EXCLUSIVE: Howard Hughes president Jim Carman, before and after Grogan’s Mill Shopping Center vote

THE WOODLANDS, TX – Jim Carman, president for the Houston Region of Howard Hughes Holdings Inc., recently came to Montgomery County Commissioners Court to present the proposal to turn the current – and half-empty – Grogan’s Mill Village Shopping Center (site of one of the now-bygone Randall’s) into a new public library facility and community center.

Woodlands Online managed to speak with Carman exclusively at both Commissioners Court, mere minutes before he made his presentation, and a few days later, to discuss the project.

At Commissioners Court before he gave his presentation, Carman told Woodlands Online, “We’re presenting to Commissioners Court the opportunity for a property transaction between Montgomery County and Howard Hughes for the construction of a brand new library and community center at Grogan’s Mill Shopping Center, and we’re super excited to show the design we worked on with Commissioner Noack and Montgomery County. I think the community is going to be blown away; our team certainly is. It’s going to be an amazing project that revitalizes that center for decades to come. It’s going to be amazing and I’m so excited to introduce it to the community.”

A few minutes later, all voting members of Montgomery County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the project, and Carman happily left with the success under his belt.

Several days later, Woodlands Online caught up with Carman and asked him his thoughts on how the presentation went and what the next steps were.

I’m very pleased that it passed unanimously, and we thank Commissioners Court for allowing that to happen and for the collaboration to date on the project,” he said. “The next steps will be to continue to meet with the county and work on the final design for the library and community center, and also meet with the Township and farmer’s market folks to talk about how we can enhance the existing market and make it even better. Everything’s exciting; we’re also going to meet with all the retailers over there and talk about their future. It’s a great moment for the Grogan’s Mill Center and the community, and I hope that everybody – now that they’ve seen the design and like it – will be proud to call it part of The Woodlands.

Details of the project – complete with visual renderings – can be found by clicking here: https://www.woodlandsonline.com/npps/story.cfm?nppage=76811.