Howard Hughes Corp Opens First Mass Lumber Office in Houston

Howard Hughes is up and running with the office portion of its master-planned community in Cypress, introducing environmentally friendly design to the submarket.

The Houston-based real estate giant has begun construction on the 49,000-square-foot One Bridgeland Green, a mass-timber office building located in the 70-acre Village Green in Bridgeland Central, the Houston Business Journal reported.

The office building, located at 20203 Bridgeland Creek Parkway, is in the “Northwest Outlier” submarket, according to Colliers. This submarket has less than 7.5 million square feet of inventory, or less than 4 percent of the metro’s 205 million square feet, and its vacancy rate sits at about 20 percent. That’s lower than Greater Houston’s office vacancy rate of 27.5 percent.

Village Green will serve as the downtown development of Bridgeland, an 11,500-acre community in the northwest suburbs, and its first office building. That and a 100,000-square-foot HEB grocery store will anchor the downtown area, which could include restaurants, hotels, retail and entertainment.

Mass timber has become increasingly popular as more developers take an environmentally-focused approach. Mass timber construction involves the assembly of large, prefabricated, multi-layer solid timber panels, improving efficiency and durability.

One Bridgeland Green will be constructed with 1,700 cubic meters of spruce, pine and fir, showcasing cross-laminated timber decking and cross-laminated timber shear walls. These materials are complemented by low-carbon concrete and zinc cladding, creating a building with renewable energy and high-performance systems aimed at reducing overall carbon emissions.

Howard Hughes is pursuing LEED Gold and Fitwel green building certifications for One Bridgeland Green, with hopes of 25 percent lower annual energy consumption and 80 percent lower municipal water consumption.

“Sustainability, nature – these are all aspects of planned community development that we take very seriously, both in The Woodlands and in Bridgeland,” Jim Carman of Howard Hughes told the news outlet. “It was therefore natural for us to opt for solid wood for this very first office building in Bridgeland. »

The building’s eco-friendly features extend to a 10,000-gallon rainwater cistern to recycle rainwater and condensation from the HVAC system, as well as native plants and water-saving appliances. The project will also integrate electric vehicle charging stations and photovoltaic panels on the roof.

Construction of One Bridgeland Green is expected to be completed by summer 2025. The majority of the building has been pre-leased, with additional leases expected to be announced this summer.

—Quinn Donoghue