Sources: investment, acreage, square footage, anchors, tenant sizes, the early 2027 phase, Heritage Grove, leasing pace, the medical building, the apartment count and executive quotes via NewQuest's April 6, 2026 release; opening confirmations and addresses for Target, Lowe's and EōS Fitness via The Katy News, September 2, 2026; the anchor opening sequence and the Q1 2027 delivery via Community Impact, April 6, 2026. Tenant lineups and dates change. Verify before relying on them.
Lowe's cut the ribbon on its west Katy store on September 4. Target is hiring for a fall opening at 29355 Katy Freeway. A membership wholesale club is next in the sequence, and a fitness chain, four junior anchors and a five acre park are due in the first quarter of 2027.
All of that is one project, Texas Heritage Marketplace, 165 acres at the southeast corner of I-10 and Texas Heritage Parkway, and NewQuest puts the investment at $400 million. It is the largest retail development on the I-10 corridor west of Katy, and depending on which source you read, either the largest or one of the largest in Waller County's history.
I cover it here for the same reason I covered Circle Oak in Richmond. Big retail does not change what a house is worth on the day it opens. It changes which parts of a city feel convenient, and that shift shows up in prices before it shows up in listings. If you own on the west side of Katy, or you are deciding between the Fort Bend side and the west edge, this is the project to understand.
Key takeaways
- Texas Heritage Marketplace is a $400 million, 165 acre development at the southeast corner of I-10 and Texas Heritage Parkway in Waller County, planned at 800,000 square feet of commercial space at build out, per developer NewQuest.
- Lowe's opened September 4, 2026 at 981 Heritage Oak Lane; Target is preparing a fall 2026 opening at 29355 Katy Freeway; a membership wholesale club follows in the staggered anchor sequence.
- The first quarter of 2027 brings four junior anchors, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Burlington, Spec's and Ulta Beauty, a 40,000 square foot EōS Fitness, and Heritage Grove, a five acre green space ringed by dining.
- NewQuest says more than 90 percent of the project leased in roughly 18 months, with 12 ground lease tenants including Chase, Whataburger, Olive Garden and James Avery.
- A 50,000 square foot medical office building, expandable to 70,000, and up to 550 apartments are part of the plan, which is what makes this mixed use rather than a strip center.
- The site is in Waller County, not Fort Bend or Harris, which matters for the county line on nearby tax bills and for which side of Katy this actually serves.
What is being built
Answer first: NewQuest is building an 800,000 square foot mixed use center on 165 acres with three big box anchors, four junior anchors, a fitness club, a five acre public green surrounded by restaurants, a medical office building and a planned apartment component, on 2,900 feet of I-10 frontage and 2,200 feet along Texas Heritage Parkway.
The developer's April release laid out the pieces, and later reporting added the sizes.
| Component | Size | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Lowe's Home Improvement | about 94,000 sq ft | Opened September 4, 2026 |
| Target | about 148,000 sq ft | Fall 2026, hiring underway |
| Membership wholesale club | about 168,000 sq ft reported | Staggered after Target |
| Academy Sports + Outdoors | 51,068 sq ft | Q1 2027 |
| Burlington | 22,147 sq ft | Q1 2027 |
| Spec's Fine Wines & Spirits | 16,806 sq ft | Q1 2027 |
| Ulta Beauty | 10,000 sq ft | Q1 2027 |
| EōS Fitness | 40,000 sq ft | 2027 |
| Heritage Grove green space | 5 acres, with 35,000 sq ft of dining and spa or fitness retail around it | Q1 2027 |
| Medical office building | 50,000 sq ft, expandable to 70,000 | Not dated |
| Apartments | up to 550 units | Future phase |
NewQuest does not name the wholesale club, citing a confidentiality agreement. Covering Katy has reported it as Sam's Club with fuel at about 168,000 square feet. I am giving you both so you know which part is the developer and which part is the press.
Heritage Grove is the part worth a second look. It is a five acre park built around a live oak that was preserved when the parkway went in, with a water feature and native planting, and the first wave of restaurants around it includes Escalante's, Tony C's Pizza and Beer Garden, Aji Izakaya and Kilwin's. NewQuest's senior vice president Bob Conwell said the goal was to raise the bar on green space concepts, and managing director David Meyers said the company was being highly selective about tenants to encourage longer stays and repeat visits. That is developer language, but it describes a real difference between a place people drive to for one errand and a place they stay.
Why this corner, and why now
Answer first: the west edge of Katy grew rooftops for a decade without the retail to match, and Texas Heritage Parkway, the 6.5 mile road connecting I-10 to Fulshear, turned this corner into the one place that serves both the I-10 communities and everything south toward FM 1093. NewQuest's president, Austin Alvis, said plainly that Waller and the surrounding rural counties had been unserved by major retailers.
The leasing pace is the evidence. More than 90 percent of a 165 acre project leased in about 18 months is not a normal number. It is what happens when national tenants have been watching a trade area fill in for years and finally get a site with freeway frontage and a parkway running through it. Ground leases with Chase, Whataburger and Olive Garden in March, Mattress Firm, James Avery and The Kebab Shop in June, and the anchors under construction all at once.
Texas Heritage Parkway is the reason this corner and not another. I described its effect on Fulshear in the Fulshear growth post: it cut the drive from the FM 1093 communities to I-10 and central Houston, and it made the land along it developable in a way it was not before. The marketplace is the retail expression of that road. Anyone in Cross Creek Ranch, Jordan Ranch or the Tamarron side of Fulshear now has a Target and a Lowe's at the north end of their parkway instead of a drive to Katy Mills or the Grand Parkway.
Community Impact and Covering Katy both noted the projected sales tax, roughly $3 million a year to the local jurisdictions, and NewQuest projects about 4 million annual visits from the three anchors alone and 9 million once the whole center is open.
What it means for the west side of Katy
Answer first: the west edge of Katy is the cheapest ground with a Katy address and the most new construction. In my own HAR MLS pull for the six months to September 7, 2026, the Katy Old Towne market area, which covers the 77493 side, had a median sale around $358,000 with roughly two thirds of closings new construction, against about $510,000 for Katy addresses inside Fort Bend County. A center like this narrows the convenience gap between those two numbers.
That is the practical read. The Fort Bend side of Katy, Cinco Ranch and its neighbors, has always carried a premium partly because everything was already there. The west edge has carried a discount partly because you drove east for everything. When the errands move west, one of the reasons for the discount gets smaller. I am not going to tell you what that does to a specific street's value, because nobody knows and anyone who says they do is selling something. But I have watched retail follow rooftops in this county for eighteen years, and the direction is not a mystery.
There is a second effect that matters more for buyers than for owners. The west edge of Katy is the part of town where the school district question and the county question both get complicated. A Katy address at this end of I-10 can sit in Waller County or Harris County, can be inside the City of Katy or outside it, and can feed Katy ISD or Royal ISD depending on the exact lot. The Grange post was one long example of that, with one school funded and one waiting on a bond. A big new retail center makes the area more attractive without making any of those questions simpler. Get the county, the city status and the campus assignment in writing for the exact address, every time.
And if you are buying new construction out here, which most people are, the district line on your tax bill will be the largest surprise. The MUD notice guide walks through the document the builder has to hand you and what to do with it.
Katy or Sugar Land, one more time
Answer first: this project strengthens the case for the west side of Katy on convenience without changing the reasons people choose Sugar Land, which are an established core, Fort Bend ISD and a shorter drive to the Medical Center. It shifts the comparison at the edges, not the center.
I wrote the Sugar Land versus Katy comparison for people running exactly this calculation, and the honest update is small. Katy's west edge just got a great deal more livable. It did not get closer to downtown Houston or the Medical Center, and it did not change districts. If your decision was driven by price per square foot and a Katy ISD or Lamar CISD assignment, this helps Katy. If it was driven by commute or by Fort Bend ISD, nothing here moves it.
For the fuller picture of where Katy stands right now, the Katy page has the current numbers for the Fort Bend side and for all four HAR market areas, and the west Fort Bend supply guide covers the construction wave this center is built to serve.
What is confirmed and what is not
Answer first: the acreage, the investment figure, the three anchors, the junior anchor lineup with square footages, the Q1 2027 delivery for the multi tenant phase, and the Lowe's opening are confirmed by the developer or by the retailers themselves. The wholesale club's identity, the exact Target opening date, and the timing of the medical building and apartments are not.
Confirmed:
- $400 million, 165 acres, 800,000 square feet at build out, southeast corner of I-10 and Texas Heritage Parkway, Waller County, per NewQuest.
- Lowe's ribbon cutting September 4, 2026 at 981 Heritage Oak Lane, per The Katy News.
- Target hiring for a fall 2026 opening at 29355 Katy Freeway, per Target's own employment listings as reported by The Katy News.
- Academy 51,068, Burlington 22,147, Spec's 16,806, Ulta 10,000, EōS 40,000 square feet, Q1 2027, per NewQuest.
- More than 90 percent leased in about 18 months, per NewQuest.
Not confirmed by the developer:
- The wholesale club's name. NewQuest cites a confidentiality agreement; press reports say Sam's Club.
- Target's exact opening date. Target says fall; one report said October.
- Dates for the medical office building and the apartments.
- Total square footage, which NewQuest puts at 800,000 and other reports put between 750,000 and more than 1 million depending on whether self storage and later phases are counted.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Texas Heritage Marketplace?
Texas Heritage Marketplace is at the southeast corner of Interstate 10 and Texas Heritage Parkway on the west edge of Katy, Texas, in Waller County. The site has about 2,900 feet of I-10 frontage and 2,200 feet along Texas Heritage Parkway. Target's address is 29355 Katy Freeway and Lowe's is at 981 Heritage Oak Lane.
When does Target open in west Katy?
Target has confirmed a fall 2026 opening for its Katy Heritage store at 29355 Katy Freeway and is hiring for the location. The developer's timeline calls for staggered anchor openings beginning in September 2026. Some reports have cited October; Target itself has said fall.
Is Lowe's open at Texas Heritage Marketplace?
Yes. Lowe's held its grand opening ribbon cutting for the west Katy store at 981 Heritage Oak Lane on September 4, 2026, the first of the three anchors to open.
What stores are coming to Texas Heritage Marketplace?
Anchors are Lowe's, Target and a membership wholesale club reported to be Sam's Club. Junior anchors due in the first quarter of 2027 are Academy Sports + Outdoors, Burlington, Spec's Fine Wines & Spirits and Ulta Beauty, alongside a 40,000 square foot EōS Fitness. Restaurants around the Heritage Grove green include Escalante's, Tony C's Pizza and Beer Garden, Aji Izakaya and Kilwin's, with Olive Garden, Whataburger, Chase, James Avery, Mattress Firm and The Kebab Shop on ground leases.
How big is Texas Heritage Marketplace?
The developer, NewQuest, describes a $400 million project on 165 acres totaling 800,000 square feet of commercial space at build out, including a 50,000 square foot medical office building expandable to 70,000 square feet and up to 550 apartments. Other reports put the total between 750,000 and more than 1 million square feet depending on what is counted.
Will Texas Heritage Marketplace raise home values in Katy?
Nobody can promise that for a specific street. What large retail reliably does is change which parts of a city feel convenient, and the west edge of Katy has carried a price discount to the Fort Bend side partly because the errands were all east. Narrowing that gap is a plausible effect over time, not a guaranteed one, and it does not change school districts, county lines or commute times.
What county is Texas Heritage Marketplace in?
Waller County. The Katy area spans Harris, Fort Bend and Waller counties, and this site sits on the Waller County side of the I-10 corridor. That affects which county's tax rate applies to nearby homes and which county's appraisal district values them.
Bottom line
Texas Heritage Marketplace is the retail the west side of Katy has been waiting on for a decade, and it is arriving in one sequence over the next six months: Lowe's now, Target this fall, the wholesale club after, and the junior anchors, the fitness club and the park in the first quarter of 2027. More than 90 percent leased before the first anchor opened tells you how badly the trade area wanted it.
For owners on the west edge, it is the best convenience news in years. For buyers, it makes an already active new construction market more attractive without making any of its complications simpler. The county line, the city line, the campus assignment and the district notice all still have to be checked for the exact address.
If you are weighing the west side of Katy against the Fort Bend side or against Sugar Land, send me the two or three addresses you are comparing and I will pull the county, the district and the school zoning on each one, with the real monthly cost side by side.
