Bridgeland And Cypress Creek Lakes

[mrfootball]

Drove through there and other new parts of Cypress today and was really impressed with several areas. I really like Bridgeland, the plan is terrific and they are doing an awesome job using and enhancing the landscape. The homes are very nice and cozy looking.

One of the many nice lakes overlooking a natural preserve in Bridgeland

View across one of the lakes near the Fry Rd. Entrance. On the right is the Visitors Center, in the distance is the new Cypress Ranch HS which opens Fall 2008.

New recreation area in Bridgeland complete with pools, waterslides, splashpads, tennis courts, playgrounds, canoeing and paddle boats

Road to Tomorrow? This road stretches towards the planned new villages in Bridgeland.

Large old oak trees in front of the Cypress Creek Lakes Recreation Area

One of the many lakes in Cypress Creek Lakes

Cypress Creek Lakes offers large lot-sizes. In the distance you'll see a tiny bit of the land that will become Towne Lake. There are some really nice big old oak trees on that property. It'll be very very nice if they preserve them.

[mrfootball]

Across the freeway back on the North side of 290, I decided to check out some of the new development going on off Mueschke Rd, Mason and Schiel. I didn't know what was back there, but I liked what I found.

Saddle Ridge Estates

Lakes of Fairhaven sits directly behind Fairfield and right next to the neighborhood (Saddle Ridge) pictured above. I had no idea how pretty it was back there on Mason Rd near Schiel Rd, but it is really nice. They're building a lot of nice custom homes back there. Huge trees, oaks, sycamores, pines, you name it.

[Trae]

I think it would have been nice to name Cypress Ranch High School, The Bridgelands High School instead. It is amazing what developers can do with Houston's suburban prairie land, especially out here. I hope to join them one day.

[mrfootball]

I'm fairly certain, that Bridgeland HS will be reserved for the HS that is going inside the Bridgeland community. Eventually I think Ranch will serve all of the nearby communities like Towne Lake, Cypress Creek Ranch, Cypress Creek Lakes and Blackhorse as well as Canyon Lakes West, etc. There will be another HS for Bridgeland further down the line, which will be in Katy ISD. At some point in time, when the community develops further, this will be just one of the entrances to the community. The Grand Parkway area will be the main entrance to the community it bisects.

BTW, Trae I think its great you've found a passion for something cool like real estate development. I think you'll have a great career in it, you seem to have a pretty good grasp of things at relatively young age. Have you considered doing an internship for a developer?

[Trae]

That is what I am thinking. Having the entrance off of Fry Road does not make the Bridgeland seem as grand. I think it will be like Cinco Ranch. Once the Grand Parkway was built, it became the main entrance into Cinco Ranch. There is one big Cinco Ranch sign, and Cinco Ranch High School and Junior High are in the background. The Bridgelands will be the same thing. I was actually looking at some of Katy I.S.D.'s plans (you can look at them in the Katy I.S.D. thread I made that I am about to bump up), and they have purchased a site for a Junior High and High School up that way (not in the development itself, but close to it).

And I would like to do an internship for a developer once the time comes. What age do you usually have to be? I'm 17 on Thursday.

[TheNiche]

That is what I am thinking. Having the entrance off of Fry Road does not make the Bridgeland seem as grand. I think it will be like Cinco Ranch. Once the Grand Parkway was built, it became the main entrance into Cinco Ranch. There is one big Cinco Ranch sign, and Cinco Ranch High School and Junior High are in the background. The Bridgelands will be the same thing. I was actually looking at some of Katy I.S.D.'s plans (you can look at them in the Katy I.S.D. thread I made that I am about to bump up), and they have purchased a site for a Junior High and High School up that way (not in the development itself, but close to it).

And I would like to do an internship for a developer once the time comes. What age do you usually have to be? I'm 17 on Thursday.

Legal age to work is 16. You're already there.

[Trae]

I don't know why I thought interns were different. I am going to start searching around and see what Real Estate developers have offices in Houston. Thanks for the suggestion Mr. Football.

[charris911]

Katy ISD has not yet bought a site for a HS or JH near Bridgelands. They only have plans for a HS north of Clay Rd, but the actual site has not been purchased. Homes in the part of the Bridgelands within Katy ISD will not be get started for 5 years, and then its just a portion along House Haul Rd that is in Katy ISD, the bulk is CFISD.

[mrfootball]

I was surprised to see that Cy-Fair ISD is expecting another 7,000 new students (I think they projected around 5,000) this year putting them right at around 100,000 students. Phenomenal growth, adding over 28,000 students in five years.

Growing Districts Face More Than Building Costs

[Trae]

Katy ISD has not yet bought a site for a HS or JH near Bridgelands. They only have plans for a HS north of Clay Rd, but the actual site has not been purchased. Homes in the part of the Bridgelands within Katy ISD will not be get started for 5 years, and then its just a portion along House Haul Rd that is in Katy ISD, the bulk is CFISD.

You sure about that? I saw a PDF that showed many Bridgeland homes in Katy I.S.D.

[mrfootball]

If I'm reading this correctly it looks like the everything to the right (east) of the Grand Parkway is zoned to Cy-Fair ISD as well as about a quarter of the portion running along the west side of the Grand Parkway. The bottom quarter of the Western side of Grand Pkwy will be zoned to Katy ISD. Half of the west side of Grand Parkway (northwestern portion) will go to Waller ISD.

http://bl.vismark.us/DTS/lots/eplats/index_base.asp

That land sitting to the south of Fairfield, between 290 and Bridgeland is becoming quite valuable. It shares the other side of Cypress Creek which is very pretty. There's a rather humongous parcel that could easily fit a major mall and office buildings as well as a large master-planned community. I'm curious as to who owns that and what they've got planned.

[Trae]

A mall? Wouldn't that compete with the new outlet center under construction?

[Guest Marty]

What kind of old Oak trees are those in pic # 5 ?

Post Oak -vvv-

Water Oak -vvv-

Live Oak -vvv-

[charris911]

You sure about that? I saw a PDF that showed many Bridgeland homes in Katy I.S.D.

Yes, the only portion of Bridgeland that is in Katy ISD is the area south of House Haul Rd when you turn off of Katy-Hockley Rd until the first turn of House Haul Rd. The district lines then go south straight down Peek Rd until it intersects with Clay Rd. The Grand Parkway website, http://www.grandpky.com/segments/e/ gives a pretty good idea of the area in question.

Katy ISD, in Feb 2007 projected between 300 and 430 houses...from the area. All these to be built between Fall 2011 and Fall 2016. I think the generic ratio is 8 students for every 10 houses (half of those students in 6-12 grades, the other half elementary). For Katy, they will have schools in the area, but I dont know about the numbers for dedicated schools "in" Bridgeland...time will tell. I am sure Bridgeland will push for the district to purchase school sites as close as possible.

Bridgeland will have three good school districts, and probably two good CFISD High Schools, maybe the next one will be Cypress-Bridge High School????

[mrfootball]

Good question.

They're definitely not Water Oaks.

I'm pretty sure they're Post Oaks. They've got a lot of them over there, especially in that undeveloped area in the Northern half of where Towne Lake is going in. Real nice, big old oaks all over that property.

[Guest Marty]

Definitely NOT a Water Oak.

I'm pretty sure they're Post Oaks. They've got a lot of them over there, especially in that undeveloped area in the Northern half of where Towne Lake is going in. Real nice one-hundred plus year old oaks.

If they are Post Oaks I would say 160 - 200 + years

[mrfootball]

BTW, I drove as far as I could on Bridgelands Lake Parkway without going on the dirt road that led towards the new village they're prepping for buildout. The next lake is bigger than any of the others, looks like you could drop a ski boat in and have some fun. The next after that will be twice as big as that one.

[Trae]

They shouldn't make the same mistake as The Woodlands Parkway. Will the Bridgelands Parkway have businesses lines up on it?

[Mom22Blessings]

And what "mistake" would that be? You can't even see the businesses from the road. I would drive Woodlands Pkwy 100 times before heading down Fry Rd. Now that's a road with issues.

[PureAuteur]

They shouldn't make the same mistake as The Woodlands Parkway. Will the Bridgelands Parkway have businesses lines up on it?

I doubt it. Bridgelands is just a master-planned neighborhood, like Fairfield, and it will have different sections. It's not quite the same type of development as The Woodlands, which is more of an edge city. We don't even know if this Bridgelands project will be successful, given that it will take 20-30 years to build it out, and who knows what the economy of Houston will be like in that time. This project is completely dependent on the automobile. I'm not sure how the land value is so high over there south of 290, because the area around Cy-Springs HS is showing signs of going downhill. I guess the fact that it's so far out of Houston makes it nicer. Why are the building so much stuff out there anyways? Where are the jobs coming from to support all these transplant residents? These people certainly aren't coming from older Houston. They're mostly coming from other cities and small towns in Texas. Lastly, I heard they were planning 2 more Cy-Fair ISD high schools, in addition to Cy-Woods. One is Cypress Ranch and the other is Cypress Lakes.

MrFootball- the pictures are nice and pretty, but I just can't get into this type of development. It all looks the same to me. I'd rather live in the Willowbrook area or Jersey Village area than out in the "country" suburbs, or the "Sunday morning Homes section" suburbs.

[westguy76]

I think every neighborhood has it's niche group of people who identify with living there. But it is a ways out there to the Bridgelands. You bring up some good points, I can't imagine someone actually living there and driving all the way into town to work. Hell, it's a long commute to the energy corridor from the Bridgelands isn't it?

[westguy76]

I doubt it. Bridgelands is just a master-planned neighborhood, like Fairfield, and it will have different sections. It's not quite the same type of development as The Woodlands, which is more of an edge city. We don't even know if this Bridgelands project will be successful, given that it will take 20-30 years to build it out, and who knows what the economy of Houston will be like in that time. This project is completely dependent on the automobile. I'm not sure how the land value is so high over there south of 290, because the area around Cy-Springs HS is showing signs of going downhill. I guess the fact that it's so far out of Houston makes it nicer. Why are the building so much stuff out there anyways? Where are the jobs coming from to support all these transplant residents? These people certainly aren't coming from older Houston. They're mostly coming from other cities and small towns in Texas. Lastly, I heard they were planning 2 more Cy-Fair ISD high schools, in addition to Cy-Woods. One is Cypress Ranch and the other is Cypress Lakes.

MrFootball- the pictures are nice and pretty, but I just can't get into this type of development. It all looks the same to me. I'd rather live in the Willowbrook area or Jersey Village area than out in the "country" suburbs, or the "Sunday morning Homes section" suburbs.

Is the Woodlands really an edge city? I thought one of the requirements of being an edge city was to have more businesses than homes, ie. population growth during the day. As well as being a destination. Does the Woodlands have any retail or entertainment that people go there as a destination?

If not isn't it just a masterplanned community too?

found this:

from the book "edge city" by Joel Garreu.

an edge city is...

--5 million square feet or more of office space

--600,000 square feet or more of retail space

--more jobs than bedrooms

--perceived as one place by the population

--developed within the last 30 years

[Trae]

And what "mistake" would that be? You can't even see the businesses from the road. I would drive Woodlands Pkwy 100 times before heading down Fry Rd. Now that's a road with issues.

Not making it an expressway, like the Grand Parkway through Cinco Ranch.

[MidtownCoog]

Ralph Bivins wrote and article about The Woodlands being an Edge City.

[mrfootball]

Driving down Fry Rd off 290, you'll be hard-pressed to find many homes below $200,000, most of them are in the $300-$500k range and there are thousands of new homes along that stretch. These are the homes that are zoned to Cy-Ranch.

As far as being an 'edge city', the whole of unincorporated NW Harris County is an edge city with numerous submarkets. It's a damn big edge city with over a million people. It's got great demographics and relatively low crime. If it were a city in and of itself it'd be one of the largest in Texas, bigger than Austin with the best income demographics of all of the major Texas cities.

[Trae]

Why are builders only building so high-end on that side of Fry Road? Around FM 529, it is cookie-cutter galore. Katy should try to get only high-end home builders around Seven Lakes, and the two other new high schools.

[MidtownCoog]

Fry Road/290 is not an edge city. It just a sprawl-cluster mess.

[mrfootball]

Why are builders only building so high-end on that side of Fry Road? Around FM 529, it is cookie-cutter galore. Katy should try to get only high-end home builders around Seven Lakes, and the two other new high schools.

It's what the market demands for the 290 Corridor. There are large parcels to work with and the success of earlier developments (ie. Stone Gate, Copper Lakes, Canyon Lakes) along that side of 290 have proven the viability of the area. Further up 290, Blackhorse came in and built an awesome golf course, sculpting the land and accentuating the beautiful old oak trees in the area, providing a template for the newer communities that followed. Now Bridgeland is taking that further.

[westguy76]

Fry Road/290 is not an edge city. It just a sprawl-cluster mess.

agreed!

It's what the market demands on the 290 corridor.

Doesn't it have more to do with the location factor?; Being at the intersection of two major highways vs. the 529 & fry area being anywhere near a coridor that is condusive to easy travel in and out and thus not as attractive to developers.

[mrfootball]

Fry Road/290 is not an edge city. It just a sprawl-cluster mess.

Once again, another dumb quote from you rambling on about an area you know very little about.

There are no billboards. No retail. No gas stations. Nothing but really nice neighbhorhoods, schools and golf courses on the Fry Rd. Corridor which stretches for miles South of 290 and will eventually reach up towards 529. There are no lights or stop signs either...It's like the autobahn.