Uvalde Realty Registers $16.2M Retail Shell Near Beltway 8

Uvalde Realty Partners has registered a $16.2 million project with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation to build a 95,706 sq ft retail shell building, the first phase of New Forest Town Center, on the Crosby Freeway (Highway 90) frontage near Beltway 8 in northeast Houston.

Why it matters

The filing, labeled “Main Building 1 Shell” and marked as new construction rather than a remodel, describes an inline junior-anchor retail shell. A shell of this size is built to be divided among several mid-box retailers, not a single tenant, so the move signals the developer is betting on retail demand along the Highway 90 corridor east of Beltway 8 before a single lease is locked in. For Houston’s development pipeline, it is a specific, dollar-backed retail project on the corridor.

The numbers

The TDLR record puts the estimated cost at $16.2 million for 95,706 sq ft, or roughly $169 per sq ft of shell space. The project sits at 13920 to 13944 Crosby Freeway in Harris County, zip code 77049. Uvalde Realty Partners, based at 8827 W. Sam Houston Pkwy N. in Houston, registered the project on Oct. 14, 2026. LA Architects LLC of Houston is the design firm of record. TDLR funding fields mark it privately financed, on private land for private use.

What’s next

TDLR lists a start date of Jan. 1, 2028, and a completion date of Jan. 1, 2029, giving the shell roughly a one-year build window once work begins. The filing’s “Main Building 1” label implies additional buildings are planned for New Forest Town Center beyond this registration, and no general contractor is named yet in the TDLR record. Watch for a GC assignment, tenant announcements for the junior-anchor space, and further TABS filings tied to the same Crosby Freeway address as the center’s later phases come to TDLR.