MAN-MADE LAGOON EXPERTS’ SECOND HOUSTON SWIMMING HOLE: 12-ACRES BIG, 10-FT. DEEP 
Developer Land Tejas announced it’ll be deploying another artificial lagoon in Houston on top of the 2-acre one it’s already filling up with water near Summerwood. Technology for both of them comes from Dallas-based firm Crystal Lagoons whose patented, beach-fronted swimming holes function “year-round, even in cold climates” —- reports BusinessWire — “in which they can be frozen and used for winter sports such as ice skating and hockey.” Crystal Lagoons’ biggest one so far, a 23.8-acre body of water at the Citystars Sharm El Sheikh resort in Egypt is the current Guinness-World-Record-holder for “largest man-made lagoon.” But not for long: the firm’s got a 90-acre one in the works for Dubai. At Land Tejas’ 4,000-home community in Texas City — dubbed Lago Mar — the planned 12-acre Crystal Lagoon lagoon will be surrounded by a “70-acre resort-style compound,” reports the HBJ’s Fauzeya Rahman, including boardwalks, a hotel, restaurants, and retail. [HBJ] Map showing proposed resort component of Land Tejas’ Lago Mar development: Land Tejas
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Texas City
- 829 14th Ave. N [HAR]
SOUTH-OF-HOUSTON OUTLET MALL COMPETITION SETTLES ON TEXAS CITY Tanger Outlets had hoped to build a new mall in League City, but the land it had its eye on was sold at auction. So the company has announced it will be teaming up with rival mall developers Simon Property Group to build a mall in Texas City, where Simon was planning its own Galveston Premium Outlets instead. The new Tanger Outlets will sit on 55 acres on the west side of the Gulf Freeway, north of the Walmart Supercenter just south of the Holland Rd. exit. The first phase is expected to feature 90 stores in 350,000 sq. ft. Groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for this month. [Tanger Outlets; previously on Swamplot]
The company behind the Houston Premium Outlets way up off 290 near Fairfield in Cypress has announced plans to build a similar outlet mall on the opposite side of Houston. Simon Property Group, also the owner of the Houston Galleria and the Katy Mills Mall, plans on calling the new 100-store, 350,000-sq.-ft. complex the Galveston Premium Outlets, but it’ll be located well north of the island in Texas City, just south of the Holland Rd. exit off I-45 and north of the Walmart Supercenter, on the west side of the freeway. From the drawing the company is passing around, the place should look a whole lot like its Cypress cousin, logo-tattooed tower and all.
The site is a 55-acre chunk of the stalled and probably flopped Lago Mar, a 7,000-home development announced 6 years ago.
The Galveston County Daily News‘s Laura Elder reports there are rumors another outlet mall is coming to the area as well, a couple of exits north on a 20-acre lot north of Cross Colony Dr. and west of FM 646 in Dickinson — this one from another national mall developer: Tanger Outlet Centers.
What’s the deal with the malls already in the area?
$325K FOR A 50-ACRE TEXAS CITY PARK? “BP is staring at a $650,000 penalty for unauthorized land disposal of hazardous waste. . . . The penalty is not yet final but will probably come before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in October, an agency spokeswoman said. Half of the proposed $650,000 fine requires BP to buy a minimum of 50 acres of contiguous property in and around Texas City and make it suitable for park land. The company will be required to preserve the entire property in perpetuity as a park and nature preserve.” [Hair Balls]
Houston’s middle-age spread continues:
- Just north of I-10 at the Grand Parkway, Kickerillo is starting a large residential development called Grandeur Park. It’ll be across the street from The Grand, Simon Property Group’s new mall. Homes there will cost 300 to 600 Grand.
- Houston will soon stretch to Sealy:
Silvestri Investments of Houston has purchased 1,375 acres just west of Firethorne, which is a mile south of Interstate 10 on FM 1463.
The new owner will hold the land for future development.
“With the historical trend of development in Houston, it was only a matter of time before someone purchased land in the next logical pattern of growth,” said Michael Carroll, president of Riverway Properties, who brokered the deal. The price was not disclosed.
- Ross Perot Jr.’s Hillwood Development Company has bought Sienna Plantation South. What we’ll get there: about 7,000 single-family homes on the 3,827-acre site. Included in that total: 300 acres for offices and retail, 100 acres for schools and churches, and 1,000 acres of parks and open space. No breakdown available on the acreage of cul de sacs, lakes, or driveways.
- The fourth Del Webb retirement compound in Texas will be near Richmond, at Highway 59 and Thompson Rd. Fifteen hundred homes on 500 acres. You’ll need to be at least 55 years old to live there, and drive at least 55 to get there.
- It’s tough building slabs in Texas City:
After what developers described as a “minor slowdown,†the 574-home Grand Cay Harbour project in Texas City is back on track.
Persistent rain during the summer was part of the problem. But project manager Norman Reed didn’t elaborate about what other factors led to a long stretch of inactivity at the development. The project is on 250 acres beside Galveston Bay at the end of the Texas City levee system.
And don’t you worry about flooding after the construction’s done. This gated community will keep out the tides, too.
- Kickerillo Closes on Land Deal for a Community at I-10 and the Grand Parkway (PDF) [Kickerillo Companies]
- Commercial market still active [Houston Chronicle]
- Project targets older adults [Houston Chronicle]
- North Texas Real Estate Company Buys Sienna Plantation South [Fort Bend Now]
- Grand Cay Harbour sails ahead after delay [Galveston Daily News]
Plan of Grandeur Park: Kickerillo Companies
