Swamplot Archives by Tag: Grand Parkway

Friday, October 9, 2009

Little Grand Parkway on the Prairie Not So Shovel-Ready After All

October 9, 2009 – 3:05 pm
   

Those pesky federal regulators, ruining all the fun: It’s now looking like the 15-mile-long Upper Katy Prairie paving project known as the Grand Parkway Segment E won’t be getting the bucket of cash Harris County Commissioners Court wanted. County officials will instead request that the $181 million in federal stimulus funds earlier allocated to the way-out-northwest loop road be distributed to other projects: “The recommendation to withdraw the project from the Texas Department of Transportation’s list of stimulus projects was made by Art Storey, who heads Harris County’s Public Infrastructure Department. Storey declined to comment on his recommendation until it is considered at Harris County Commissioner Court’s meeting next Tuesday. ‘Staff and consultants have worked diligently and successfully to be on schedule to meet the deadlines to enable Segment E construction to qualify for and receive the stimulus funding, but the federal permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cannot be completely processed by the required mid-February date,’ Storey said in a letter to the court. ‘In fact, because of conflicts over environmental impacts and mitigation, that permit might never be issued.’” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]

3:05 pm | 8 Comments | Read more about Freeways and Toll Roads, Neighborhoods: Bridgeland, Neighborhoods: Katy Prairie, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Transportation
Read more about: , , , , , , , , ,
Monday, August 3, 2009

Comment of the Day: Another Grand Parkway Revenue Study

August 3, 2009 – 4:00 pm
   

“I think it’s time to feature just which entities have acquired land adjacent to this boondoggle. List which individuals hold controlling interest and then we can discuss interesting sidelights like contributions to various elected officials.” [devans, commenting on Investing in the Grand Parkway]

4:00 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Comments, Financing, Freeways and Toll Roads, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Sprawl
Read more about: , , , , ,
Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Investing in the Grand Parkway

July 29, 2009 – 11:29 am
   

Commuters struggling to cross the Katy Prairie on congested House Hahl Rd. will be happy to learn that traffic relief is on the way: Harris County’s commissioners voted yesterday to apply for $181 million in federal stimulus money for the Segment E marshland cut-through of the Grand Parkway, which will connect major employment and shopping centers in Katy and Cypress. $20 million in engineering and other contracts for the project were awarded a few months ago, but the commissioners yesterday approved a “comprehensive traffic and revenue study” for the segment. The study, which won’t be complete before construction begins in February, will help support claims that the road will be able to pay for itself, with tolls. [Houston Chronicle; more from Houston Tomorrow, both via Off the Kuff]

11:29 am | 13 Comments | Read more about Financing, Freeways and Toll Roads, Quicklink, Sprawl
Read more about: , , , , ,
Wednesday, June 17, 2009

No Deal for Bridgeland

June 17, 2009 – 4:42 pm
   

Bankrupt General Growth Properties won’t be selling its Grand Parkway-lining sprawlchild to the Caldwell Cos. after all. The $95 million deal to sell Bridgeland’s 11,400 acres is off: “Jim Graham, General Growth’s director of public affairs, released a statement on Wednesday saying all discussions have been terminated with parties interested in purchasing or investing in Bridgeland, but would not disclose any further details concerning the negotiations. Graham says the decision was made ‘very recently.’” [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]

4:42 pm | 7 Comments | Read more about Bankruptcies, Buying and Selling, Land Development, Master-Planned Communities, Neighborhoods: Bridgeland, Quicklink, Sprawl
Read more about: , , , , , , ,
Friday, May 22, 2009

Buying a Bridgeland

May 22, 2009 – 11:46 am
   

The Caldwell Cos., possibly financed by Japan’s Sumitomo Corp., is in the process of buying all 11,400 acres of Bridgeland from bankrupt General Growth Properties for $90 to $95 million. “Caldwell notes the master-planned community will have the fourth-largest lake in Houston upon completion. The firm has spent three years moving more than 2 million [cubic] yards of dirt to create the body of water that’s large enough for boating and skiing, he says. The first part of the lake opened two weeks ago. . . . The master-planned community stretches between Katy-Hockley Road and Fry Road, south of U.S. Highway 290. The Grand Parkway will run right through the property. Construction on the roadway will begin in March 2010 with $180 million of federal stimulus money, according to The Grand Parkway Association.” [Houston Business Journal; previously in Swamplot]

11:46 am | 5 Comments | Read more about Bankruptcies, Buying and Selling, Freeways and Toll Roads, Master-Planned Communities, Neighborhoods: Bridgeland, Quicklink, Sprawl
Read more about: , , , , , , ,
Thursday, May 14, 2009

Ring Roads of the World: Houston Wins!

May 14, 2009 – 12:30 pm

From the website of New York graphic-design office Thumb:

This poster is designed as a sort of calling card for Rice School of Architecture, located in Houston. We collected ring roads from 27 international cities and layered them all at the same scale. As it turned out, Houston has the largest system of those we surveyed. (Beijing was second)

Poster: Thumb

12:30 pm | 26 Comments | Read more about Freeways and Toll Roads, Houston Data, Sprawl
Read more about: , , , ,
Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Flooding Report from the Northwest Houston Prairie Bowl

May 12, 2009 – 9:38 am
   

The worst flooding damage from those late April storms centered around a swath of Highway 6 stretching from the Katy Freeway to 290 in northwest Houston. The heaviest rainfall was centered further west, along the planned path of the Grand Parkway Segment E. “[Jennifer] Bayles said her section of Bear Creek Village wasn’t within the 100-year flood plain when she and her husband bought their house 17 years ago. But it was added to the flood plain in new maps developed after Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, and the couple purchased flood insurance despite the steep premiums. ‘We’re well-insured; we’ll be fine,’ she said, but some neighbors don’t have the coverage they need. And their recovery efforts grew more complicated when they learned that if their homes sustained sufficient damage they would have to elevate when they rebuild. In the past few years, Bayles said, her street has flooded regularly during heavy rains, stranding residents in their homes for hours. But the April thunderstorms were the first time she’s had water in her house, she said.” [Houston Chronicle]

9:38 am | 5 Comments | Read more about Flooding, Neighborhoods: Bear Creek Village, Neighborhoods: Northwest Houston, Quicklink
Read more about: , , , , , , , , ,
Monday, May 4, 2009

Bridgeland Over the Floodwaters

May 4, 2009 – 8:24 am
   

Last week’s flooding in northwest Harris County provided only a taste of the problems likely to stem from development in the Katy Prairie along segment E of the planned Grand Parkway, say supporters of a Sierra Club challenge to existing floodplain maps in the Cypress Creek watershed. “An executive of Bridgeland GP, the company developing the 11,400-acre community, said in a Jan. 9, 2008, affidavit that the revisions sought by the Sierra Club would cost the company $28 million in flood mitigation measures that would ‘adversely affect’ the development. Despite the company’s efforts, the maps are being redrawn under U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal’s supervision. Rosenthal has stayed the lawsuit until October to allow time to complete the maps, but officials said they aren’t certain when the task will be finished. Preliminary revised maps [(PDF)] shown to the Houston Chronicle by [Sierra Club attorney Jim] Blackburn and the Harris County Flood Control District show a significant expansion of the flood plain in an undeveloped western segment of Bridgeland’s property and a reduction of the flood plain in other areas. . . . Asked if Bridgeland could assure Harris County residents that its development won’t worsen future flooding downstream, [Bridgeland VP of Sales] Houghton said, ‘I would have no problem guaranteeing that.’” [Houston Chronicle]

8:24 am | 1 Comment | Read more about Flooding, Freeways and Toll Roads, Neighborhood Disputes, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Sprawl
Read more about: , , , , , ,
Monday, March 23, 2009

Grand Parkway Sprawl Stimulus

March 23, 2009 – 11:27 am
   

“The road exemplifies an unintended effect of the stimulus law: an administration that opposes suburban sprawl is giving money to states for projects that are almost certain to exacerbate it. A new master-planned community called Bridgeland is rising on the prairie along the proposed site of the road; once completed, the development is expected to have 21,000 new homes on 11,400 acres. Other developers are eagerly awaiting the new road so they can start building on their empty land, too. . . . [Roger H. Hord, the president of the West Houston Association] pointed out that the road would connect two existing highways and said it would ease congestion on some of Houston’s other beltways. He said that an existing leg of the Grand Parkway, just to the south of the proposed leg, would give a sense of what the new stretch of the Grand Parkway might look like when it is done. The existing stretch is lined with strip malls and gas stations and drug stores and a huge 7,600-acre residential development called Cinco Ranch that is popular with families.” [New York Times]

11:27 am | 4 Comments | Read more about Freeways and Toll Roads, Neighborhoods: Bridgeland, Neighborhoods: Cinco Ranch, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Sprawl
Read more about: , , , , , , , , , ,
Thursday, March 12, 2009

Grand Parkway Segment E: Mall Shopper Express Lanes

March 12, 2009 – 8:55 pm
   

Approvals by the Harris County Commissioners Court this week — along with the timely arrival of $181 million of the state’s stimulus money — means nothing but a new Sierra Club lawsuit now stands in the way of building Segment E of the Grand Parkway toll road. The segment, which will cut through the Katy Prairie between I-10 and 290, will allow shoppers a convenient and direct link from the Katy Mills Mall to the new Houston Premium Outlets mall in Cypress, just west of Fairfield. “Peter Haughton with General Growth Properties said, ‘We need this road to continue the build out of Bridgeland, which we hope will be one of America’s best master planned communities.’” [abc13]

8:55 pm | 15 Comments | Read more about Freeways and Toll Roads, Katy, Malls, Neighborhoods: Cypress, Neighborhoods: Fairfield, Proposed Developments, Quicklink
Read more about: , , , , , , , , , ,
Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Developers “Not Likely” To Build Homes in Proposed Path of Grand Parkway

November 12, 2008 – 11:57 am

Lakes of Avalon Village Subdivision, Spring, Texas

The attorney for Lakes of Avalon Village developer Robert A. Hudson is now saying that economic conditions make it “unlikely” that Lennar Homes and J. Patrick Homes will build on homesites in the path of a new proposed route for Segment F2 of the Grand Parkway in Spring.

But there’s no need to give up hope entirely: Lennar and J. Patrick apparently encountered few difficulties building and selling 60 homes sitting on the new highway’s earlier proposed route, in a different portion of the same subdivision. The developer’s stated reluctance to repeat the trick means the homebuilding market must be pretty tough now.

The new route would swing around the homes that have already been built and into not-yet-developed areas of Lakes of Avalon Village and neighboring Willow Trace.

Continue Reading This Story >

11:57 am | 2 Comments | Read more about Freeways and Toll Roads, Hazards, Homebuilders, Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods: Lakes of Avalon Village, Neighborhoods: Spring, Neighborhoods: Willow Trace, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Transportation
Read more about: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Tuesday, October 28, 2008

More Shopping Centers Lie in Wait for the Grand Parkway

October 28, 2008 – 1:38 pm
   

Under previous owners it was going to go residential, but now all the site at the southeast corner of Kuykendahl and Spring Stuebner in Spring needs is an offramp: “Steve Gregory, president of Hopkins Commercial, said the site is a long-term investment for a retail center that will be built, possibly in one to three years. The site is attractive to the company because a leg of the Grand Parkway that will start construction in late 2010 will go by the 56 acres. The site is just north of a big collection of retailers at FM 2920 and Kuykendahl, including Wal-Mart SuperCenter, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Kroger, Palais Royal and 24 Hour Fitness.” [Houston Business Journal]

1:38 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Development Strategy, Freeways and Toll Roads, Neighborhoods: Spring, Quicklink, Real Estate Investing, Retail, Shopping Centers
Read more about: , , , , , , ,
Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The Ride-for-Less-Than-a-Grand Parkway

October 15, 2008 – 9:33 am
   

“Fort Bend County officials Oct. 14 signed off on a joint resolution with numerous government entities to establish a set of terms and conditions to build the Grand Parkway as a toll road. . . . The agreement stipulates the scope of work, initial toll rate and methods to increase toll rates as the Grand Parkway, also known as Texas 99, is constructed as a 180-mile road looping around Houston. Under the terms, the project will be a tolled, two- to six-lane road with overpasses at major intersections and direct connectors at interchanges with other major thoroughfares.” [Houston Chronicle]

9:33 am | 4 Comments | Read more about Fort Bend County, Freeways and Toll Roads, Quicklink
Read more about: , ,
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Grand Parkway Homes by Lennar

August 20, 2008 – 11:22 am

Lakes of Avalon Village Subdivision, Spring, Texas

Some brand-new houses sold by Lennar Homes will be very convenient to the new Grand Parkway!

Robert A. Hudson, a Spring developer who partnered with Lennar on the project, said builders knew the highway might come through the subdivision.

“We are not up there on a daily basis to make sure that the builders make it clear to everybody else,” he said.

Plans for the Grand Parkway have been on the books for 25 years, but only 28 of its proposed 185 miles have been built. Environmental and neighborhood groups have opposed the project.

It would include 11 segments traversing seven counties. The 12.1-mile Segment F2 would cut directly through the Lakes of Avalon Village, a subdivision with several hundred homes located on FM 2920 just west of Kuykendahl Road.

About 60 homes are in the right-of-way and would have to be demolished to make way for the parkway once construction began, [executive director of the Grand Parkway Association David] Gornet said.

Talk about offering transportation options! But it’s not just Lennar . . . J. Patrick Homes also is selling models in the Lakes of Avalon Village subdivision.

But hurry! The subdivision is in “close out”!

After the jump: pics of a Lennar Homes model for sale in this quaint little village in Spring!

Continue Reading This Story >

11:22 am | 2 Comments | Read more about Freeways and Toll Roads, Hazards, Homebuilders, Homes for Sale, Master-Planned Communities, Neighborhoods: Lakes of Avalon Village, Neighborhoods: Spring, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Transportation
Read more about: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Why We Need the Grand Parkway Between 290 and I-10

July 22, 2008 – 2:41 pm
   

“If the commissioners approve it, it’s because they want new subdivisions built in the open space of the Katy Prairie. We’re building a highway for people who don’t live here yet in hopes that developers will build houses for them and that they will want to live on a toll road 30 miles from Downtown in a world of $4 gas.” [Intermodality]

2:41 pm | 9 Comments | Read more about Development Strategy, Freeways and Toll Roads, Katy, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Sprawl
Read more about: , , , , ,