Here lie the remains of the New Flea Market, the most recent occupant of a strip mall site at 8315 Long Point Rd. that once was home to the  Spring Branch K-Mart. Workers are scraping an 8-acre parcel of the larger site at the corner of Hillendahl Blvd. to make way for the Village at Spring Branch, a 100-home David Weekley development offering three-story townhouses and garden and patio homes ringing a pool and cabana. Blue-light specials will be offered around $400k; premium buys will go on sale at $700k. Retail — and the tiny, historic Hillendahl Cemetery (captured below in an old photo) — will remain along the Long Point frontage.
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Sales on the site pictured in the rendering below are slated to begin next summer. Two more recently-built Weekley developments are already very near the property: Moritz Park close by to the west, and the wine-themed streets of Lynnview Manor immediately to the east, where you can tipple away your leisure hours at the corner of Merlot and Malbec.Â
According to the Memorial Examiner, Weekley hopes to build 200 more houses on undisclosed Spring Branch locations. Company president Chris Weekley says that the “vast majority” will be “in urban blighted areas.”
- Spring Branch Project [Houston Chronicle]
- Demolition begins on Long Point flea market; new homes to come [Memorial Examiner]
Rendering: David Weekley Homes. Photos: Swamplot inbox (demo); David Beebe (Hillendahl Cemetery)
I hope there will be a giant wall erected so homeowners do not have to gaze upon the blight of Longpoint.
Right on the heart of the barrio. Excellent choice. ???
so i’m not all that familiar with the spring branch area, but exactly what parts of spring branch match the description for urban blight – “It may feature deindustrialization, depopulation or changing population, restructuring, abandoned buildings, high local unemployment, fragmented families, political disenfranchisement, crime, and a desolate, inhospitable city landscape.”
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anyhow, glad to see all the residential construction in this area as it’s really a perfect spot for those of us not wanting to be pushed to the burbs but stuck between a rock and hard place with the energy corridor and neartown housing costs. i wouldn’t even consider it for half a million as it’s just spring branch turning into the energy corridor at those prices, but I’m assuming this is just a wild expectation and not all new developments would be at that price point.
Flea Markets seem to be on the way out across town. Anyone know what happening at the old Trading Fair II on the south loop? The two side fire escapes have been removed from the sides and the front has been completely cleaned up. There also seems to be some construction/destruction going on inside.. Inquiring minds need to know…
Long Point is hardly blighted. Its just a lot of businesses that serve a working class Latin clientele.
This area is well on the way in its conversion from barrio to bedroom community for those with bucks with Long Point becoming a Main St. These types of developments will become the places where 21st century families will live their version of a 50s sitcom. Except now Dennis the Menace has a smart phone and can hack into Mr. Wilson’s drivingless car.
Along this section of Long Point, it is also the boundary for Memorial HS zoning. And that right there is why you can put expensive single-family homes in this location in 2014. That being said, I like Spring Branch for other reasons, too. The location is great, there’s good Korean food, some of these neighborhoods are genuinely nice, and there aren’t so many crappy apartment complexes that are concentrated there that the area has the same sort of problems as Sharpstown or even parts of Westbury.
If I felt like investing in Houston right now, I’d probably be targeting this area for appreciation potential.
This may be a “blighted area” to Mr. Suburbs, Chris Weekely, but this development will be zoned to Memorial HS and will be a stones throw from million dollar Spring Branch real estate.
Mr. Suburbs has a project at So. Main and Buffalo Speedway, called Buffalo Manor (according to their signage). Hardly anything about this on the public web, except a plat. If I read the thing correctly, there may be 18 duplex units built there.
Demolishing the Cancun, Hilton Estates, and Ravenwood apartments would really be a good thing for the area adjacent to this new development. These complexes have been sh*tholes since the late 1980’s. I’m guessing they’re not for sale though, since Weekly seems to be buying mostly ex-retail sites.
I like where Dana-X’s head is at. to expound on that, Houston is already a Hispanic majority city, with around 37% of the population under the age of 24. Many of these young Hispanic people grew up in what is being referred to in here as “the Barrio” and will not hesitate to buy in a transitional area, particularly one that is historically culturally significant to them. Spring Branch, Eastwood and Near Northside will all see this happen through this cycle and into the next one.
Take a stroll down Long Pointe at this area one Saturday afternoon and get back to me, CREBBQ.
I used to live in that area on Westview and Wirt (one block from Long Point). We heard gun shots every other night, there was a home burglary in our neighborhood every single week and my husband saw a possible drug deal taking place. This was in a neighborhood with million dollar mcmansions, and older post war homes. No one could ever pay me to live in the Spring Branch area again. Worst idea ever.
Whaaaa?-
I do very often, actually. I think it is an interesting area. I eat at the Korean spots towards the west and can be found frequenting many of the shops, taquerias and taco trucks throughout the thoroughfare. I’m not sure what your point is. Everyone thought Eado was “ghetto” or “barrio” at one point. Same thing with Midtown circa 1998, Washington Ave before it was revitalized, etc, etc. A developer or investor is crazy for having foresight, until they are proven a genius. Which suburb do you reside in?
@Gisgo Buffalo Manor will be single family town homes like all the other Weekley properties being built in the Heights, Cottage Grove and Spring Branch. The plat has been done for some time but that project isn’t moving at the same pace as some other developments.
What a wonderful option to be able to buy in Spring Branch! Plus this is zoned to the best SBISD elementary school north of I-10. It then feeds to SBMS and MHS south of I-10. It’s worth buying in there just for the schools alone. I just PRAY they’re not the same damn cookie cutter 3/3.5 townhome with that wasted room on the first floor with a garage.
I have been living in Spring Branch since 1995. I HATE THESE EFFING HOMES. NO MORE CRAPPY DAVID WEEKLY HOMES. All I see happening is these effing cheap companies like David Weekly Homes, KB Homes, and Intowne Homes building more of these crappy things. Cramming 200 houses on small lots. THIS has got to stop. Next up, they will probably proceed to take down all the trees on Hammerly and Hollister to build more effing streets. These companies are DESTROYING spring branch. YES, destroying it.
i thought he was hinting at the fact that these current residents will not have the incomes to be buying into the gentrified areas when they do come, but I could be wrong on that. but still, it’ll be oil & gas engineers buying here which means lots of out of towners and foreigners. for whatever reason, locally raised and schooled engineers are an anomaly, if anything.
400,000 to 700,000 HOMES??? NOOO WE ARE NOT SPRING VALLEY. CHRIS WEELY NEEDS A WAKE UP CALL. This is a Latino neighborhood. THIS IS NOT SPRING VALLEY. Stop imposing your crap houses on Spring Houses. No, you are NOT going to turn Spring Branch into “in urban blighted areas.”. This is infuriating.
This is the best thing that could happen to this area. Has anyone seen their other community right next door to it? They probably spent a fortune on dozens of huge oak trees surrounding the property, upscale landscaping and a really cool gated entry. Finally, Long Point is changing for the better!
No, this is not the best thing that could of happened to Spring Branch. Not at all. Do you live in Spring Branch? You probably don’t. We are not similar in any way to the neighboring community of Spring Valley. The fact that these companies are pushing their shit homes on Spring Branch trying to match Spring Valley is AWFUL. Spring Branch is a mix of working middle class people. People that do not make 6 figures. I can’t believe we are being invaded with this cesspool of poorly built and designed gated communities.
“400,000 to 700,000 HOMES??? NOOO WE ARE NOT SPRING VALLEY. CHRIS WEELY NEEDS A WAKE UP CALL. This is a Latino neighborhood. THIS IS NOT SPRING VALLEY. Stop imposing your crap houses on Spring Houses. No, you are NOT going to turn Spring Branch into “in urban blighted areas.â€. This is infuriating.”
By all means let’s keep Spring Branch as crappy as much of it it is now with rotting post war frame bungalows, junky auto shops and falling down apartment complexes. What must David Weekley be thinking?!
Take a look at this. The Walmart Mercado is closed!
http://swamplot.com/supermercado-de-walmart-americas-first-and-last-latino-themed-walmart-grocery-store-has-closed-down-for-good/2014-11-06/
Julie S, are your new neighbors not “working” middle class people? What exactly are these buyers doing (instead of working) to afford these nice homes? What better way to “mix” up the “working middle class” than to bring in some UPPER middle class? Hey, I don’t make six figures either, but welcome attractive, well kept houses (versus graffiti covered flea markets) for neighbors!
I am with Julie S, I have lived in Spring Branch the better part of my 37 years in Houston and have been in my home 26 years. I am very close to this new development. I want this home bldg crap to stop as well. They are ruining what was the history of Spring Branch. :(
I have lived in my home for 26 years. It’s sad seeing all of these new homes going up. Yes get rid of the eyesores, and I don’t have the answer. All that is going to happen for me with these $400K-$700K is my property taxes will be higher. Hammerly and Hollister exploded with these 3 story houses. Spring Lake used to be my son’s fav close fishing spot on Hammerly. He can’t get to it anymore. :(
“These companies are DESTROYING spring branch. YES, destroying it.”
DWH homes tore down an Vietnamese owned KMART turned FLEA MARKET on Long Point.
Nearby they tore town an old BOWLING ALLEY to build on Lynnview.
On Westview they tore down a closed MEAT MARKET.
3 absolute pillars of the Spring Branch community were torn down by that evil home builder. Viva La Raza Julie S.
One person’s history is another’s future. A functioning city is not and cannot be a museum unto itself without destroying what made it functional in the past. By preserving “your” history then you are also undermining the very conditions and motives that made “your” history possible. Also…you don’t own “your” history. You shared it. And maybe there were aspects about it that actually kind of sucked. Maybe some people don’t want to endure “your” history.
If you care about “your” history (such as you perceived it), document it. Anybody that cares to can review your accounts. And if you want people to read about your history, then you’d better do something a heck of a lot more interesting than trying with futility to prevent the future.
Wait a minute Carlson Westwood…..you’re saying a Vietnamese owned KMart turned flea market, a bowling alley, and a meat market are “three absolute pillars of the Spring Branch community”. I’d say that the Spring Branch community has much more to offer than that!
MC- actually hoping they don’t build a huge wall around it, so whoever lives in this gated community can look at Long Point, they bought it, now look at it.
It was a shot at Fulie S, who states “this is a latino area” WTF does that even mean?
I live in Spring Branch, am a gringo and love the development. Keep it up DWH, start tearing down those crappy apartments.
Got it Carlson Westwood! I think Julie S needs to calm down. If I owned a home in Spring Branch I’d be THRILLED that 100 townhomes were replacing a flea market! I grew up just south of Spring Branch and would play sports all the time around Spring Branch. It’s a wonderful community that will only see it’s value go up over time.
Not sure where Julie S. Received her degree for Construction but Spring Branch sprawls are going out with the times. DWH does great planning and they listen to what the buyers are wanting. They have have sold 13 off the 19 homes in Bracher Estates. The starting price was $819k. I walk my pups every day through this Community and actually see the construction. Solid built and attractive . No body has even moved in yet. If you care about Spring Branch get involved in the communitygo to Spring Branch Management District meeting on the 3rd Thursday at noon. Go to SBMD. com and see what meeting of the committees are important to our neighborhood. Economic development public safety and a variety of other meetings. Go listen or add your comments. There is also for Spring Branch super neighborhood meeting each month. Check sbmd.com website for more information. On the third Tuesday of each month there is a PIP meeting where you can meet with HPD.
Stop moaning and groaning and be part of what is going on in Spring Branch that is good. my experience is the naysayers are mostly the ones uninformed. they show up when they don’t like something and scream and holler then after making a scene they don’t come back for years. VOLUNTEER for your community if you care.