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Patriots By The Lake: Multifamily In Lake Conroe


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Does anyone know where on Lake Houston this is?

County envisions community for vets

Lake Houston's the site of 91-unit development that will take 4 years to build

By MIKE SNYDER HOUSTON CHRONICLE

April 23, 2009, 9:21PM

In an unusual venture for a public housing agency, the Harris County Housing Authority has purchased a 91-acre site on Lake Houston where it plans to develop a veteran-themed community of homes, businesses and patriotic memorials the agency hopes will attract visitors.

The $165 million project, known as Patriots by the Lake, is contingent on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs relocating offices and other facilities from the Texas Medical Center to the Lake Houston site, providing $9.2 million in annual lease payments that would help to finance the development.

While a local VA official expressed enthusiasm about the plan, it can

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It's a great project and I look forward to seeing how this plays out. I'm told its located on west Lake Houston Parkway north of the Summerwood development.

Does anyone know where on Lake Houston this is?

County envisions community for vets

Lake Houston's the site of 91-unit development that will take 4 years to build

By MIKE SNYDER HOUSTON CHRONICLE

April 23, 2009, 9:21PM

In an unusual venture for a public housing agency, the Harris County Housing Authority has purchased a 91-acre site on Lake Houston where it plans to develop a veteran-themed community of homes, businesses and patriotic memorials the agency hopes will attract visitors.

The $165 million project, known as Patriots by the Lake, is contingent on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs relocating offices and other facilities from the Texas Medical Center to the Lake Houston site, providing $9.2 million in annual lease payments that would help to finance the development.

While a local VA official expressed enthusiasm about the plan, it can't proceed without the approval of the agency's national leadership, which the housing authority hopes to secure in May.

The project, to be built over four years, would include about 160 subsidized apartments for the elderly and more than 600 market-rate town homes and single-family houses, a nursing home and other facilities for veterans and their families, a community center, a hotel, shops, restaurants and 13 memorials, such as a replica of the iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising sculpture.

A key feature would be a black granite wall with laser-inscribed images of soldiers killed in action.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6389614.html

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The memorials & such sound nice. But I'm a little curious about the idea of zoning off a section of town for veterans. By and large, wouldn't it be better to integrate than to isolate veterans returning home? I'm not a veteran, and I know nothing about this topic. I'd be interested in hearing the opinions of a few vets. I guess the other side of the coin may be that you'd have a readily-available support group all around you? Seems a bit artificial though... Maybe this is just one project, but if ideas like this catch on, then it seems like over time those of us who AREN'T vets would be less likely to have neighbors who ARE vets, which doesn't seem particularly good for either group in the long run...?

Seems like you could accomplish most of what this project envisions without the housing component (although the "you" here wouldn't be the Harris County Housing Authority then, I guess!). And then (maybe?) you help the veterans out with housing via tax breaks & the like, regardless of location.

Just thoughts, not judging.

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The memorials & such sound nice. But I'm a little curious about the idea of zoning off a section of town for veterans. By and large, wouldn't it be better to integrate than to isolate veterans returning home? I'm not a veteran, and I know nothing about this topic. I'd be interested in hearing the opinions of a few vets. I guess the other side of the coin may be that you'd have a readily-available support group all around you? Seems a bit artificial though... Maybe this is just one project, but if ideas like this catch on, then it seems like over time those of us who AREN'T vets would be less likely to have neighbors who ARE vets, which doesn't seem particularly good for either group in the long run...?

Seems like you could accomplish most of what this project envisions without the housing component (although the "you" here wouldn't be the Harris County Housing Authority then, I guess!). And then (maybe?) you help the veterans out with housing via tax breaks & the like, regardless of location.

Just thoughts, not judging.

Somehow, I'm doubting that the population housed by this group quarters facility are going to be the most productive members of society, so to speak. They probably couldn't afford to live next to you. My question is who's going to live next to them? Aside from the facility, there are homesites and condos as part of the master plan. Lake Houston isn't a viable area for condos to begin with, and most home buyers are going to be concerned about this large social services facility next door.

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This seems like a development that is aimed at veterans, but not necessarily restricted to them. The main axis of it is centered around a Veterans Affairs center and hospice, along with retail, but they cannot reserve the housing 100% for vets, since that would go against the equal housing act.

The site itself states that there is a goal to raise about 165 million dollars from donations to help purchase as many units as they can for the veterans; it is not coming out of taxpayer's pockets, as far as I know. Maybe some of the units will be sold to soldiers coming back from Afghanistan and or Iraq, so they may be production to an extent after all.

As a whole package, it seems to be open to the community at large anyway, in order to sustain the retail on site.

If the above statements are true, this is a win-win situation on all fronts.

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How long will it stay veterans? How long will it be before all the veterans sell and move out? What will resale value look like, as after all its a niche community? I don't think it seems like a very good idea.

I'm pretty sure that this concept failed to gain political traction and is dead.

Had it gone forward I'm sure that there would've been deed covenants and association bylaws to maintain its orientation towards veterans.

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  • The title was changed to Patriots By The Lake: Multifamily In Lake Conroe

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