Both big cities and small towns in the US are undergoing rapid changes and the same is true of the small and beautiful town of Friendswood, Texas. Conveniently situated between downtown Houston and Galveston, this suburban region boasts of a dynamic and robust economic base and has already established itself as an attractive destination for small and big businesses alike.
That being the case, it is little surprise that the real estate scene at the place is also booming and is playing its part in shaping the community as well. One of the most recent large-scale projects at Friendswood, for example, has been a 50,000 square feet development managed by the Virgata Property. The project, standing at the corner of FM 528 and FM 518, is under construction but already 85 percent of Phase One of the project (consisting of retail space of 20,000 square feet) has been leased out, mostly to a number of restaurant chains. So, there will be Jersey Milke’s Subs, Chitpole, Valvoline, Mod Pizza, Chick-fil-A, Orange Theory Fitness and more.
Additionally, Phase Two of the project has been envisioned as a further 30,000 square-foot of office, medical and retail space.
Now, it is worth noting that Jim Peterson and David Boone, both senior partners with Virgata and the latter responsible for all lease negotiations for the present project, have confessed their debt to Jerome Karam, the pioneering influence in the real estate industry of Friendswood and the Galveston area in general.
Jerome Karam Friendswood
Karam, born in Louisiana but a long-time resident of Friendswood, has been lauded as a visionary real estate developer even by many of his competitions. Karam, who studied law at school and had spent 10 years as a personal injury lawyer, was rather a late entrant in the real estate field.
But, according to him, he had always had a passion for real estate development and kept a close eye on the goings-on in the real estate field even when he was pursuing his profession as a lawyer. His experience as a litigator also helped him earn valuable insights into the real estate industry.
All of that bore fruit once he left his job as a lawyer in 2000 to devote himself fulltime to his real estate passions and started his own firm JKM5 Holdings LLC. However, Jerome Karam Friendswood, even when he was new to the field, was not your usual real estate developer. Instead, his interest lied especially in renovating old properties and repurposing them for new use.
This was very much in line with the changing economic landscape as well since the business models across all industries themselves were changing and these called for radical transformations in the appearance and outfit of individual structures, retail spaces and of whole business districts in general. And Karam was quick to sense the change in the air and plowed ahead in his path accordingly.
Before he moved on to his more famous projects, Karam had already remodeled 12 apartments and 8 abandoned individual houses into spacious and comfortable condos in his virtual hometown of Friendswood. And that early project of his had already served as a sign of things to come and also as a model that other real estate developers from the area will follow later on.
By now, we are already aware of his almost revolutionary work with the erstwhile Falstaff Brewery. But almost equally impressive is his Mall of the Mainland renovation project. Just like the Falstaff Brewery, the main building of the mall was badly affected by Hurricane Harvey and by the time Karam had bought the property, it had already changed hand many times since almost no developer has had the courage and vision to go ahead with the project. Yet, Karam did go ahead with it and now the result is there to see for all.
Accordingly, as the town and the community of Friendswood are gaining in importance and are envisioning rapid changes in the near future, Jerome Karam is understandably expected to lead the charge in the Friendswood real estate development of the future.
