A number of NHA members met privately with a national site consultant to highlight key aspects of north Houston. In April. NHA member Reliant Energy UL&Ps Economic Development Department arranged a meeting with Adam Faulk, of Jackson & Cooksey in Dallas. The meeting began with Dudley VanNess, Reliant Energy/HL&P, giving a background summitry on Faulk, and NHA Executive Director Catherine Wray making introductions. “I’m coming down here to meet more people in the area because we’re seeing an increase of activity (here),” said Faulk. Faulk noted that community leaders are an “absolute necessity” for him to provide detailed services to his clients.
“A lot of the corporations we represent require a fair amount of site selection work before even thinking about the real estate transaction. All sectors of industries are extremely busy evaluating how they can save money in their cost of operations,” he said. “It’s amazing the detail these companies are looking to lower these bottom line expenditures.” Faulk advises his clients to look at what will lower their operating costs and tries to get them to use any incentives as a tool to make the Final decision. “If there are incentives, it obviously makes the decision a lot easier. That’s the way they should approach the process.”
“For this region, it seems that outside of the energy related field, the technology sector is one that seems to be focusing a lot more on this part of the region,” he said. After Faulk’s comments, Jack Drake, Greater Greenspoint Management District, spoke about how all areas of the north Houston region are interdependent on each other. Drake presented a regional perspective including geographic and economic information. “Wherever you may bring companies to our area, whether it’s Clear Lake, The Woodlands, downtown or Sharpstown, it’s good for our region and our regional economy,” said Drake.
Drake also noted that the region is still driven by the energy industry, but other industries are strong players as well.
According to Drake, the energy industry is about 50 percent of the area’s employment base and the area is home to 25 percent of all the energy jobs that are in the U.S. An added benefit is the region’s cost of living; it is 15 percent below the national average. Drake also discussed airport expansion plans and described the Greater Greenspoint Management District. Following Drake’s presentation, James Curry, Hines, talked specifically about the Greenspoint area and a study on projected employment growth produced by the Houston-Galveston Area Council. Ron Dagley and Mark Wimberly, The Betz Companies, discussed several properties available in the north Houston region. NHA meets with site consultants on an annual basis. Any members interested participating in the next site consultant visit should contact Catherine Wray in the NHA office.
