A new Sprouts Farmers Market-anchored shopping center on the northern Grand Parkway is slated to start construction this fall. Bellaire-based Fidelis is developing the Grand Imperial Marketplace at Imperial Promenade Drive east of Spring in a joint venture with 830 Investors Ltd., an entity of Holcomb Properties Co., the master developer of the adjacent The Falls at Imperial Oaks community.
Besides Sprouts, Fidelis has signed Marshalls, Ross, Burlington, Five Below and Planet Fitness, all in the past two months. Together, they add up to about 120,000 square feet.
When it is completed, the development could total about 200,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, including 170,000 square feet on the northwestern side of the Grand Parkway/Imperial Promenade intersection and 30,000 square feet on the northeastern side, said R. Carson Wilson IV, Fidelis’ executive vice president of leasing, development and construction.
Fidelis had been planning to develop retail on the site since before Covid, he said, but then the pandemic put those plans on hold.
“Now that we've gotten through that and the retail market is healthy, it's really the right time,” Wilson said. “I would say the biggest driver for us has been residential growth. There's already a pretty significant population around the site today, but what really makes the opportunity compelling to us is just how much additional growth is coming, and we think it's positioned right in the path of the growth.”
Fidelis plans to break ground next month and hopes to open the retail center in fall 2027. Houston-based Levinson Alcoser Associates is the architect for the project. A general contractor has not been selected yet. Wilson declined to disclose the cost for the development.
Besides the anchor tenant buildings, Fidelis plans to build several multitenant buildings facing the Grand Parkway.
“The anchors bring a lot of power to the site and really drive traffic, so we're very confident in our ability to lease them,” Wilson said. Phoenix-based Sprouts Farmers Market (Nasdaq: SFM), which made its Houston-area debut in 2013, has been growing rapidly across the region recently. This year, it opened in Kingwood, at 4303 Kingwood Drive, in April and in Webster, at 1001 W. Bay Area Blvd., in late May. Next month, Sprouts is slated to open in a former Randalls building in The Woodlands, at 4775 W. Panther Creek Drive. It also is building out a former Kroger space in Hedwig Village, at 9325 Katy Freeway, expecting to open that store at some point next year.
At Grand Imperial Marketplace, the grocery anchor will create frequency, Wilson said. It will join numerous grocery stores in the area, including H-E-B, Kroger, Walmart and Aldi within a 4-mile radius.
“In our view, Sprout brings a differentiated grocery experience that's more fresh and natural and organic and prepared foods,” Wilson said. “We think it's a great fit for the surrounding community.”
East of Imperial Promenade Drive, Fidelis will have ground leases for restaurants and service-focused tenants to construct their own buildings.
Elsewhere, the company expects to break ground on a 280,000-square-foot shopping center, Alvin Marketplace, on the southeast corner of Highway 35 and FM 517 in Alvin, early next year. That project’s start was similarly delayed by the pandemic and elevated construction costs until strong population growth made it pencil out.
Late last year, Fidelis acquired the 278,842-square-foot Baybrook Village retail center in southeast Harris County next to Baybrook Mall.