When It Comes To Office Growth, Suburbs Are King In Dallas And Houston

When it comes to new office creation, developers in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston prefer sprawling suburbs as destinations over traditional business districts, a new study from CommercialCafé says. 

Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston added millions of square feet of office in the past decade, with DFW alone seeing a 13% leap in office inventory over a period of 10 years with 229 buildings added for a total of 34.5M SF of space, CommercialCafé reported, based on Yardi Matrix data.   

DFW suburban areas grew the most, accounting for 15%, or 27.9M SF, of all DFW office growth during this time frame.  

Hot spots like DFW’s Platinum Corridor, Plano and Las Colinas grew the most — these three areas collectively increased their office square footage by 17.7M SF, or 19%, over a period of 10 years, representing more than half of all square footage added in DFW, CommercialCafé reported.  

In comparison, the Dallas Central Business District and urban areas added 41 properties for a total of 6.6M SF during the same period, according to the report. 

Houston experienced a similar effect with its affluent suburbs attracting more office development activity when compared to urban areas. 

The Houston suburb of The Woodlands added about 5.7M SF of office in 10 years, while the Energy Corridor and the adjacent Memorial Villages, Westchase and Briargrove communities added 47 buildings and 12.5M SF. 

Texas as a whole added 108M SF of office space over 10 years with three-quarters of the new square footage landing in suburban markets, CommercialCafé said.