- 1106 Aster St. [HAR]
Sign up for the Newsletter
Tag: 77493
- 24806 Millers Ln. [HAR]
There’s more than enough wood to go around outside and within the 1953 single-story at 1002 East Ave., 2 blocks up from Old Katy Rd. Architect Wylie Vale — the force behind many more homes in River Oaks and Memorial — designed the place for former Katy mayor Arthur Miller and his wife Madalyn. It hit the market yesterday at an asking price of $699,900.
Inside, the front living area provides the keynote:
Former Mayor’s Pad
- 6406 Cypress Ln. [HAR]
HOW THEY’RE AVOIDING FLOODING FAR UPSTREAM FROM DOWNTOWN HOUSTON 
How was developer Newland Communities able to lift the first cohort of 6,200Â planned new homes out of the 100-year floodplain in Elyson, its Katy Prairie development just west of the Grand Pkwy. at FM 529? Easy: by raising the lots 1 ft. with dirt taken from other areas of the site. (An additional 12 to 15 in. of elevation came from the slab foundations on which the houses rest.) The fill allowed the company to obtain letters of map revision for more than 300 home lots in 2016 — and “to tell buyers, accurately, that their homes were not in the 100-year flood plain.” The results: “The company reported in September that Harvey had flooded streets in the development, but no water entered any of the 94 houses occupied at that time. The risk of flooding could increase, however, as more structures are built on the property.” [Houston Chronicle] Partial map of Elyson: Newland Communities
- 3002 Lakes of Katy Ln. [HAR]
Down-home and modern, kicky and a bit sweet, a colorized slice of old Katy living — with a century’s-worth of “updates” — popped up on the market yesterday. Asking price: $300K. The 1910 expanded foursquare has prevailed within Katy’s N. Thomas Addition, a neighborhood located well west of the Grand Pkwy., north of U.S. 90, and past the Pin Oak Rd. exit of I-10. The owners revamped the AC, electrical, and plumbing systems, but it’s more fun to check out the checkered kitchen (above). Plenty more punch is served inside . . .
Punch Bowl
How is it that Kyle Naegeli is able to catch so many fish — including bluegills, bass, and catfish — simply by dropping lines into the storm-sewer inlet at the intersection of Carnation St. and Camilia Ct. in Katy? Well, the now-16-year-old has had 4 years of practice fishing in the same sewer, for one thing — as attested to by the many videos demonstrating his more recent exploits, available on his YouTube channel. (His latest bass catch — demonstrating Naegeli’s well-honed long-arm grab technique — is shown above.)
And it doesn’t hurt that the same inlet drains directly into a large pond south of Bartlett Rd. and behind the houses on Carnation St. — where Naegeli regularly fishes as well, and the bass are jumping:
The Fishing Channel
- 2710 Elder Rd. [HAR]
So much blue in this home in Copperfield Middlegate Village. It’s in the swabs of color found in most of the rooms — or maybe the updated 1991 property is holding its breath? Its listing 2 weeks ago at $168,000 comes nearly 2 years after a previous unsuccessful effort aimed at $139,000 and an earlier failed market run in 2011 that started at $164,900 and ended 6 months later at $152,500.
Blue State
From the self-described “guy with a quadcopter” behind Skyhawk Videos, here’s new aerial footage from high above the brand-spanking-new intersection of I-10 and Houston’s latest orbiting ringroad, the Grand Parkway. The view is primarily to the southeast, with a few tilts and glances in either direction; the new section of State Hwy. 99, aka the Grand Pkwy.’s Segment E, begins in the upper right of the initial image and extends to the lower left, across the Katy Prairie to the outlet mall in Cypress, running over an ancient burial ground in the process. The highway is carrying the last of its free traffic; tolls kicked in on Friday, about a month and a half after the segment opened and just a few days after Skyhawk’s drone shot.
In the lower right of the image is the new 151,600-sq.-ft. Katy Costco and gas station, scheduled to open to the public this Thursday. Its 14-acre site is the focus of its own separate video as well, filmed on January 25th:
Grand Parkway, Costco, Cars!
Where is the new Katy Contemporary Arts Museum? “In the heart of Katy’s Museum District,” boasts the brand-new institution’s website. That appears to be shorthand for “right across from the Katy Railroad Park and Tourist Center“; the Katy Heritage Museum and Park and “G.I. Joe” Museum are a half-mile northeast. The white concrete-and-brick building at 805 Ave. B, at the corner of First St., was originally built in 1953 for the Katy Lumber Company. The museum chose the structure for its easy access to I-10, among other features. Like its more sophisticated metal-clad sorta-namesake in Houston, admission is free; but art blogger Robert Boyd notes there are plans to expand the 5,000-sq.-ft. facility to house an actual permanent collection:
Trains, Guns, and Art
This Manorwood Estates property isn’t horsing around, but it could. The neighborhood’s large lots permit one equine per acre. Previously a red brick Colonial, the recently whitewashed 1980 home sits on 2 acres in a community with ranch-like fencing off Katy-Hockley Rd. north of I-10. Landscaping too regularly tufted to be tumbleweeds borders an extended circular driveway leading to the pediment-capped front door. When listed a week ago, the still-somewhat-rural property had a $467,000 price tag. It’s not the first marketing rodeo for this ranch: A previous listing in 2010 had sought $345,000, but dropped it to $289,000. The painted-up property on a patch of prairie has a corral out back . . .
Whitewashed
HOMEBUILDERS PLAYING THROUGH OLD KATY GOLF COURSE 
Just flip the sand traps to sandboxes and the water hazards to water features, and you’re most of the way there: A 440-home master-planned community, reports The Rancher’s Zach Haverkamp, is aimed for the site of the old Green Meadows Golf Course in Katy: Lennar Homes, Meritage Homes, and Village Builders have started construction on the first model homes of the Falls at Green Meadows on the 242-acre, 36-hole course groomed out of the prairie near Franz Rd. and Avenue D. The course was open from 1965 to 2008. Developer Tim Fitzpatrick tells Haverkamp: “We wanted to be in the heart of Katy, and if you look around, this is one of the few tracts . . . that remain.” [The Rancher] Photo: Zach Haverkamp
- 11 Lakefield Trail [HAR]
