Meet Watermark: Midway Unveils Plans For ConocoPhillips Campus Redevelopment
ConocoPhillips’ former headquarters campus is poised to get a mixed-use refresh.
Developer Midway on Thursday revealed the details of its plan for the redevelopment of the roughly 70-acre Energy Corridor complex into Watermark District at Woodcreek.
The project, which leans on repurposing buildings, calls for 650K SF of Class-A office, a 100K SF wellness/fitness facility, multifamily, retail, restaurants with waterfront views, and a boutique hotel. Midway said it is targeting groundbreaking in the first half of 2023.
Midway said preserving a portion of the campus’s infrastructure and office space and repurposing buildings into multifamily and hotel space will reduce the development’s carbon footprint. The site was built out beginning in 1978 with 16 three-story office buildings totaling 1.3M SF and connected to each other with bridges over ponds and grassy areas.
The new development will remain low-rise and low-density with access to outdoor amenities like Terry Hershey Park’s 12.5 miles of trails, which Midway said aligns with workers’ and residents’ desires in the wake of the pandemic. Watermark will have 20 acres of green space and 9 acres of lakes and is designed to be highly walkable.
“At Midway, we are passionate about building remarkable places that endure, and sustainability is at the forefront of our approach,” Midway CEO Brad Freels said in a press release. “Watermark is a prime example of our future-oriented mindset. It’s an urbanization of the suburban experience in one of the fastest growing regions in Houston.”
Other sustainability features include a partnership with 374Water, which will provide an on-site sustainable wastewater system that will allow water and energy to be reused throughout the district.
The campus sits just north of Interstate 10 at Dairy Ashford and North Eldridge Parkway in Houston’s Energy Corridor and has sat vacant since the energy firm left in 2018 for a new HQ across the highway.
The tract has changed hands multiple times since ConocoPhillips sold the property to another energy company in 2019. Midway bought it from the Howard Hughes Corp. in December for $25M, a $7.4M loss for the seller, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Midway is the developer behind some of Houston’s highest-profile mixed-use megadevelopments, including CityCentre and East River. Other firms involved in Watermark are OJB Landscape Architecture, Jacobs and PDR.
