Developer breaks ground on $78M mixed-use League City business park

Alexander Grene Development has broken ground on Lilac Field, a $78 million mixed-use business park on 24.5 acres between League City Parkway and SH 146 in League City, Texas, betting that tenants will arrive before the first buildings deliver in early 2027. The project plans 70,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and 220,000 square feet of flexible warehouse, a nearly 300,000-square-foot program that pencils to roughly $269 per square foot, according to Connect CRE.

The developer is searching for its first industrial and retail tenants across aerospace and aviation suppliers, marine service groups, technology firms, energy service companies, advanced manufacturers and specialty distributors. Connect CRE, citing Community Impact, reports the completed park will contain 16 small warehouse units and seven retail and restaurant buildings, with warehouse tenants expected to include entertainment venues, gyms, childcare providers and breweries, a mix that hedges between trade-driven industrial users and local commercial tenants.

The risk sits in the timing. The developer is building the first two industrial buildings on spec, with completion expected by early 2027, while the full buildout is projected to take three to five years. That phasing gives the project a two-building test case before the rest of the park commits, and it lets the retail portion — which typically leases on faster cycles tied to rooftops — carry the site while the warehouse space searches for aerospace and marine users. It also spreads the $78 million outlay, with the first two shells setting the template and the later buildings following demand.

The lease-up will be the verdict. If the first two shells have tenants by the early-2027 delivery, Lilac Field demonstrates that League City's industrial market can absorb speculative supply and sets a local comp for flexible warehouse rents; if those buildings sit empty, the retail and restaurant blocks become the project's near-term backstop, and the three-to-five-year buildout horizon buys time for the trade to turn.