Next month, reports Real Estate Bisnow’s Catie Dixon, construction’s supposed to start on 3 more segments of the Grand Parkway: That’s why F1, F2, and G on the map here are colored in that cautionary yellow. And where G ends? Not coincidentally, adds Dixon, at that future intersection with U.S. 59, planned to be completed by 2015, the 1400-acre master-planned Valley Ranch is getting ready to sprawl out.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: BEWARE ALSO THE KEG PARTY AT THE HARRINGTONS’ HOUSE ON SATURDAY “Loved the article, or should I say press release, in the Kingwood Observer about the river beach party hangout for teens. It should really help build awareness of, and traffic to, the spot. Great marketing effort!” [PaulP, commenting on Headlines: Fire Station Rehab; Hermann Park Apartment Building’s Loose Python]
Congratulations to the winner of this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game: Helen. And what did she win? Just a one-year membership in the Rice Design Alliance! Our thanks to the RDA, for providing the prize!
Great guesses, everyone. Where is this place?
We have a winner!
Of what? How about that long-sought-after one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance!
Here were your guesses for this week’s mystery property: Katy (3 of you), Greatwood (4), Cinco Ranch (3), Pearland, Sugar Land, Lake Olympia, Missouri City, Richmond, Rosenberg, Clear Lake, Champion Forest, Memorial Northwest, Silverlake, Memorial Villages, Fort Bend County, Magnolia, Cypress (2), Bellaire (3), Kingwood, Fall Creek, Keller, Hyde Park, Lakes on Eldridge, Coles Crossing, West University, “1 or 2 miles south of I-10 west and South Fry Rd.,” Sweetwater, Sienna Plantation, Friendswood, Camp Logan, Rice Military, Upper Kirby, FM 1960, “that gray area that’s almost Bellaire but near Meyerland, around Braeswood,” Pecan Grove, Mid Lane, and First Colony.
The prize goes to DLW, who got a lot correct:
I believe the plan is called the Valencia by Village Builders, and is around 3000 square feet, one story. The plan is about 12 years old now, but the stainless appliances and some of the fixtures indicate it is more recent construction. I would lean towards a master-planned suburban community that Village tended to build in, such as Kingwood, Cinco Ranch, or Greatwood.
Congratulations! An honorable mention goes to resident poet movocelot, for contributing this not-so-free but entertaining verse:
I feel this sprawler is a “Build-Your-Own†home, somewhere in Katy or Magnolia.
I looks like the ‘90s but finished in 2000, because everything tended to go slowlier.
A single-story pimped to fill it’s big lot, with arch’l clichés and mixtures,
‘Til the over-spent couple took their last draw, unable to buy quality fixtures.
The crown mold is glam, the ovals divine, and the light well is, well, bright.
But, cold as a mall and echo-y, too, this house is basically trite.
And that’s a really dumb mirror over the mantel.
Where did this builder home land?
This week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game has . . . no winner. None of you were even close. But it sure was fun!
Most of your guesses centered around Memorial. We had 2 for “Memorial” and one for “near Memorial Park.” Plus: 4 votes for Bunker Hill Village and one each for Hunters Creek Village, Hedwig Village, Jersey Village, and Hilshire Village. Pasadena and Champions Forest got 2 guesses each, and the remainder went to Baytown, Deer Park, the Mid Lane area, the southeast quadrant of Gessner and Westheimer, South Houston, Westheimer & Highway 6, Braeswood-Fondren near the country club, Greenwood Forest, Royden Oaks, and Fountainview or Bering Drive.
Hey, nobody guessed Meyerland! (No, it’s not there, either.)
This week we also had a few mystery sightings: A “I Shot J.R.” T-shirt in the closet; a sidewalk in front of the house; a fake fireplace in the converted attic; a second foosball table. Where are these things?
Three of you get honorable mentions: Brad, for spotting what may or may not be stirrups fastened to the bar in the uh . . . foosball room; Joni Webb for getting the house’s timeline right:
it’s a total redo – the kitchen and bathrooms. I’m going with 70’s, 80’s with new redo in the last 5 years.
And of course margo . . . for this fun comment:
OMG! Please tell me that my eyes are deceiving me. Is that a leopard rug with head attached draped over the treadmill?? No no no. That is wrong on so many levels. I’ve been known to hang a few bras from my treadmill but never a dead animal. Im going with bunkerhill area i’ve seen some strange buisness in a few houses in that area and this looks about par.
There were no secret disinformation campaigns this time . . . but you never know!
Where is this place? Answer revealed below!
Residents of the new Regent Square Brownstones will “enjoy the sophistication of ‘in town living’” . . . in Kingwood.
This is beginning to sound like a theme now, huh? Perhaps tired of bringing suburban-style homes and strip centers to the center parts of Houston, enterprising builders are now setting about to even the score, placing downtownish-looking buildings in park-like festival-village settings out in the burbs. As long as they don’t actually drag Central City teardowns to the Woodlands, it should be safe.
But why the urban flight? Homebuilder Robert Davis, whose firm is building Regent Square in Kings Harbor Village on prime Kingwood waterfront, spills the beans to the Chronicle:
Q: You are developing a lot of brownstone urban communities in the suburbs. Why not in Houston?
A: They can assemble and synergize the community with brownstones, whereas in Houston it’s very difficult to build townhome projects and say OK, here is your walk to the grocery store, because we have 5-foot sidewalks in Houston.
Suburb communities are building large promenades to connect things.
You would think that Houstonians have a more urban mind-set, but the people in the suburbs are actually going to get it.
In Houston, you cannot buy enough property to assemble that urban district.
We’re probably just not tearing down enough big, contiguous buildings in town.
Bonus: Davis reveals the secret sex code of successful homebuilders:
You’ve got to really design the home for the woman. Men are becoming more and more involved into the aesthetics, but you still need to make sure the woman is satisfied.
You’ve got to have the right kitchen, the right master bathroom. Natural light is extremely important. Men like the dark wood, caves. And women like the light and airy and bright, and if you miss that, you will miss big time.
Read more in the upcoming bestseller, Men are from the Enclosed Toilet Room, Women are from Lanai.
