Baybrook Mall Ends Expansion And Looks to Sign New Tenants Soon.

WEBSTER, TX -- One of the largest shopping centers in Texas is expected to be fully leased by the summer of 2017.

Baybrook Mall, which added an additional 550,000-square feet of space last year, making the mall nearly two million square feet of shopping, entertainment and dining destinations.

According to a report in the Houston Business Journal, the expansion was focused on attracting tenants that weren't in the Friendswood area to help the mall become a destination with restaurants, entertainment, retail and home furnishing.

"We're not a mall company anymore," said Scott Sutherland, vice president of asset management with mall owner Chicago-based General Growth Properties. "When you develop something like this, it's a special place."

Baybrook Mall's outdoor lifestyle center, completed in November 2015, is about 95 percent leased and will feature several new retailers, while the recently completed power center is about 90 percent leased, Sutherland said.

Construction at the mall began in May 2014, and while the Houston area endured a wetter than normal year in 2015, the lifestyle center expansion managed to open before the 2015 holiday season as planned.

With the expansion, there are about 16 restaurants in Baybrook Mall, and despite the construction on some segments along Interstate 45, the restaurants at Baybrook Mall have not seen a drop off.

Meanwhile, the spaces inside Baybrook Mall have been entirely leased since at least 2011, and that is the belief held for the newly expanded areas will also be full by mid 2017.

"There's so much demand, I don't see a problem filling the spaces," Senior Leasing Director Doyle Liesenfelt said.

Image: Mike Fisher via Flickr