Continental Realty Buys Houston Retail Center

Continental Realty Corp. has acquired Commons at Willowbrook, a 442,000-square-foot retail center in Houston. The property’s previous owner was L&B Realty Advisors, according to Yardi Matrix information.

JLL Capital Markets Senior Managing Directors Barry Brown and Ryan West closed the deal on behalf of the seller.

Located at 7502-7540 W. FM 1960, Commons at Willowbrook was completed in 1985. The property currently consists of 11 buildings across a 39-acre site. It features 32 national and local retailers, including Chipotle, DSW, Five Below and Starbucks Coffee. Anchor tenants include Academy Sports + Outdoors, HomeGoods, Michael’s, Marshalls, Ross Dress for Less and Total Wine & More. At the time of the sale, the retail center was 25 percent vacant.

Commons at Willowbrook serves approximately 110,000 households within a 5-mile radius, with an average yearly income of $110,000 per household. On a yearly basis, the shopping center attracts 4.3 million customers from a 15-mile radius.

Just off Texas State Route 249, the property is across the road from Willowbrook Mall, which features Macy’s, JCPenney and Old Navy among its tenants. Downtown Houston is 22 miles southeast. The area surrounding Commons at Willowbrook is representative of current retail market trends, with migration to the suburban areas and hybrid work influencing geographic focus and customer demand.

CRC’s recent shopping spree

Continental Realty’s portfolio amounts to $4.2 billion in assets under management, with nearly $1 billion worth of retail real estate purchased over the past four years.

Earlier this year, in June, CRC purchased two other retail centers, in metro Phoenix and metro Miami. Sundance Towne Center, a 203,525-square-foot property in Buckeye, Ariz., traded for $54.3 million, while the 235,000-square-foot grocery-anchored lifestyle and entertainment CityPlace Doral in Doral, Fla., changed hands for $87.5 million.

In the first 10 months of the year, Houston’s retail market recorded $329 million in investment sales, with 70 assets changing hands at an average price of $167 per square foot, Yardi Matrix information shows. Compared to 2024’s numbers, these two figures represent a 43.0 percent and 32.5 percent increase year-over-year, respectively. During the same period last year, the metro saw only $230 million in retail investment sales, with 64 properties trading at an average per-square-foot price of $126.