- 7603 N. Hollow Cir. [HAR]
Land Tejas’s Scottish-castle-themed Balmoral development in Humble (sketched out above) is 1 of 2 currently planned Houston-area locations for fake lake maker Crystal Lagoons’s giant outdoor pools, Candace Carlisle reports. The sand-bottomed water feature will be around 1.5 acres, and a similar 8.5-acre pool is planned for a different Land Tejas development (though the actual location of that one hasn’t yet been announced). As it does in the demo lake shown here, the lagoon company plans to keep the water in the pools much clearer than is typical of the area’s bayous and beaches (or even of the stormwater-detaining landscaping lakes typically accompanying such developments) by using a soundwave- and flocculation-based filtration system. Bacteria and algae would also be kept at swimmable levels with a set of sensor-and-Internet-controlled disinfectant injectors.
FLOATING PLANS FOR ‘THE STANDARD’ AFFORDABLE HOUSING BETWEEN MASTER-PLANNED FALL CREEK AND A WETLAND BANK Fort Worth developer Ojala Holdings is looking at putting a 120-unit apartment complex called The Standard at The Creek at Fall Creek Preserve Dr. and N. Beltway 8, reports ABC13’s Tracy Clemons. About 110 of the units (planned for a piece of land between the Fall Creek master-planned community and the nearly 1,000-acre Greens Bayou Wetland Mitigation Bank just across Garner Creek to the east) would be slated for tenants making 60 percent or less of the area median income. Would-be-next-door Fall Creek residents tell Clemons they’ve already started writing letters to state and local officials in an effort to block the project; Ben Sileo says that the residents “don’t think this subsidized housing project is right for the neighborhood,” adding that building the apartments on the currently empty land would mean “foregoing the possibility of some other development that would bring higher value“ to the area. [ABC13] Photo of Fall Creek homes: Fall Creek
The DeLorean Motor Company will begin production of a limited number of new DMC-12s at its plant at 15023 Eddie Dr. in Humble — the first new ones to be produced since 1982. Following recent changes to federal vehicle regulations impacting small-volume car manufacturers, DMC will assemble the iconic gull-winged sports cars mostly from long-stockpiled parts at its facility just southwest of the intersection of 59 with Beltway 8, though the engines will need to meet modern EPA emissions standards.
DMC CEO Steve Wynne tells KPRC that the company expects to roll out the first of the unpainted stainless steel machines in 2017, and hopes to eventually produce a DeLorean per week. The company currently services and supplies parts for the original early-1980s DeLoreans, as well as renting out replicas of the DeLorean-based time machine employed in the Back to the Future movie franchise.
CAN’T SHOWHOUSE YET What can HBJ reporter Jennifer Dawson tell you about the filming she attended over the weekend of 2 Meritage model homes in Fall Creek, for a new HGTV show called Showhouse Showdown? Not a whole lot. Five rooms in each of the 3,000-sq.-ft. houses on Robbie Creek Ln. had been decked out over a period of 3 days by a different interior designer, each wielding a $50,000 budget. The first 150 attendees got to vote on a winner: “I was game for standing outside in the heat, because I was eager to see who won the competition. But, no such luck. HGTV shot the reveal segment twice. Once as if the decorator of House A won. And once as if House B’s designer won. That’s a sure-fire way of making sure the cat doesn’t get out of the bag before the show airs. The producers also didn’t want the designers’ names revealed before the show airs, terms I agreed to. We also weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the houses.” [BizBlog] Photo of “Windrose” model used in competition: Meritage Homes
Living in Summerwood is like living in Nature! Plus it’s super close to Lake Houston, the city’s largest manmade lake! Ordinarily, there aren’t a lot of open houses on Easter weekend, but D.R. Horton’s trying to close out here so they can build other stuff.
Location: 14414 Brighton Trace Ln.
Details: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths; 2,258 sq. ft.
Price: $230,773
The Scoop: New brick 1-story home with covered back porch and large Master Suite with its own sitting room. Motivated seller! — which is the builder, D.R. Horton. Plan #2258, which measures exactly 2,258 square feet. On the market since the beginning of February.
Open House: Saturday, noon-5 pm
More Summerwood homes this way . . .
Fall Creek is only 15 minutes from Downtown Houston!!! . . . Unless you believe those silly Google Maps, which show it around 25 minutes away. But Google’s probably figuring how long it would take if you drove while sending text messages with your iPhone — that can slow you down. Whether you believe the real-estate developers or the software developers, you might want to add in some sort of factor for traffic.
There likely won’t be so much traffic along I-59 this weekend, so you can explore the open houses on this tour and test the drive times yourself!
Location: 8510 Mineral Springs Ln.
Details: 5 bedrooms, 4 full and 2 half baths, 4,857 sq. ft.
Price: $424,900
The Scoop: Ginormous 2005 home “has hidden room in gameroom wired for internet.” Could that be the secret World of Warcraft bunker you’ve been looking for? On market since late October; marked down twice from $449,900.
Open House: Sunday, 1-4 pm
You’ll find three more Fall Creek open houses for this weekend . . . below the fold.
A special all-residential edition of our daily list of demolition permits begins after the jump.