Tag: Katy

Firethorne
09/27/10 12:16pm

The Difference a West Makes: The Firethorne School District Divide

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Firethorne West, Fort Bend County, Fulshear, Katy, Master-Planned Communities, Proposed Developments, Schools, Sprawl
6 Comments

Speaking of Katy schools: The power lines in the photo on the left, a couple miles southwest of Katy Mills mall, flag the dividing line between Jefferson Development’s Firethorne subdivision, zoned to Katy ISD, and the just-announced Firethorne West addition in Fulshear the company just announced — which will be served by the Lamar Consolidated ISD. The new Katy ISD elementary school site waiting for November’s bond vote and proudly featured in the center of Firethorne’s master plan will not be serving the 1,400 planned homes in Firethorne West, even though they’ll be only 2 blocks away. The kids in Firethorne West will likely be attending Huggins Elementary, which is more than five miles to the southwest. And until new roads are built they’d actually get to drive past that “Future Katy ISD” elementary school every school day to get there:

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Cinco Ranch
09/24/10 3:51pm

Comment of the Day: Cinco Ranch Sprawls West

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Comments, Katy, Master-Planned Communities, Quicklink, Sprawl
No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: CINCO RANCH SPRAWLS WEST “This is really, REALLY good news. It brings us one step closer to the ultimate goal of expanding this wonderful neighborhood all the way to Fulshear. Although they may have to change the name to something like Catorce Ranch, since there are likely several more cattle farms in this community’s God-given territory.” [Gucci Mane, commenting on School-District Manifest Destiny]

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Cinco Ranch
09/24/10 12:37pm

School-District Manifest Destiny

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Development Strategies, Katy, Land Sales, Master-Planned Communities, Quicklink
14 Comments

SCHOOL-DISTRICT MANIFEST DESTINY Cinco Ranch — recently named the fastest-growing residential community in the country by a real-estate consulting firm — will keep expanding west. Newland Communities just purchased 492 acres west of neighboring Pine Mill Ranch, way out near Firethorne between FM 1463 and Katy-Flewellen Road; the company plans to have new Cinco Ranch-branded homesites available there within a couple of years. Further west, there’s even more land available for cheap: the 742-acre Tamarron Lakes subdivision was foreclosed on in April. Kirk Laguarta of Land Advisors Organization, who’s marketing that property for $19K an acre, tells the Houston Business Journal that the property that Newland just bought is considered more valuable that that, in part because it’s zoned to Katy ISD. But Newland may not be interested in expanding Cinco Ranch into Tamarron Lakes — that development belongs to the Lamar Consolidated ISD. [Houston Business Journal]

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Katy
08/05/10 12:29pm

Katy Main Street Looks Like a Parking Lot: Opening the Newest H-E-B

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Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers
6 Comments

A few snippets from yesterday’s grand opening of the new 88,000 sq.-ft. H-E-B at the new “Katy Main Street” shopping center at the southwest corner of I-10 and Pin Oak Rd., just west of the Katy Mills Mall: a “Texas Front Yard” at the entrance where you can pick up mulch, bug spray, and that giant parrot-like watering yardbird you were looking all over for; a solitary “Fudgie Wudgie” fresh fudge stand; a guacamole station; and H-E-Buddy giving hugs and high fives to shoppers in the produce section. This is the fourth H-E-B in Katy. It’s adjoined by a new strip center with no current tenants.

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Homes for Sale
07/14/10 12:34pm

Hidden Modern: Wylie Vale’s Katy Best

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Houston Architects, Interiors, Katy
12 Comments

Mod tracker and photographer Ben Hill believes this early-fifties Ranch is the best house Houston architect Wylie W. Vale ever designed in Katy. It’s a little less country — and features more rock — than this Swamplot reader favorite he designed a mile southeast, on Woods Hole Ln.

This 3,345-sq.-ft. single story, which sits on an acre of land near the center of the original town, has been on the market since mid-June, for $375,000. The home was originally built for former mayor Arthur Miller. And it was still in the family when Hill took these photos last year:

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Homes for Sale
07/12/10 1:11pm

Katy Bar the Garage Door: A Lakes of Bridgewater Home That Might Be Ready for Rehab

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Katy, Lakes of Bridgewater
23 Comments

Nope, no idea why this 2-story house for sale at 3834 Brook Garden Ln. in Katy won’t be shown until “furthur notice,” but given that cute little literary reference in the listing and the main photo included (above), it sure is tempting to guess. Yes, this is a 3-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath home built 6 years ago in the Lakes of Bridgewater subdivision that features a well-stocked bar and . . . well, after that it gets kinda hazy. Won’t you stumble along with us for a quick tour?

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Katy
05/21/10 9:38am

Where Local Fruits and Vegetables Will Be Hanging Out in Katy

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Openings and Closings, Retail
5 Comments

“We had gone to many places calling themselves farmers markets but their produce was coming in from California and Florida,” Susan Becker tells the Chronicle‘s Samira Rizvi. The 3,800-sq.-ft. Katy Fresh Produce Market she and her husband opened this week at 5026 East Third St. in Katy calls itself a farmers market; it’ll be open every day except Tuesday and “at least half” of the produce will be from local farmers, reports abc13’s Kevin Quinn, who spots bell peppers from Alvin, green beans from Cat Spring, and peaches from Fairfield (the city, not the subdivision).

Photo: Katy Fresh Produce Market

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Katy
01/22/10 3:17pm

I Can Do That

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Quicklink, Real Estate Marketing
No Comments

I CAN DO THAT Katy real estate watcher Lou Minatti finds himself in awkward position: “After years of ranting about dumb real estate sales gimmicks, here I am seeing them applied to my own modest tract house. It’s listed on the MLS and boy does everything appear HUGE! My back yard isn’t large at all but with a wide-angle lens it looks like an acre back there. . . . Too bad [my agent] didn’t do the photos before the hard freezes turned everything brown a few weeks ago. . . . Going through the interior photos, the agent turned on every single light in the house, even with bright sunlight coming through the windows. It does seem to look better.” [Lou Minatti]

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Brookshire
01/11/10 3:11pm

New Rooms To Go on I-10, Just Minutes from Downtown Houston

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Furniture, Katy, Openings and Closings, Retail
12 Comments

The city’s official new “Welcome to Houston” sign for travelers approaching from the east west was moved further west to Brookshire over the weekend, as the ginormous new Rooms To Go Super Center facing the Katy Freeway opened for business. The distribution center and store stretch a mere 1,600 ft. along the I-10 frontage road, directly across from the Igloo plant and almost 6 miles west of the Katy Mills Mall. The entire facility takes up more than 1,000,000 sq. ft. A quick partial drive-by view:

Photos: Pankaj (top) and JimmyxBoi (bottom)

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Air Quality
12/23/09 10:59am

The Gift of Benzene

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Houston Ship Channel, Industrial Properties, Katy, Quicklink
11 Comments

THE GIFT OF BENZENE What’s that faint, slightly sweet smell in the air? More from Chris Vogel’s report on Houston’s industrial emissions: “According to the City of Houston, a six-month survey in 2008 showed that six out of seven air monitors near the ship channel detected benzene levels above what the EPA says can cause cancer in ten out of every million people. That’s ten times higher than what is considered an acceptable risk. ‘Until recently I didn’t even know they were releasing any benzene into the atmosphere,’ says Dr. Charles Koller, a leukemia specialist at MD Anderson. ‘It’s shocking to me. It seems, frankly, criminal.’ It can take more than ten years for anemia to develop in someone who has been exposed to benzene, says Koller, and even longer for leukemia. A person also needs to be genetically susceptible. ‘We don’t know how susceptibility works,’ he says, ‘we just know that it works.’ . . . ‘Once benzene gets in the air,’ [Koller] says, ‘it’s everywhere. So even in Katy, there’s someone who, if they’re susceptible, will get [sick] from what’s going on in the Houston Ship Channel.’” [Houston Press]

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Financing
07/29/09 11:29am

Investing in the Grand Parkway

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Freeways and Toll Roads, Quicklink, Sprawl
13 Comments

INVESTING IN THE GRAND PARKWAY 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]

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Air Quality
07/17/09 4:27pm

Chlorine Clouds over Katy

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Hazards, Katy, Toxic Sites, Windstone Colony
3 Comments

Katy residents living near a pool supply company got breathtaking views of the spectacular black plumes emanating from the RAM Chemical and Supply warehouse at 4949 Greenhouse Rd. during last weekend’s fire.

But the fun wasn’t entirely over: A separate episode yesterday resulted in a shelter-in-place order for a few hours last night — for downwind neighborhoods east of the Windstone Colony subdivision, stretching from Greenhouse Rd. to Barker Cypress. Fire officials warned of toxic clouds billowing out from a supply of hazardous chemicals still housed in the singed remains of the warehouse.

Video: Kevin Neugebauer

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Critters
06/01/09 3:14pm

Rough Weather and Marauding Visitors: Tough Times in the Forbidden Gardens of Katy

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Flooding, Hazards, Katy, Williamsburg Parish
8 Comments

The ravages of the Katy Prairie have taken their toll on the models and unburied treasure at Forbidden Gardens, reports Brittanie Shey:

In 1996, when the museum first opened, it must have been an amazingly detailed sight. But [Forbidden Gardens founder Ira] Poon and his builders didn’t account for the Houston heat and humidity, which ruined a lot of the hand-painted details. Each terra cotta soldier used to hold a wooden weapon in his hand, but reckless children would climb into the display and take the swords to play with. When the soldiers started to break or peel, it was impossible to order more because the molds had been destroyed. [Weekend manager Alicia] Mendez said she and coworkers spend a few hours each summer having at the displays with Gorilla Glue to fix what they can.

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Freeways and Toll Roads
05/12/09 7:50pm

Sub-Suburban SUV Adventure: Braving That Big Trip “Downtown”

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Katy, Traffic, Transportation
44 Comments

Spurred on by family members waiting patiently at the Carrabba’s on Kirby — and the promotional whizzes at GM and CBS Radio, who’ve furnished her with a brand-new vehicle to drive for 8 weeks — mommy blogger and new Chevy Traverse spokesmom Stephanie Click ventures out from her “own little world” in Katy to . . . the scary and purportedly trafficky Inner Loop!

Will she make it? How will her blogger-swag loaner car stand up to the rigors of multi-lane Houston driving?

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Development Strategies
05/01/09 11:59am

The Grand Exit

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Katy, Land for Sale, Malls, Proposed Developments
1 Comment

Those long-lingering plans by the Simon Property Group to build a mall called “The Grand” on 134 acres wedged between I-10 and the threatened Grand Parkway — catty-corner to the Katy Mills Mall — appear to be uh . . . “in question.” The Houston Business Journal‘s Jennifer Dawson reports:

The circular acreage surrounded by a mall ring road has at various times been earmarked for an outlet mall, regional mall, lifestyle center and mixed-use center.

Simon recently began marketing the vacant land for sale through local retail brokerage firm Page Partners.

Hmmm . . . how best to spin this?

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