Downtown Houston will be at the center of some of the most powerful trends of 2000. Downtown is gaining momentum as the opening of the Enron Field approaches. The Astros will begin playing there in April.
Vacant space is rare in downtown buildings.
To fill that niche, several developers have downtown towers on the drawing boards, including Hines, Century Development, Trammell Crow and Crescent Real Estate Equities. But the number of new office buildings under construction at the beginning of this year is far less than it was at the beginning of 1999. The decline in construction will aid the health of the Houston office market in 2000, said Mary Doetterl, a research analyst at Trammell Crow. With oil prices up and anticipated expansions in the energy company work force, increased office leasing activity is expected in 2000. In the retail sector, the outlook for shopping centers, restaurants leasing and other retail buildings also will be good.