Communities Category Archive
Towne Lakes — Part 2
31 Oct 2006 10:28 pm
31 Oct 2006 10:28 pm
I took a brief tour around Towne Lakes recently. I realize it is difficult to picture the grand vision of a subdivision when it is in its infancy, but I am always perplexed when fledgling subdivisions make it more difficult for themselves than they have to.
In the case of Towne Lakes, I would have thought they would start in a location that was more visible from Barker Cypress. The entrance is hidden behind Cy-Fair College down West Road. If I wasn’t specifically looking for it, I definitely would not have known it was there.
I am not sure on the exact borders of the subdivision, but my understanding is that it is essentially bordered by Hwy 290 on the north, West on the south, Barker Cypress on the east, and Fry on the West. You would have thought they would start a little closer to Hwy 290 with an entrance somewhere off of Barker Cypress to get maximum visibility. Of course that may not have been an option if the subdivision does not own land that is directly on Barker.
The other issue with the location is the large set of power lines going through the middle of the first section. Even if power lines have no effect on health, they are still unsightly and definitely have a negative effect on real estate values.
This reminds me of the first section of Stone Gate when they first opened in 1999. That section had three whammies going against it. (1) It bordered the 290 railroad track; (2) It had power lines going through the middle of it; (3) It surrounded a concrete plant that bordered the northern part of the subdivision.
Even with those flaws, Stone Gate has become a very nice and successful neighborhood.
And with a very large real estate firm with deep pockets like Caldwell Watson developing Towne Lakes, I’m sure it will become very successful also. It will just take a little bit of time.
Coles Crossing - Come And See?
20 Jul 2006 10:01 pm
20 Jul 2006 10:01 pm
I noticed this evening that Coles Crossing does not use the “To the trees” slogan on their website. The slogan they are using now is “come and see”.
Come and see?!?! What does that mean?
To be honest, I’m not sure if that is better or worse than “To the trees”. At least with “To the trees”, I understood the point they were trying to get across. The issue with that slogan was that seemingly every time I drive out of the neighborhood (I am a Coles Crossing resident) I see a new batch of land getting clear cut. So maybe that is where the slogan came from! Come and see trees getting cut down!
The new batch of land is on the corner of Jarvis and Barker Cypress bordering Cypress Creek. That batch of trees used to make the entrance into the neighborhood very grand. Huge oak trees overhanging the road right before you got to the big “Coles Crossing” sign across the pond at Jarvis. That entrance is one of the reasons my wife and I decided on this neighborhood in 1999. We figured it would be a little less grand once they made Barker Cypress a divided 4 lane road, but we never imagined they would cut down ALL of the trees. But no longer. Now it is just another empty patch of land that is destined to be a strip mall, pharmacy, or bank.
I do give the community credit for actually planting quite a few trees of late. That will make the community look nice in 10 or 15 years. However, the irony with that especially in places like along Coles Crossing North that goes between Coles Crossing drive and Telge is that they cut down all of the trees when they put in the street. If they kept those and the underbrush around them, we would not have had to spend home owner’s dues to plant more trees! I definitely think that Longwood did it right in terms of keeping all the trees and underbrush in the greenbelts between the homes and main community streets.
Even with the tree issue, I really do love the neighborhood. Even though a lot of trees have been destroyed, it is still one of the few neighborhoods off of Hwy 290 that actually has trees which is nice. The people are very nice, the community is active, and I love the weight room and tennis courts. I do wish we had another pool or at least a bigger one, but that is a story for another day.
Coles Crossing — Come and see….something or another.
Towne Lakes
26 Jun 2006 05:34 pm
26 Jun 2006 05:34 pm
Cy-Fair is getting a rather large master planned community designed around a series of interconnected lakes, and I am not talking about Bridgeland!
The Houston Chronicle had an article a few days ago about a new 2400 acre master planned community called Towne Lakes that is going in on the south side of Hwy 290 between Barker Cypress and Fry Rd. Caldwell Watson Real Estate Group is the developer of this project.
A full 300 acres of this community, approximately 1/8th of the entire subdivision, is going to be water. According to the article, residents will be able to travel from one end of the community to the other via boat.
“Every single portion of the neighborhoods will have some sort of access to the lake or canals,” said Peter Barnhart, vice president of residential development at Caldwell Watson. “Coupling that with the town center, we’ll be providing housing opportunities across a myriad of price points.”
Mr. Barnhart goes on to say in the article:
“You can get in a boat and go from one side to the other side, which is about 4 miles. You can get in a boat anywhere in the community and get anywhere else in the community.”
If you are looking to purchase a home on a man-made lake, the northwest part of Houston is an excellent place to look. In addition to Towne Lakes, the Cy-Fair area has Bridgeland and Sydney Harbour both of which are also built around robust lake systems.
Summerwood Community Profile
22 May 2006 12:31 am
22 May 2006 12:31 am
Summerwood is a beautiful tree-lined master planned community in the northeast part of Houston.
FACTS:
- School District: Humble ISD
- Approx. Size: 1500 Acres
- Amenities:
- 2 pools in different sections of the community both with play areas for the kids
- 150 acres of nature preserve / 17 acres of lakes
- Tennis Courts
- Community Center
- Park on Lake Houston
- Many miles of hike and bike trails
Summerwood is attractive to many due to its close proximity to downtown (approximately 19 miles), its abundance of trees, and its reasonable housing costs. It is also a short drive to the Channelview and Baytown areas which house the majority of the large oil and gas facilities in Houston. This makes Summerwood an ideal neighborhood candidate for people in those fields.
The land in a few sections in Summerwood had to be raised due to flooding concerns which meant all of the trees had to be clear cut. However, I would say that this is an exception and not the rule as there are still tons of trees and plenty of shade throughout the neighborhood. Compared to a good portion of other new neighborhoods in the Houston area which clearcuts all trees for development ease, I would say that Summerwood has done a fine job in this area.
There are 4 villages within Summerwood. According to HAR.com, the median values in these villages ranges from $162,000 to $231,000 depending on the village. The median home size ranges from 2385 sqft to 3371 sqft.
Community Profiles
19 Apr 2006 03:14 pm
19 Apr 2006 03:14 pm
An area that a real estate blog can bring value to potential consumers is community (or subdivision) profiles. At the time of this writing, I have not found single website that included community profiles for multiple subdivisions in and around Houston. I am hoping that CyFairRealEstate.com supply this for the Northwest quadrant of the Harris County.
Our plan is to spotlight at one subdivision in the Cypress area at least once a week. These profiles will include factual data such as number of properties, average home square footage, average home value, tax rates, etc. gathered from the “Neighborhoods” section at HAR.com (link). In addition to the facts, we will include items that I think could be important to an individual or family such as community pools, recreational and fitness areas, nature/hike/bike trails, trees, etc. Each profile will also include several pictures.
Since I may not know each individual neighborhood as well as a resident who has lived there for several years, if you find omitted or inaccurate information about your community on this site, please let me know. I will get the information updated as soon as possible. Also, if you would like a community profiled, add a comment to this site or send me an email and I will get that done also.
Our first community profiled will be Coles Crossing.