Life On The Street
Trademark's Market Street promises to infuse The Woodlands, Texas, with the thriving, lively town center core it never had.
Katie Foxworth

Stay-at-home moms with young children are expected to be regular visitors to Market Street.

Shopping Center Business recently had the opportunity to visit the 496,000-square-foot, open-air town center Market Street project, which is currently under construction on its second phase. Approximately 400,000 square feet of retail and office space had been constructed at the time, with a little over half (203,000 square feet) open. The balance will open later this year.

Center of Activity

Tommy Bahama's Tropical Café & Emporium is new to Houston.

“The entire project really revolves around that public space,” says Montesi, president, CEO and chairman of Fort Worth, Texas-based Trademark Property Company, which is co-developing the property with Kimco Developers. “If you took that public space away, this wouldn't be Market Street.”

This pop fountain in Central Park is part of Trademark's $500,000 fountain program at Market Street.

“Some projects are divided,” Montesi says. “There will be a nice first phase and then there will be a building that divides it, and you have to go around that building to get to Phase II.”

Many storefronts have an old-town feel to them. Balconies for loft office tenants are common at Market Street too.

“You can actually see people in the lobby of the cinema [from the plaza],” Montesi says. “That's animation, bringing it to life.”

A view of the plaza, Central Park.

The project also will feature a reader board with a news ticker that keeps time and temperature and recounts the day's current events. Montesi's inspiration was Times Square in New York. “It's a place to center yourself,” Montesi says. “If you're in the plaza, you always feel connected: you know what time it is, you know what the temperature is.”

It, too, creates animation and movement at all times. “The more activity you can put in a place like this, the more interesting it is in the ability to make sure people never feel bored,” Montesi adds. “This will not be a one-dimensional experience.”

Design Inspiration

Borders Books & Music will feature a second-floor café.

“I have traveled the country looking at the best developments, old and new,” Montesi says. “We wanted to learn from the great things we've seen, and we wanted to learn from the mistakes and missed opportunities we've seen. I applaud anybody who went before me because if nobody was out there willing to try new things, it'd be a pretty boring industry.”

H-E-B was the first tenant to open at Market Street. It is also the first H-E-B in the country to combine its Central Market concept with its regular store concept.

“We wanted the residents to have a hand in designing this,” Montesi says. “We wanted them to feel like they were engaged well before the project opened. We wanted to build for the people of the community, because if they love it, they're going to come a lot and the retailers will do well. We think it's good business to pay attention to what the community wants.”

Ever in pursuit of perfection, Montesi says the developers have left no stone unturned. No cutting corners to save costs. “We're trying to build something that will be better 10 and 20 years from now,” he says. “These structures were built to last and to age.”

Artwork is a unique amenity at Market Street. Here, a mural adorns the back side of the project, near Storehouse.

“It doesn't only look like it was designed by more than one architect, it was designed by more than one architect,” Montesi says. “If it was going to feel like a real downtown and it was going to be authentic, it would have different hands. Without even trying, we had six or seven architects.”

Gensler also is designing Market Street's 100,000 square feet of above-retail office space. “Unlike a lot of projects, the office here is not stuck up there just so we can call ourselves ‘mixed-use,'” Montesi says. “Our office component, while small in scale, is really important and is comparable to the quality of the best Class A office space in the United States.”

la Madeleine was voted the Number 1 restaurant desired by Woodlands residents in a Trademark survey.

“This is the kind of community that's sophisticated enough, affluent enough and educated enough to appreciate something sophisticated like we've done here,” Montesi says. “This would be overdone for some trade areas, but we think these people ‘get it.'”

Montesi takes extreme pride in Market Street's sophisticated office and retail design, especially the meticulous attention to detail. Based on Trademark's survey, 56 percent of polled residents chose “Historical Town Square” as their favorite shopping center design. Following were Mediterranean, brick and stucco — all of which were included in Market Street's design. Contemporary and “modern” façades also were included. Even Art Deco, which 14 percent of residents desired, made it in.

Little Things Mean A Lot

Notice the detailed signage of Smith & Hawken stenciled directly into the brick façade.

“I'd say this project has an unsurpassed attention to detail,” says Montesi. “We want it to be a Class A project in every way.”

Retailers agree. Joe Zeiden, president and founder of Z Gallerie, says his store had one of its best openings in years. “Well above plan,” he says. “It's the details — that's what makes Market Street better than all the others.”

Also enjoying phenomenal openings are la Madeleine French Bakery & Café, Sur La Table and Learning Express, which experienced the top opening day in its history. According to L. Susan Faw, general counsel and vice president of real estate development with Sur La Table, its Market Street location had “more customers than we could handle opening weekend.”

When SCB visited Market Street, roughly half was still under construction. Here is a view from the balcony of a second-floor dental office.

Speaking of the future, Phase II is opening this spring. Tenants include Tommy Bahama's Tropical Café & Emporium (new to Houston), Cinemark Theater, Jasper's (new to Houston), Jamba Juice, Extreme Pizza, Johnny Rockets, Starbucks, Potbelly Sandwich Works, Houstonian Health Club, Kirkland's, Animal Crackers, Pier 1 Imports, Grotto and Crú. A 650-space parking garage is also opening this spring.

Retail leasing is being handled by a team of companies that includes Page Partners, Open Realty Advisors and JMN Real Estate Resources. (CB Richard Ellis is in charge of office leasing.)

“We want this to be a place with heart and soul. Some malls and some smaller lifestyle centers, the same list of tenants is in every one,” Montesi says. “This is going to be a very different, rich, unique mix.”

Al fresca dining is a big part of the Market Street experience.

Women and children will be the heart of the Market Street clientele. Montesi stresses that Market Street is not, by any means, like a traditional enclosed mall, which caters to teenagers as a hangout zone. Instead, Market Street will be a hangout for grownups, particularly for stay-at-home moms with young children. It's a kid-friendly, family atmosphere by day — with the pop fountain, climbing sculptures, children's museum and interactive stores like Learning Express — but at night, Market Street's festive lights will go on and the whole project will glitter with an adult, date-night feel. Nightspots include sit-down restaurants, a performance stage in Central Park and the wine bar, Crú, as well as a movie theater that caters only to adults (it does not play any teenager- or kid-oriented films). Plus, Houston's premier live outdoor performance venue, the 17,000-seat Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, is situated across the street from Market Street. Concertgoers can stop by Market Street before or after shows for a drink or a bite to eat. All factors combine to make Market Street a vibrant, hip destination for adults after hours.

Gensler designed this store prototype for Sharper Image, a traditional mall tenant that lacked a distinct building prototype of its own.

“This is not just to duplicate what the mall has, but to complement it and to give this north Houston community something it didn't have before: a walkable, pedestrian-focused, mixed-use people place,” Montesi says. “We love The Woodlands. And hopefully our being here has been good for the community because they've been good to us.”