Lakeland Heights: Development By Bridgewood Property

[h2obuff]

I had been hearing about this coming to Bridgeland and I saw this on the Bridgeland Website:

http://www.bridgeland.com/lakelandheights.aspx

I have visited may of these TND communities throughout the country and was amazed at some of what I saw (positively for the most part). I am excited about the possibility of a true TND community in the Houston Area. What do all of you think?

I saw a quick glimpse of the initial land plan the other day. I am going to try and locate it electronically and post it if I can.

(I posted this in another place before and got little response, so I thought I would try here)

[Trae]

Should this really be in Going Up?

[lockmat]

Should this really be in Going Up?

Yes.

Lakeland Heights will be located just about a mile down Fry road from the main entrance to Bridgeland. Lakeland Village Center will be just steps away and attract retailers and services for this New Urbanism neighborhood. Homes will be available in late 2008.

It doesn't say how many homes will be in there. I'm interesed to know how successful the commercial in these developments stay afloat. They can't be the big box kind and serve a much smaller population. It seems as if it would be a kind of monopolization on the neighborhood, and who's to say that the surrounding residents want to shop there?

If I couldn't live in the city, this type of development would be my first choice to live in in the suburbs. Although I'm not so sure these homes are promised to be cheap.

[TheNiche]

Yes.

It doesn't say how many homes will be in there. I'm interesed to know how successful the commercial in these developments stay afloat. They can't be the big box kind and serve a much smaller population. It seems as if it would be a kind of monopolization on the neighborhood, and who's to say that the surrounding residents want to shop there?

If I couldn't live in the city, this type of development would be my first choice to live in in the suburbs. Although I'm not so sure these homes are promised to be cheap.

Parkside Homes, a division of K Hovanian, developed an attempt at one of these in western unincorporated Harris County. To me, it was really ugly. I drove all through it and took plenty of photos for a project I was working on. The rear-load concept only served to create unbelievably ugly concrete alleys, and that's where I saw people outdoors. I barely saw anybody in the front yards, which either terminated at a sidewalk at the property lines and that tried to mimick a street--only for people--or that fronted excessively narrow streets that just seemed contrived and out of place. Very few people were in 'front'.

Evia, a TND in Galveston, has a few commercial shops. One is a coffee shop. When asked how the developer managed to lease it to anybody for a shop that couldn't possibly serve more than a hundred households, he replied that it was his wife running it. ...not very promising IMO unless you just have dreams of owning a coffee shop at any cost. But Evia was far better done, many of the homes were very attractive, and the land plan didn't produce as many dead areas. ...the prices reflected all this, unfortunately.

[JustinUther]

I think this is a great idea. If done right it would encourage people to live where they, humm... "live". It would be great if we could all be more local. Maybe buy our groceries from the corner store within walking distance instead of the Giant-Super-Everything store 5 miles away. People are getting tired of driving an hour or more to get to and from work, maybe something like this will catch on and open some eyes to local businesses that are hiring. We all need a little slowing down and actually enjoying life for a change.

[theoriginalkj]

The neighborhood you refer to is called 'Traditions at Clayton Park' and is at the corner of Westpark and Addicks-Clodine in western Harris County. I not only live in this neighborhood but also happen to be the Homeowners Association President for this neighborhood. I would agree with you that the streets create an ugly alley, but just about any neighborhood that has streets with virtually nothing but a line of garages is not going to be that attractive. The front of the houses, however, primarily face narrow cobblestone roads or one of 4 parks. This means that instead of looking out the front of your house and seeing street, automobiles, and other people's garage, you see parks, other pretty pastel-colored house fronts and/or a quaint cobblestone road. Since most homes (in Houston at least) have garages that comprise at least half or more of what visitors see when they come visit you, in our neighborhood visitors see nothing but a pretty walkway leading up to the front of your house. (I can try to post some photos of anyone is interested.) My family has enjoyed living here and feel like the house is quite a great place to live, a beautiful home, and a great value. It's growth has had some growing pains. The single greatest pain has been the fact that these homes are largely Easter Egg colors (pinks, yellows, whites, light blues) and the Hardi-Plank siding tends to show mildew quite easy. As an HOA we have had to pursue mildew removal quite aggressively through either pressure washing or some choosing to repaint. Our neighborhood has recently seen a surge in home values due to the fact that our neighborhood is 2 blocks from the Westpark Tollway. The Westpark exit going west on the Westpark Tollway practically drops you off at our neighborhood within about 20 seconds. It's been a true dream to live here for those who commute into central Houston for work or shopping. I can get to the Galleria in 10 minutes on the weekend from my house.

Kevin Jackson

Traditions at Clayton Park HOA President

Parkside Homes, a division of K Hovanian, developed an attempt at one of these in western unincorporated Harris County. To me, it was really ugly. I drove all through it and took plenty of photos for a project I was working on. The rear-load concept only served to create unbelievably ugly concrete alleys, and that's where I saw people outdoors. I barely saw anybody in the front yards, which either terminated at a sidewalk at the property lines and that tried to mimick a street--only for people--or that fronted excessively narrow streets that just seemed contrived and out of place. Very few people were in 'front'.

Evia, a TND in Galveston, has a few commercial shops. One is a coffee shop. When asked how the developer managed to lease it to anybody for a shop that couldn't possibly serve more than a hundred households, he replied that it was his wife running it. ...not very promising IMO unless you just have dreams of owning a coffee shop at any cost. But Evia was far better done, many of the homes were very attractive, and the land plan didn't produce as many dead areas. ...the prices reflected all this, unfortunately.

[TheNiche]

The neighborhood you refer to is called 'Traditions at Clayton Park' and is at the corner of Westpark and Addicks-Clodine in western Harris County. I not only live in this neighborhood but also happen to be the Homeowners Association President for this neighborhood. I would agree with you that the streets create an ugly alley, but just about any neighborhood that has streets with virtually nothing but a line of garages is not going to be that attractive. The front of the houses, however, primarily face narrow cobblestone roads or one of 4 parks. This means that instead of looking out the front of your house and seeing street, automobiles, and other people's garage, you see parks, other pretty pastel-colored house fronts and/or a quaint cobblestone road. Since most homes (in Houston at least) have garages that comprise at least half or more of what visitors see when they come visit you, in our neighborhood visitors see nothing but a pretty walkway leading up to the front of your house. (I can try to post some photos of anyone is interested.) My family has enjoyed living here and feel like the house is quite a great place to live, a beautiful home, and a great value. It's growth has had some growing pains. The single greatest pain has been the fact that these homes are largely Easter Egg colors (pinks, yellows, whites, light blues) and the Hardi-Plank siding tends to show mildew quite easy. As an HOA we have had to pursue mildew removal quite aggressively through either pressure washing or some choosing to repaint. Our neighborhood has recently seen a surge in home values due to the fact that our neighborhood is 2 blocks from the Westpark Tollway. The Westpark exit going west on the Westpark Tollway practically drops you off at our neighborhood within about 20 seconds. It's been a true dream to live here for those who commute into central Houston for work or shopping. I can get to the Galleria in 10 minutes on the weekend from my house.

Kevin Jackson

Traditions at Clayton Park HOA President

Yours may be very similar, but I'm talking about one that was done north of I-10. It was waaaay out there and not nearly as convenient as your community. Except for the cold alley-ways, siding was mostly sugar brick. I'll give them that they had a fairly impressive entryway and 'sense of arrival'...although the statues in the shrubs were a little disturbing if you weren't familiar with them and mistook their sillohettes for actual deer or children so close to the road.

Otherwise, though, my chief criticism is that the 'front' yards get so very little use and most human activity seems to occur in the dead zone.

[Ethanra]

The neighborhood you refer to is called 'Traditions at Clayton Park' and is at the corner of Westpark and Addicks-Clodine in western Harris County.

I have driven by this neighborhood several times over the last few year. Every time I drive by the homes they are falling apart even more. The plastic fence already is weathered and the siding is falling off the side of many homes for example. Can't the strict HOA do something about this? When I first saw this hood get built I thought of Edward Scissor Hands...

[theoriginalkj]

I have no idea what your talking about. The homes are build of Hardi-Plank and are very sturdy built. The homes are build standard with hurricane joists as well, so it's the safest home to be in of anybody in my family or my extended families homes. The vinyl fence (not plastic) that surrounds our neighborhood is in fantastic shape and because it's vinyl, it never deteriorates. The fence can easily withstand the weight of an adult human and because it's vinyl, termites don't eat it. The fence does accumulate green grass stains and mildew so we pressure wash it clean once a year. The siding is not falling off a single home in the neighborhood and I expect it never will. The trim on all our homes is wood, however, and is beginning to deteriorate on some of them. I suspect low quality wood to blame, but it's a problem that doesn't seem to affect everybody and doesn't seem to be affecting anybody significantly. We do pursue individuals to maintain their trim as well as other asthetic issues, but you have to pursue each person and each owners current capabilities. Like many neighborhoods in this economy, a few homes are in bankruptcy and/or foreclosure and those are the ones who are the current blemishes. Once new owners are established, enforcement will continue with the new owner(s).

When I first saw this neighborhood, I thought of the movie 'The Truman Show'. This neighborhood was even featured on A&E for an episode of 'Dream Builders'.

Kevin

I have driven by this neighborhood several times over the last few year. Every time I drive by the homes they are falling apart even more. The plastic fence already is weathered and the siding is falling off the side of many homes for example. Can't the strict HOA do something about this? When I first saw this hood get built I thought of Edward Scissor Hands...