Here comes the eighth nominating category — out of a total of 10 — in the Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. And this is a hefty one: The Most Fattening Real Estate Development of 2008.
Houston is big, but clearly it’s nowhere near big enough yet. Which is why fattening real estate developments are so important to our local economy. A fattened Houston might refer to the city’s geographical spread . . . or to some other variety of enlargement. Make your choice, and make your case!
The comments section below — and Swamplot’s inbox — are wide open for your nominations in this category. Stuff them with your suggestions!
- Previous award categories: Neighborhood Guessing Game Guessing Game: Who’s the Best Home Sleuth?, Now Accepting Nominations: It Could Only Have Happened in Houston, Your Nominations Wanted: Most Grandiose Development, Playing Dressup: Your Nominations for Best Rebranding Effort?, Your Nominations for Best Teardown of the Year, Nominations Now Open: Best Project Cancellation or Delay, Your Nominations Please: Favorite Houston Design Cliché
- The Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate: How To Make a Nomination [Swamplot]
- Swamplot Award Nominations 2008 [Swamplot]
Nomination: (Should that be nom-nom-nom-ination?)
In terms of sprawl and being a magnet for national chain retail interspersed with storage warehouses, it’s hard to beat the Silverlake and Shadow Creek Ranch areas of Pearland.
I’m going to go with the newest large development in Houston: Bridgelands.
It’s 10,000 acres of lakes and homes and the town center is under way out on US 290 past Fry Road.
If it wasn’t so old, The Woodlands and Kingwood would win. They are still the largest, but have been around since the late 70s. I know the Woodlands is in excess of 27,000 acres. Kingwood comes in second.
I am going to have to go with the newly built, nondescript little strip center in the southeast corner of Hillcroft and Bissonett. It’s tiny and shoehorned on a little pie shaped tract – but contains Hoagies and More, something called Bongos Cafe, Moo Hive Honey Ice Cream, Panaderia La Mexicana,Taqueria La Reyna, and Tortilleria La Reyna. I drive by it most evenings on the way home and I think my arteries begin to clog just thinking about yummy fresh tortillas and taqueria tacos and honey ice crean….
Ohhhh, you don’t mean gut busting fattening, but more in the urban planning sense. Then I’d say the new Woodforest master-planned development by the same people as Sienna Plantation and Fall Creek that will now lend suburban credibility to close in Montgomery, Texas.
I nominate all the new highrise developments on Kirby Drive near Westheimer. It will be interesting to see what it does to traffic patterns on an already congested street. By going to the sky with their volume, they have been able to compact the number of people in a footprint. If walkable needs are not incorporated into the plans, it could be a very interesting change in the movement of long businesses as well. Will we not go to an area because of traffic?
@subprimelandguy: The award is open to any and all interpretations. Your strip-center nomination works!
I nominate Cross Creek Ranch, a 3,200-acre master-planned community in Fulshear. Fulshear, population 716 as of the 2000 census. Fulshear, 33 miles from downtown Houston.
The Chron’s Nancy Sarnoff says, “In [Kickerillo’s] new project, Lakes of Cross Creek, the houses will all sit on waterfront lots and start at 6,000 square feet in size. Prices will be as high as $3 million.”
That sounds pretty fat to me.