Montgomery Plaza, the sprawling power center at the I‑45 and Loop 336 interchange in Conroe, has a new out-of-state owner kicking the tires on Houston-area retail. South Florida investor JBL Asset Management has purchased the roughly 316,000-square-foot center, which is anchored by national chains and still has several vacant in-line suites that could be leased up or reworked. The deal is another signal that investor appetite for Houston-area shopping centers is holding strong after a busy 2025 for the retail sector.
The deal
As reported by Bisnow, JBL acquired Montgomery Plaza with JLL brokers Ryan West and John Indelli representing the unnamed seller. JLL's offering page lists the property at about 315,708 square feet and shows the center was roughly 94% occupied, confirming the size and core fundamentals. That mix of scale and a high concentration of national tenants made the property a natural fit for a regional retail operator looking for steady income and some upside.
Property snapshot
Marketing materials on the owner's site show a tenant roster that includes Academy Sports + Outdoors, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Crunch Fitness, Spec's Wine, Petco and Dollar Tree. They also list five available suites, ranging from roughly 1,325 to 11,324 square feet. JBL's property page notes that the largest vacant suite is occasionally used by seasonal pop-ups such as Spirit Halloween, a reminder that short-term deals can help fill gaps while long-term plans take shape. Sitting at a signalized interchange with strong visibility, the plaza offers familiar value‑add angles such as leasing the empty spaces and potentially disposing of pads.
Why investors are buying
Research from JLL points to resilient demand for necessity-focused and well-located retail, while limited new construction has helped support occupancy and rent growth. Colliers' Houston coverage has similarly emphasized tight market fundamentals and healthy leasing activity through 2025. Put together, those dynamics help explain why buyers are still willing to pursue centers like Montgomery Plaza that come with both stable national tenancy and re-tenanting potential.
What comes next
Ryan West called Montgomery Plaza "an exceptional opportunity" to pick up an established power center with strong national tenancy, according to Bisnow. JBL's own site states that the firm manages roughly 4.7 million square feet of retail across Florida, Texas and Georgia, so Montgomery Plaza slots into an already active regional portfolio. Expect the new owner to zero in on leasing the mid-size in-line vacancies and weighing pad upgrades or changes that could push income higher over time.
