whose company did a market study for the developer in its early planning stages when Mosaic was being considered as an apartment project.

​See the link for the full article.

Link to article.  PDF of article.

In a city known for suburban sprawl, competing developers are testing a different concept: master-planned, high-density projects combining residential, retail, offices and hotels. While these trendy developments, where people can walk from their homes to shops, restaurants and even their workplaces, have taken root in other parts of the country, they've been slow to show up here. That's about to change. In the Houston area, at least nine of these projects are planned or under construction. Most of the sites are in the heart of town. Land is just now being cleared for some of them, while others in the suburbs are further along. The trend is driven by affluent young professionals and empty nesters tired of long commutes. Rising land costs also factor in by requiring developers to build more on smaller spaces...

The impending wave of mixed-use construction reflects the willingness of developers to take risks based on the city's current prosperity and projections that the Houston area's population will grow by 3.5 million in less than 30 years, said Kent Dussair, president of CDS Market Research, a Houston-based consulting firm.

Cities such as Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix and Austin are already in various stages of building urban-style projects, while Houston, "with the strongest economy of the bunch," is playing catch-up, he noted.

See the link for the full article.