HOUSTON | Metro/Suburban Area Developments

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Richmond

Indigo

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bus...o-17804425.php

A 750-home community with car-free zones, a farm and lake is coming to the Houston area

Meristem Communities breaking ground on 235-acre ‘agrihood’ in Fort Bend County

Marissa Luck,
Staff writer
Feb. 28, 2023
Updated: March 1, 2023 5:43 p.m.

Imagine doing many of your errands on foot — from picking up dry cleaning to buying farm-fresh produce — while catching glances of migratory birds swooping over a community farm and lake as you walk a trail back to your house.

That’s the kind of lifestyle developers of a new “agrihood” envision for Fort Bend County, where a 235-acre residential community — with a 42-acre farm and "car-free zones" — is about to rise in the Richmond area.

Houston-based developer Meristem Communities is breaking ground this week on Indigo, a residential community expected to feature 750 homes, including 100 rental homes off Texas 99 and U.S. 90. The first residents are expected next February, with an additional two phases opening over the next two years at 1300 Harlem Road in Richmond. The neighborhood is 26 miles southwest of downtown Houston and 10 miles west of Sugar Land.

Meristem aims to disrupt the typical master-planned community concept by clustering most of the homes together on smaller lots, enabling the developer to dedicate more than half the community to open space and neighborhood trails. Plans call for a 25-acre lake for swimming, fishing and kayaking; miles of trails; and 42 acres of farm and pasture for visitors to meander or buy fresh produce and eggs.

Meristem Communities is breaking ground on a 235-acre community in Richmond that will feature a large farm. Pictured is an area with cottages, one of several housing types offered in the 750-home residential community called Indigo.

CultivateLAND

About 400 houses will place the garages on the backside of the house with landscaped alleyways. For many of the houses that enables the homes to overlook parks and green space in the front of the residences, although some houses still have garages in the front in case residents prefer a more traditional style.

CultivateLAND

Landscape architects at CultivateLAND are working with Meristem Communities to design green spaces and linear parks in front of many of the houses. Architects at DAHLIN are advising on walkability and the design of the community

CultivateLAND

Townhomes will be one of eight housing types offered in Indigo community in Richmond.

CultivateLAND

A rendering of "The Barn", a community gathering space and event center with a cafe and market.

CultivateLAND

and Indigo Commons

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bus...l-18094081.php

Mixed-use complex coming to Houston-area 'agrihood' breaks the rules of normal strip malls

Marissa Luck
May 12, 2023
Updated: May 12, 2023 9:57 a.m.

A 12-acre mixed-use complex recently broke ground south of Houston where a unique concept promises to give small-business owners more control and flexibility over their real estate destinies.

Houston-based developer Meristem Communities has started work on Indigo Commons — a retail, residential and office complex planned within the 235-acre Indigo master-planned community in Richmond.

The retail would be the commercial anchor of Indigo, a so-called ‘agri-hood’ residential neighborhood with a 42-acre farm, trails and multiple ‘car-free zones,’ according to the developer. Meristem wants to create a collection of local businesses — including mom-and-pop shops, sellers of artisan-type goods, restaurants and a potential brewery — in part by making it easier for smaller businesses to operate in the development.

"We really want to start breaking down all of those labels that people have when they're designing places," said Clayton Garrett, partner at Meristem Communities. "When we were looking at our commercial spaces, we realized we need to be authentic."

Often, retail centers in master-planned communities are dominated by businesses who rent their space rather than owning it, particularly if they are smaller businesses. While some larger businesses do purchase their buildings, ownership can be harder for firms not backed by large institutions, Garrett said. But Meristem wants to give more small businesses the opportunity to own a part of their community.

“We want shopkeepers and merchants to be able to grow their businesses while growing their equity – just as you do when you purchase a home – with no landlords and no rent increases,” added Scott Snodgrass, partner at Meristem Communities. “They deserve to feel confident that the brick and mortar of their legacy can be passed along. It’s an unusual opportunity in our market."

The 12-acre Indigo Commons is the anchor commercial mixed-use project planned within Indigo, a agri-hood planned in Richmond south of Houston.

CultivateLAND/Meristem Communities

The vision for Indigo Commons includes a wide variety of small businesses, from specialty food and beverage offerings such as an all-day bakery café and a brewery, to boutique shops and neighborhood services like an insurance provider, nail salon, dry cleaner and a general store. Plenty of outdoor space for gathering and relaxing are also planned throughout.

CultivateLAND/Meristem Communities

Indigo Commons would include a mix of commercial and retail buildings, including some topped with residential space where business owners could live or lease out.

CultivateLAND/Meristem Communities

Indigo is expected to feature a 42-acre farm, trails and other outdoor recreational opportunities alongside pedestrian-friendly streets and retail.

CultivateLAND/Meristem Communities

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Texas City

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2023/06/05/latitude-margaritaville-community-texas-city.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_27&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

One of Texas’ first Margaritaville-branded residential communities likely to be developed in Texas City


By Florian Martin – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jun 5, 2023

Texas City may be the chosen location for one of Texas’ first Latitude Margaritaville communities, age-restricted master-planned communities inspired by singer Jimmy Buffett’s popular song.

Texas City and Minto Communities USA have confirmed that they are in discussions for the active-adult development.

Florida-based Minto develops Latitude under license from Margaritaville Holdings. The companies announced in April 2022 that they planned to open communities in Houston, Dallas and Austin. Existing communities are in Daytona Beach, Florida; Panama City Beach, Florida; and Hardeeville, South Carolina, near Hilton Head.

They feature resort-style pools, fitness centers, live entertainment, signature Margaritaville food and beverage concepts, and arts and learning programs. Residents need to be at least 55 years old.

“Jimmy Buffett and Margaritaville enjoy an enduring connection to the Gulf Coast, and this Latitude location will become another great destination to continue that tradition,” Scott Rogers, Minto's Texas vice president of acquisition and development, said in a statement.

A spokesperson for the city had no information on the exact location. According to the Galveston County Daily News, which first reported on rumors of the community, one possibility may be the Kohfeldt tract, a large undeveloped area between Emmett F. Lowry Expressway and state highways 3 and 146.

Latitude Margaritaville President William Bullock told the Houston Business Journal last year that Minto was looking for land between 1,000 and 1,500 acres to accommodate the development’s amenities and about 3,000 homes.

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Magnolia


https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2023/06/13/xag-first-mixed-use-development-audubon-magnolia.html

First mixed-use development coming to Audubon master-planned community in Magnolia area

By Florian Martin – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jun 13, 2023

Audubon, a 3,000-acre master-planned community outside Magnolia in Montgomery County, is getting its first mixed-use retail center.

Fort Bend County-based development and private equity firm XAG Group earlier this year purchased 20 acres on the southwestern corner of FM 1488 and Mill Creek Road from Audubon Magnolia Development LLC, said XAG CEO and Partner Nathaliah Naipaul.

XAG plans to develop a two-story, 30,000-square-foot retail center, to be called Audubon Place, on about 8 acres and the 326-unit Rasha at Audubon apartment complex on the other 12 acres.

The entire development is expected to cost upward of $100 million, Naipaul said. She declined to name the general contractor or architect.

Naipaul estimated the retail center would start construction in September and open in the first or second quarter of next year. It will include shops, restaurants and medical offices, and XAG is already in talks with prospective tenants, Naipaul said.

“We want to bring restaurants, especially, to the area because it has nothing there right now,” she said. “We want to be the first to bring some of those amenities and services to the community.”

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Hockley

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...g-jubilee.html

Johnson Development begins building new Jubilee master-planned community in Hockley

By Olivia Pulsinelli – Assistant managing editor, Houston Business Journal
Jun 8, 2023

Houston-based Johnson Development Corp. has begun construction of another local master-planned community.

Jubilee is being built on 1,622 acres in Hockley just south of Highway 290 and a few miles from the Grand Parkway. When complete, the community is slated to have approximately 4,900 homes, nearly 30 acres of parks and amenity space and more than 270 acres of greenspace and waterways.

“Every facet of Jubilee is being developed with purpose,” June Tang, vice president and general manager of Jubilee, said in a statement. “From the street layout and amenities to the home offerings and lifestyle programming — every aspect will be dedicated to nurturing our residents’ overall well-being. Our mission is to profoundly enhance the lives of individuals who live there.”

The first phase of Jubilee will have 491 homesites in multiple sizes: 40-foot, 45-foot, 50-foot and 60-foot lots. The model home park for this phase will have eight models, and Johnson Development plans to announce builders and pricing in the near future. Home sales are expected to begin next year.

Also in 2024, Johnson Development expects to begin construction on an amenity center, the plans for which are still being developed.

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Bolivar Peninsula / Crystal Beach



https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...spitality.html

The Peninsula Beach Resort on Bolivar adds CoralTree Hospitality as management company

By Florian Martin – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jun 22, 2023

A $65 million to $85 million beach resort with a private airport planned for Bolivar Peninsula has secured a hospitality company.

The Peninsula Beach Resort in Crystal Beach will be managed by Englewood, Colorado-based CoralTree Hospitality, a subsidiary of Los Angeles-based real estate company Lowe, which counts four other hotels and resorts among its portfolio in the Houston area.

The hospitality company will manage all parts of the 110-acre resort, which is planned to include 90 single-family beach homes, 117 rental cottages with a clubhouse and two pools, 50 RV sites with overhead cabins, five beach condo towers totaling 160 units, a restaurant and spa, and a three-level beachside bar and grill, according to developer Bolivar Investment Group.

Infrastructure work for the project’s first phase is underway, and construction for The Zoo Beachbar and Grill should start within the month, after the last permit has been obtained, Mike Wiglesworth, principal at Bolivar Investment Group, told the Houston Business Journal. The 41,000-square-foot bar, along with a 350-spot parking lot, is slated to open in the first or second quarter of next year.

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Prairie View



https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...Pos=5#cxrecs_s

Prairie View A&M University celebrates opening of new $70M engineering building

By Sofia Gonzalez – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jun 23, 2023

Prairie View A&M University, Texas' oldest historically Black university, celebrated the grand opening of its new $70 million building for its Roy G. Perry College of Engineering complex on June 22.

The 106,000-square-foot building, which is known as the Engineering Classroom and Research Building, is at the intersection of Reda Bland Evans Street and E.E. O’Bannion Street on the north end of campus. It incorporates student spaces and focused research spaces, with nearly two-thirds dedicated for classroom instruction and one-third for faculty and grad student research lab space.

“Since the early 1940s, the engineering education at PVAMU has focused on educating and preparing scholars to be paramount members of society and capable of groundbreaking discoveries to solve real-world problems,” Pamela Obiomon, dean of the Roy G. Perry College of Engineering, said during the opening. “Today, we have continued a rich legacy of producing top engineers, computer scientists [and] technologists, and today is a testament to the college’s mission.”

The classroom instruction portion of the building includes six generalized instructional spaces and 14 specialized labs. The lab spaces support multidisciplinary research in areas such as space exploration, data analytics and artificial intelligence, robotics, structural analysis and 3-D manufacturing. There will also be a maker space area for students to collaborate across engineering disciplines.

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Sugar Land

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...Pos=2#cxrecs_s

Redevelopment of historic Imperial Sugar site moves ahead with addition of Colliers as leasing partner


By Florian Martin – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jun 25, 2023

About half a year after work started on new plans to redevelop the historic Imperial Sugar site in Sugar Land, the project is moving forward and has gained a real estate brokerage to find future tenants.

Houston-based Puma Development has brought on a local Colliers team to handle retail leasing for the 40-acre site on Kempner Street off U.S. Highway 90 Alternate.

The Colliers team, consisting of Wade Greene, Hannah Tosch and Kimberly Lenardson, is also providing consulting for merchandising and site planning for what was given the working title “Project Sugar.”

The overall plan is to include retail, restaurants, entertainment, offices, apartments and possibly a hotel. The first phase includes the redevelopment of the most iconic building on the site, the former Char House, which still prominently displays the Imperial Sugar name on top.

While the city of Sugar Land approved a general development plan in March, Puma is still in the process of preparing final development plans for each phase of the project, said Devon Rodriguez, the city’s deputy director of economic development. Once the city has approved those, it plans to enter into a development agreement with Puma, which could happen this fall.

Colliers will start its marketing outreach once it receives renderings, expected in mid-summer, Tosch said.

“We'll be starting with the Char House, looking for a couple of restaurant operators, and some of the other existing structures that are being repurposed,” she said.

The Char House is a shell of a building that was used for sugar refining, with no floors but horizontal and vertical beams throughout. The plan includes building eight 9,500-square-foot floors for office space, restaurants on the first and fifth floors, and a rooftop bar.

Russell Hodges with CBRE is handling office leasing for the project.

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A profile of existing Lagoon communities in Humble & Texas City and a preview of new ones in Katy, Rosharon and Northeast Harris County

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...n-18152693.php

A guide to Houston's crystal-clear lagoons: Public access, amenities and opening dates

Sonia Garcia,
Staff writer
June 25, 2023

You've probably heard of beach and lake living, but what about lagoon living?

It's the latest craze to hit the area, where developers are bringing "crystal clear lagoons" paired with luxury living and other fun amenities. Houston is currently home to two of these communities and has more on the way.

"Communities with lagoons have been popular because we provide a destination to a really unique lifestyle. And people never really have to leave their neighborhood to enjoy it," said Tim Johnson, director of sales at Land Tejas, a Houston company known for its master-planned communities.

The best part, some of these lagoons are or will be open to the public for Houstonians to be transported to what will feel like a private island.

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Katy

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...open-2023.html

Beer garden, museum on historic Katy rice dryer property slated to open this year

By Florian Martin – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jul 3, 2023


Katy will have a new beer garden on the site of a historic rice dryer structure along U.S. Highway 90 this year, according to the developer and the beer garden operator.

Concrete is to be poured this week for the Katy Beer Garden, which, along with a museum and gift shop on the first floor of the tallest rice dryer, represents the first phase of the redevelopment of the historic J.V. Cardiff & Sons Rice Dryer property at 5321 First St., to be named The Dryer.

The beer garden will be run by a team of longtime Houston hospitality professionals. Steven Salazar comes from the Kirby Group and was involved in concepts including Heights Bier Garten, Pitch 25 Beer Park, Wooster’s Garden, Holman Draft Hall, Diversión Cocktails and Degust. He left his CFO position about a year ago to focus on raising his young daughter and work on launching the new project, he said.

Katy Beer Garden Managing Partner Taylor Percle is the current bar manager of MAD, a Spanish restaurant in the River Oaks District, and was previously general manager at Heights Bier Garten.

The group includes two additional partners who are in charge of construction and financing, though they want to remain unnamed, Salazar said.

The new beer garden is modeled after Bavarian beer gardens in Munich but with Texan hospitality. It will include 15,000 square feet of outside space beneath 45-foot oak trees and a 10,000-square-foot building with a main bar and a cocktail nook, seating about 200. It will offer 100 beers on tap, 100 bottles of wines, cocktails and finger food.

“We do plan on being an institution in the community for generations,” Salazar said. “This is what we do. I build a neighborhood institution, and I'll see the people there on a Wednesday with their parents for happy hour catching up, and then I'll see them again on Saturday night with their friends. That's the type of place we open in a neighborhood.”

Katy Beer Garden is hiring, with the goal of eventually having around 40 staff members, depending on business.

Salazar expects the beer garden to be completed within two months, though city permitting will likely take longer.

Meanwhile, work is underway on other parts of the rice dryer redevelopment, including the museum and gift shop focused on Katy’s history of rice growing and processing, said Hadi “Andrew” Nurcahya, the developer of The Dryer.

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Hockley

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...Pos=1#cxrecs_s

1,730-acre community with Harris County detention system coming to Hockley


By Florian Martin – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jul 5, 2023

Work has started on a 1,730-acre master-planned community in Hockley, just south of U.S. Highway 290 in northwest Harris County.

Houston-based Concourse Development said it will deliver lots for the first phase of The Grand Prairie by the end of the summer, with home sales expected to begin in the fall. Five homebuilders will build 481 single-family homes on 40- to 60-foot lots: Perry Homes, Westin Homes, Village Builders, Sitterle Homes and David Weekley Homes.

Homes will be priced from the low $300,000s to the $600,000s, according to Concourse co-founder Harry Masterson. The Grand Prairie, which is zoned to the Waller Independent School District, could have up to 6,000 homes at full build-out in a decade or more.

The community will include 450 acres of parks, waterways and 4 miles of trails in the first phase. Amenities will also include a 6,700-square-foot open-air pavilion, swimming pools and splash pads designed by San Antonio-based Overland Partners. Houston-based Clark Condon is the landscape architect.

But what distinguishes this planned community from all others is a 70-acre detention lake that is part of a pilot program by the Harris County Flood Control District.

It’s part of an effort to mitigate flooding from Cypress Creek, which feeds into the Addicks Reservoir, and the result of a 2020 study commissioned by the flood control district that looked at the feasibility of working with landowners to create detention and retention areas rather than building a third reservoir in the Houston area.

Concourse and Houston-based equity partner Maquina Holdings acquired the different tracts making up the future community — located immediately west of Johnson Development’s 1,622-acre master-planned community Jubilee — from two different sellers in 2019 and 2020.

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Richmond

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...on-aliana.html

NewQuest’s residential arm to break ground on first apartment complex

By Florian Martin – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jul 17, 2023

A year and a half after its launch, Houston-based NewQuest Properties’ multifamily residential division will break ground on its first apartment complex.

NewQuest Residential said July 17 site work has been completed and vertical construction will start in late September on a $62 million, 294-unit apartment complex in The Grand at Aliana, a mixed-use development at the Grand Parkway and West Airport Boulevard in Fort Bend County.

The 475,000-square-foot retail center in Houston-based Airia Development Co.’s master-planned community Aliana is 99% leased, according to NewQuest.

“Clearly, the overall development is primed and ready for the multifamily component,” John Leonard, development partner and principal of NewQuest Residential, said in a statement.

The yet-to-be-named apartment complex is slated to be completed in June 2025. It was designed by Dallas-based Humphreys & Partners. NewQuest has not yet selected a general contractor.

The complex will include 11 two- and three-story buildings along with a clubhouse/leasing center on 11 acres on the corner of West Aliana Trace Drive and Fairbairn Way, across the street from Fort Bend Independent School District’s Malala Elementary School.

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Bellaire

https://communityimpact.com/houston/...l-application/

Bellaire officials postpone vote on Methodist Hospital application


By Melissa Enaje | 5:46 PM Jul 18, 2023 CDT
Updated 6:14 PM Jul 18, 2023 CDT

The future of Bellaire’s downtown commercial corridor won’t include a Methodist Hospital office building and three other retail buildings in the foreseeable future after City Council voted unanimously to postpone making a decision on the developer’s application July 18. But city officials said that they don’t want to close the door on the proposal entirely.

Quote of note

“It’s saying no, but not because we necessarily want to say no, it’s just because what’s before us tonight is not the same thing that maybe we’re trying to communicate we would prefer to see,” Mayor Andrew Friedberg said. “There’s issues and concerns that would prevent us from saying yes tonight, but [Methodist], that’s not the same thing in this instance as saying no. We’re not trying to foreclose further discussion; in fact, we invite further discussion.”

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Montgomery / Magnolia

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...and-group.html

North Texas developer buys land in Montgomery County for first Houston-area community

By Florian Martin – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jul 20, 2023
Updated Jul 21, 2023 9:23am CDT

Oxland Group, a residential developer based in McKinney, Texas, has purchased 1,860 acres in Montgomery County for its first master-planned community in the Houston area.

The community could bring about 4,000 homes to an undeveloped stretch of land northwest of The Woodlands, north of FM 1488 and west of Fish Creek Thoroughfare.

Oxland is funded by New York-based private equity firm Jen Partners LLC. The company closed on the land deal with Los Angeles- and Dallas-based Regent Properties on July 19 and plans to break ground on the community and a roughly 3-mile road connecting Fish Creek Thoroughfare with Superior Road next year.

“This will be Oxland’s flagship community, and we want it to reflect Montgomery County’s heritage and support its future growth,” Oxland co-President Tom Woliver said in a statement.

First-phase lots are slated to be delivered in 2025. The development is still in the planning and design phase, and Woliver expects to be able to reveal more details in about a month. Oxland is working with Austin-based TBG Partners as the land planner; Memphis-based LRK as the architect; and Bellaire-based Quiddity and Richardson, Texas-based Halff as the engineers.

While this is the first Houston-area community for the 4-year-old company, Woliver and co-President Mike Brady have previously worked on developments in the region, he said.

“A lot of development is either going north or going east (or) going well further west,” Woliver told the Houston Business Journal. “So we felt like this is an opportunity to (develop the) infrastructure and ... to try to help solve some of those challenges in an A-market such as Montgomery County.”

The developer described the more than 1,800-acre stretch of undeveloped land, which has homes surrounding it, as the “hole in the doughnut.” That hole will now be filled thanks to the planned construction of the thoroughfare, a bridge and other infrastructure. It will connect future residents as well as those currently living in the surrounding area to employment centers such as The Woodlands, Conroe and Magnolia.

The plan is to leave as much of the wooded area intact as possible, Woliver said. It will also include the Grand Lake Estates Golf Course, which is located in the northeastern corner of the land.

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Galveston

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...velopment.html

Amenitized residential beachside community planned for Galveston’s West Beach area

By Florian Martin – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Jul 26, 2023
Updated Jul 26, 2023 5:42am CDT

A Houston businessman with Galveston roots has purchased a 70-acre tract in west Galveston with plans to develop an amenitized residential beachside community.

Manny Mehos, who was born and raised on the island and was previously the founder and chairman of Houston-based Green Bank (which was acquired by Veritex Community Bank in 2019), bought the land last November from a subsidiary of Naperville, Illinois-based real estate company Marquette Cos.

The tract is part of what used to be called Chapoton Ranch, a 1,050-acre piece of land between 8 Mile and 11 Mile roads on both sides of FM 3005. Marquette bought the property in 2006 and had planned to turn it into a mixed-use development with homes, retail and a hotel, to be called The Preserve at West Beach.

The Chicago-area company has since sold most of the tracts to different buyers, including to Galveston-based Kahala Development, the developer of Beachside Village, according to the Galveston Central Appraisal District.

Mehos’ property is south of FM 3005 and stretches roughly from 11 Mile Road past Pabst Road. He said he found out about it from others who were buying land from Marquette, and when he walked through the tract with his daughter last year, they “scratched (their) heads” wondering why it hadn’t been developed yet.

“I felt like it's time for Galveston (to have) another beach development, but … I wanted to do something different,” he said. “We wanted to build a fully active community with amenities, with everything (residents) need if they wanted to work from home for an entire summer.”

The plan for the community, to be named Roseate Beach, calls for 172 homesites, including 22 beachfront lots, on a total of 60 acres. Mehos’ company for the development is Green East Realty.

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Magnolia

https://realtynewsreport.com/3700-ho...-for-kresston/

3700 Homes Planned for Kresston

by Realty News Report
August 1, 2023

HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Johnson Development has started Kresston, a new community with 3,700 homes that will be built in the Magnolia area northwest of Houston.

Kresston, to be built near Highway 249, is named as a tribute to the late Larry Johnson, the founder of Johnson Development, one of the nation’s most prolific creators of master planned communities.

The 1,400-acre Kresston adds to a long list of Johnson Development, which is currently working on 19 communities totaling 47,500 acres.

Mr. Johnson, who passed away last year, was born in Kress, a farming-oriented town of less that 1,000 people located in the Texas Panhandle, south of Amarillo.

Born in 1940, Johnson grew up on a 300-acre tenant farm in Kress, working alongside his family to raise crops and animals. He played quarterback for the Kress Kangaroos, earning a scholarship to play football at Texas Tech University. He then attended law school at the University of Texas Austin before moving to Houston in 1962 to start his career in residential real estate.

With Mr. Johnson’s character in mind, the Kresston community will reflect the small-town ambiance of Kress, Texas, the development company said.

“Naming a residential community is rarely easy,” said Virgil Yoakum, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Kresston. “There’s a lot to consider — is it unique, will it be memorable and what kind of tone does it set for the community? This time — with it being the first community we’ve named since Larry’s passing — we knew we wanted to do something to add to his legacy.”

Kresston will offer a mix of homes and townhomes. A commercial corridor along State Highway 249 will bring additional shopping, dining and conveniences to the area. Kresston’s site plan also includes an amenity complex, open space and land dedicated to a new school within the Magnolia Independent School District.

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Magnolia

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...oratorium.html

New mixed-use residential community planned for Magnolia pending end of development moratorium

By Florian Martin – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Aug 14, 2023.

A small master-planned community in Magnolia is a step closer to becoming a reality, though the timeline depends on when the city lifts its moratorium on new development.

Last month, the city of Magnolia entered into a development agreement with Charlotte, North Carolina-based Red Hill Ventures for Magnolia Crossing, a mixed-use community including single-family homes, apartments and retail.

The agreement ensures the 95 acres will be annexed into the city of Magnolia, which means the city will provide water and other city services to the community and in turn benefit from the community’s generated property and sales taxes.

The development plan presented to the city includes more than 200 single-family homes in the northern section of the property, up to 300 apartment units immediately south of the single-family section and a 110,000-square-foot retail center on the corner of FM 1488 and Mill Creek Road.

Single-family lots will average 45 feet in width, said Kevin Mokos, Texas development director for Red Hill, and the homes will range from about 1,700 to 2,500 square feet. As currently envisioned, the apartment complex will consist of several three-story buildings with units ranging from 700 to 1,200 square feet. The retail center would feature a mix of “neighborhood essentials,” including midsize grocery store, fitness, medical office, and food and beverage options, as well as central green space.

“Part of our leasing goals for the retail and how the center has been designed is really to provide a community anchor,” Mokos said. “It's not just about driving in and driving out. It's about creating a place that people can walk within so that we would be in walking distance for the residents that we're bringing into the community as well as neighboring Mill Creek Estates.”

The plan is to engage different builders for the single-family home, multifamily and retail sections, which will all be connected by trails, he said.

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Rosenberg

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...g-opening.html

'The front door to Fort Bend County': New sports and entertainment venue opening in Rosenberg

By Chandler France – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Aug 16, 2023

A new $120 million, 230,000-square-foot sports and entertainment venue in Rosenberg is set to open.

The Fort Bend County Epicenter, located at 28505 Southwest Freeway, just north of the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds, will host a grand opening ceremony and open house on Aug. 19. The multipurpose venue has a fixed-seating capacity of 8,600 — which can be raised to 10,000 with floor seating — and can be configured to accommodate six basketball courts or 12 volleyball courts. The project also features a 38,000-square-foot covered outdoor pavilion, 5,000 square feet of meeting and conference room space, a VIP lounge, four concession stands and four locker rooms.

The project began about four years ago when Fort Bend County Commissioners Court issued a study to gauge the need for this type of venue, said Kevin Matocha, president of Sugar Land-based Stonehenge Holdings LLC, the developer of the project. The Epicenter broke ground in November 2021. The project was funded through a public-private partnership, with the county leasing the facility for 30 years, after which it will own the property.

Stoa International Architects Inc. and PBK Sports served as the architects for the project, and Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Inc. was the general contractor. All three are based in Houston.

The Epicenter was designed to be multipurpose in nature with the ability to not only host sporting tournaments, but also concerts, agricultural events, high school graduation ceremonies and corporate events, Matocha said. Additionally, one of its most important potential uses is as an emergency space in the event of a natural disaster. The venue features full backup generation and can accommodate up to 1,500 people in a disaster scenario.

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Sugar Land

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...-purchase.html

Mixed-use development planned for 53-acre Fluor campus in Sugar Land

By Florian Martin – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Aug 21, 2023

A few months after Irving, Texas-based Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) announced it will leave Sugar Land after 40 years, plans are underway for the redevelopment of the campus it’s vacating.

Sugar Land-based Planned Community Developers said it has the 53-acre Lake Pointe Plaza under contract with the property owner, prominent Houston businessman Charles Hurwitz’s Maxxam Inc.

PCD plans to develop a mixed-use waterfront district with retail, restaurants and entertainment venues; apartments, townhomes and condos; a 4-star hotel with conference center and exhibition hall; boutique office space; and medical and life sciences facilities.

The Houston office of San Francisco-based Gensler is in charge of design for the development, which will accentuate the waterfront on both sides of the peninsula, PCD said.

That includes an “interactive wharf dining experience” with piers and bridges and activities such as kayaking, paddle boarding and water cycling on Brooks Lake.

Also part of the vision are mature tree-lined streets, walking trails and parks, and a beacon lighting theme, which “just make it (someplace where) people want to come … and just hang out, a place you'd like to go to have fun, not just to go eat, shop or anything — just go there and have a great afternoon,” said Don Janssen, president of PCD.

PCD also developed the 10,000-acre First Colony master-planned community, including the 32-acre Sugar Land Town Square. It previously bought 190 acres surrounding the Fluor campus from Fluor and has since developed it into Lake Pointe Town Center, including retail, restaurants, townhomes and two hotels. The 53-acre site is the last piece of land PCD is scooping up in the Lake Pointe development, and it has been a long time coming.

“I've been really working with the current owner of the property for about four years,” Janssen said. “Because I knew there was the absolute chance that Fluor could leave, and I didn't want to wait until I knew whether they were going to stay or leave.”

The property has been under contract for the past four months, he said, since before Fluor announced that it was going to move its Houston office to the Energy Corridor.

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Tomball

https://communityimpact.com/houston/...-restrictions/

Tomball City Council casts first vote for development at FM 2978, FM 2920 with restrictions

By Shaheryar Khan | 6:11 PM Aug 24, 2023 CDT
Updated 6:11 PM Aug 24, 2023 CDT

Tomball City Council approved rezoning 56.1 acres at FM 2920 and FM 2978 for proposed mixed-use development Tomball Boardwalk on the first reading Aug. 21.

The first reading of the zoning ordinance was approved 4-1 with Council Member Dane Dunagin voting against. Council will cast a second vote before the rezoning is approved.

The background

The proposed development includes retail and office spaces, multifamily residential buildings and a boardwalk area, said Nate Newman, CEO of Newman Commercial Real Estate, which represents NTN Tomball Corner, LLC, the entity requesting the rezoning.

Being called Tomball Boardwalk, the proposed development will include different land uses, such as commercial, retail, office, recreational and multifamily spaces, Newman said.

According to the proposed site plan, proposed apartments will be within 10 acres of the property and will:

-include 60 units per acre
-be four stories tall

Project profile: https://www.newmancre.com/properties/tomball-bordwalk

Rendering from site:

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Sugar Land

UH Sugar Land

c/o hindesky on HAIF


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