According to the Houston Chronicle, the building that used to house the Imperial Sugar factory that was going to be the home of an 850,000 square foot mixed-use project was sold at a foreclosure auction in early October. The redevelopment plans included retail, restaurants, office space apartments, and a boutique hotel. BancorpSouth, originally bankrolled the project in 2016 with a $13.9 million loan on the property.
Geoffrey Jones, one of the developers, said the property will be conveyed back to Imperial Market Development once a construction loan is secured. A substitute trustee's deed filed with the county cites a default, however, Jones said his group has been meeting its obligations.
He said the project is around 60 percent pre-leased, with Alamo Drafthouse Cinema as its lead tenant. Construction, which has been delayed, is expected to start at the beginning of next year.
"Retail leasing occurred more slowly than we originally anticipated," Jones said. "Construction lenders were influenced by the downturn in the energy industry and for quite some time were not making mixed-use loans in the metropolitan Houston area."
