The number one question I’m asked for the last 18 years

Why Katy?

My answer is simple - Visionary Real Estate Developers

Master-planned residential community developers delivered first -- creating nationally awarded communities like Green Trails, Cinco Ranch, Grand Lakes, and Seven Meadows. Next large-scale commercial developers captained Katy projects like La Centerra and the upcoming Katy Boardwalk.

As a practice, most commercial developers craft projects for large-scale national users designed to feed the rental market. The Katy area, like most current markets, offers abundant rental space in what some call a soft rental market. The nearby West Houston Energy Corridor currently has a 20.5% vacancy rate for office space and some aggressive pricing. The Katy Grand Parkway continues to perform well, offering just a 10.7% vacancy rate.

However, what makes Katy special is not the rental rates, but a rare chance for small business entrepreneurs to own instead of rent commercial real estate. A new breed of developers headlined by the Kilcommins Group, Steadfast Interests, and Sheevaam Properties tailor properties for an assortment of small businesses, investors, and start-ups to own.

For instance, the Kilcommins Group offers owners a chance to enjoy modern office architecture on small business budgets. Owner Joey Kilcommins said, “Katy’s small office market is strong partly because of organic growth, and partly because we helped create it.” His Colonial Green Project will offer professionals, doctors, and lawyers, a chance to custom design offices to fit their needs from about 1800 SF to almost 7500 SF. Located on Colonial Green near Memorial Hermann Hospital, the project begins delivering offices to owners in 2025.

Steadfast Interests 1325 Katy Main Street Project offers small businesses a chance to purchase offices that deliver starting May 2024. Owner-occupants can purchase offices from 650 SF to 1320 SF, while investors can take down whole buildings from 5280 SF to 6600 SF and lease them to professionals. Steadfast Interests partner Robert Anthony said, “My business partner and I lived, worked, and invested in Katy for 25 years. It’s never let us down. Katy’s known as the city of Churches, and a great environment to own real estate, raise a family, and start small businesses. "

Sheevam Properties’ Katy Gaston Business Park offers something different, light industrial space owners have used for recreation (a basketball facility) and light industrial (shipping, export, storage). Warehouses range from 5600 SF to 7700 SF. The space offers soaring ceilings, insulation, and

upgradeable electrical packages. The Sheevam management team says the reason for their success is accessibility to I10 and the fact that they are surrounded by master-planned communities.

Each project rests near Grand Parkway, I-10, the new Katy Boardwalk, and the West Houston Medical Complexes.

In conclusion, when a business starts, renting usually presents the only option. But wow, long-term, owning commercial real estate creates an engine that pays for your retirement, family cruises, your grandkid's college tuitions, and your great grandkids' weddings. Katy is one of the few suburbs boasting abundant opportunities for small business to own their space without going through years of development. No other Houston sub-market offers more commercial real-estate investment diversity. As a real estate agent, investor, and lover of Katy, I will say the time to strike now, when others complain about interest rates, politics, or the economy.

Timothy Sojka, is the Broker of the See TIM Sell Team, at Keller Williams, he is also the author of the Amazon #1 Political Thrillers Payback Jack, Politikill, 39: Your Last Birthday.