Grand Parkway helps home sales surge again in Cypress’ Bridgeland
Builders are monitoring costs and buyers are looking for deals on new homes as Houston’s economy continues to sputter amid low oil prices and increasing layoffs.
Despite the slump, officials from Bridgeland recently said sales in the master-planned community are up 64 percent this year. In April alone, builders sold 51 homes, a near-record month for the 10-year-old community in Cypress.
The reason for the uptick?
Bridgeland vice president Peter Houghton said it’s the newly opened Grand Parkway, a public school campus opening next year and recently completed amenities like pools and parks.
The community is experiencing a bit of a comeback.
Several years ago, activity there stalled, and some builders pulled out before the developer received a wetlands permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2014, allowing it to move forward on putting lots on an additional 800 acres.
“We got back rolling in 2014, only to see the price of oil drop and see everybody pull back,” Houghton said on a tour of the property. “But now, a year
later, what’s amazing is the number of qualified people out there that will buy homes if they’re priced right.”
Bridgeland, which is owned by Dallas-based Howard Hughes Corp., encompasses 11,400 acres between U.S. 290 and Interstate 10 on Fry Road. It is bisected by a recently opened segment of the Grand Parkway.
Construction on the development started in 2006. Some 2,800 homes have been built, and 2,700 are occupied. About 19,000 are planned altogether. Single-family homes start at $230,000 and reach $1 million. But not all is rosy. Higher-end homes aren’t selling as fast as they did during the boom, and land sales are softer as well.
During the first three months of the year, Bridgeland sold slightly less land to builders and at a lower price than it did in the same period in 2015, the company said in a recent financial filing.
The lower prices were a result of the lot mix sold during that time. There was a larger percentage of smaller, lower-priced lots sold than last year.
“The upper price points are the ones that are feeling most of the pain,” Houghton said.
Bridgeland has the same developer as The Woodlands. It will have some similar attributes, including a town center designed to house shopping centers, hotels and office towers.
“We’d like to have at least one job for every house in Bridgeland,” Houghton said.
The Woodlands has 1.4 jobs per home.
Memorial Hermann buys Humble campus
After almost 10 years leasing its 40-acre hospital property northeast of Houston, Memorial Hermann Health System is buying the campus, allowing for flexibility to expand the facility as it plans for growth.
Memorial Hermann is buying the property from the Northeast Hospital Authority Board of Trustees, an 11-person board appointed by the Humble City Council that ran the 39-year-old hospital until Memorial Hermann took over operations in 2007. Previously, it had been known as Northeast Medical Center.
The acquisition, combined with new development plans, represents a $125 million investment, Memorial Hermann Northeast CEO
Heath Rushing said.
Memorial Hermann’s lease wasn’t set to expire until 2022, but Rushing, who was appointed CEO last year, spurred talks with the authority over long-range strategy.
“With ownership comes the most flexibility you could have,” he said. “And it demonstrates Memorial Hermann’s long-term commitment to the Lake Houston area.”
The region, which includes Humble and communities around it, has one of the highest growth rates of greater Houston.
The acquisition includes multiple medical office buildings and two patient towers.
The 34-year-old South Tower will be replaced by a new five-story structure.
Anew 123,000-squarefoot building will have 90 patient rooms and the flexibility for an additional 30 inpatient beds. The top floor will be left as empty shell space to be developed as demand increases.
“Our room size will almost double for each of the inpatient rooms that will be replaced and offer a patient experience that will compete against any in the market,” he said.
The new building also will house patient and staff dining services. It is expected to open in 2018.
The South Tower will be repurposed for administrative functions.
Other facility upgrades will include the addition of parking.
The other patient building, the Southwest Tower, was built in 1997 and will remain.
Just east of Bush Intercontinental Airport off U.S. 59, Memorial Hermann Northeast offers interventional cardiology, oncology, spine surgery, orthopedics and sports medicine, and endovascular surgery.
Chronicle to expand Sunday coverage
As part of a redesign of the Sunday Business section, the Houston Chronicle is expanding its real estate coverage with a new inside page called Prime Property.
This new page will include neighborhood profiles, Deals of the Week and other new and ongoing features.
The weekly real estate column in its current format will no longer continue, but our robust coverage of the Houstonarea residential and commercial real estate markets will.
We hope you like the new format. See you next Sunday.