How Houston Retailers Are Accelerating Their Investment In EV Charging Infrastructure

Texas is expecting a rise in electric vehicle charging stations “to help meet the increasing demand of EVs on the road,” according to the Texas Department of Transportation. 

In August, Houston’s EV market increased 11% year-over-year. This creates an opportunity for local retail developers, operators and landlords to optimize their spaces with EV charging stations, said Brandi Dees, senior vice president at commercial real estate brokerage Lee & Associates - Houston and a leading expert in retail fuel services. 

Dees and her team at Lee & Associates work alongside Lone Star Super Charge, an electrical provider that offers EV solutions, on-site selection of retail spaces and education for retail stakeholders, including landlords, on the value that charging stations can provide to their spaces and tenants. 

Dees conducts studies on the number of EV drivers in a particular area. Using Placer.ai’s location analytics platform, she and her team can determine where drivers come from, where they are headed and how long they stay at specific locations. They also include the number of electric cars sold in a particular area and how many of these cars go to which EV stations. 

Once Lone Star and the retail center agree to move forward with installing EV chargers on a given retail property, Lone Star, as a tenant, leases dedicated parking spaces from the property and installs the chargers. In this lease agreement, provided by Lee & Associates, landlords get either a particular dollar amount per space or a percentage of revenue from the charging itself.

“As the EV markets continue to grow every year, we’re going to see a high increase in EVs at commercial properties all over the city,” Dees said. “For retailers, it’s an amenity to their customers.”

One concern EV drivers have is whether they will have enough power to last them through the day. For retail stakeholders, charging stations can help alleviate customers’ concerns while also helping them and their tenants contribute to their bottom line, she said. 

The presence of charging stations also helps retail centers gain revenue that wasn’t initially planned for, Dees said. As EV charging stations are just in the parking lot, it is an amenity that doesn’t add to a landlord’s overhead costs. It also has the potential to be a long-term lease.

Users also don’t have concerns about the quality of the fuel, as they get the same current regardless of which vehicle manufacturer they have, she said.

“For EV drivers, that 10- or 15-minute charge matters,” Dees said. “If someone is going to a restaurant, a nail salon or a grocery store, they would be able to charge their car while they’re running their errands. An amenity like this is extremely valuable.”

Dees said the team helps landlords determine which parking spaces can be allocated for EV charging stations. 

As part of the lease agreement, Lone Star is responsible for swapping any equipment that breaks or needs to be replaced. The terms of the agreement would change only if the landlord or other stakeholders make additions to the center that would impact the parking space or if there are any legislative changes that would impact EVs.

“They don’t have to install or maintain it, and if something breaks or the charger gets hit, it’s on the tenant to fix,” Dees said. “It’s a very easy lease and easy decision just because you’re bringing in revenue with little to no overhead and no financial loss.”

She predicted that Houston’s EV market will continue to expand and retail providers will embrace EV charging as an opportunity to meet the needs of EV customers. 

“As long as we’re able to ease charging anxiety, I think the growth will continue exponentially,” she said. “Our goal is to put these EV chargers everywhere. We want to help landlords see EV charging in their parking lots as a business line and a value-add.”

This article was produced in collaboration between Lee & Associates and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

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