A NEW FRONTIER
Johnson Development enters Austin market with the purchase of a master-planned community.
Johnson Development Corp. has entered the Austin market with the purchase of the 530-acre Bryson masterplanned community in Leander.
The Houston-based developer acquired the project from Crescent Communities for an undisclosed price.
“Austin is one of the strongest housing markets in the country and north Austin particularly is booming,” Larry D. Johnson, founder and chief executive of Johnson Development, said in an announcement. “This is an excellent entry in the Austin market. Bryson is in line with our lifestyle-focused approach and is only 16 miles from the new $1 billion campus Apple announced last month.”
Bryson, which opened just east of Highway 183A in 2015, is planned to have 1,261 single-family homes. To date, 315 lots have been sold to builders.
Homes range from about $250,000 to more than $500,000. The builders are Brookfield Residential, Chesmar Homes, Drees Custom Homes, Lennar, Perry Homes and Scott Felder Homes. The project has a lifestyle director at The Backyard amenity complex, trails and catch-and-release fishing.
Founded in 1975, Johnson Development has 13 active communities in the Houston area, two in Dallas-Fort Worth and one in Atlanta.
“We’ve grown significantly in the Houston area over the past five years and since entering the Dallas-Fort Worth market in 2015, we’ve seen considerable success, with one of our communities there now among the nation’s top-selling,” Johnson said. “We look forward to a similar success into Central Texas.”
The deal comes as Crescent Communities launches a Houston apartment project. Novel River Oaks, an eight-story midrise near the northeast corner of Willowick and Weslayan, will bring 330 apartments to the Highland Village area.
The company developed The Groves in the northeast Houston area and sold it two years ago.
Randy Evans with Eastdil Secured represented the Charlotte, N.C.-based seller in the deal, which closed Jan. 31.
Texas ranks fifth nationally for green building
Environmentally friendly projects in Houston helped propel Texas to the No. 5 spot in the U.S. Green Building Council’s 2018 rankings.
The ranking is based on the amount of commercial and institutional Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified space feet per person in 2018. LEED is a globally recognized green building rating system designed to create healthier spaces that save money, use less energy and water, and reduce waste.
Texas grew to 277 LEED-certified projects totaling 88.4 million square feet in 2018, or 3.52 square feet per capita, according to the council. The Texas projects included the Sea Star Base Galveston, the Milby High School renovation and the NASA Human Health & Performance Laboratory in Houston.
The top states are Illinois, with 172 projects spanning 68.1 million square feet and a ratio of 5.31 square feet per person; Massachusetts, with 122 projects spanning 34.7 million square feet and a ratio of 5.31 square feet per person; Washington, with 137 projects spanning 28.6 million square feet and a ratio of 4.25 square feet per person; and New York, with 214 projects spanning 72.9 million square feet and a ratio of 3.76 square feet per person.
Hines office tower downtown gets official new name
The Hines office tower under construction on the site of the former Houston Chronicle building has for years been referred to as “block 58.” It now has an official name: Texas Tower.
Hines and partner Ivanhoé Cambridge announced the name Tuesday for their 47story, one-millionsquare-foot office skyscraper going up on the 800 block of Texas Avenue.
“The experience of the building has been considered from every angle, designed to serve its tenants and created to help companies make bold strides into the future,” Fred Clarke, senior principal with architecture firm Pelli Clarke Pelli, designer of the building, said in an announcement.
The Houston-based developer, which this week unveiled designs for a luxury residential tower, said the new building will become an architectural landmark.
The ground floor will feature an airy pavilion with food and drink options and a double-height lobby and mezzanine with coworking space.
McGuyer Homebuilders partners with ‘smart’ tech firm
Thermostats that can be controlled by your smartphone or the sound of your voice, smart locks and video doorbells — the oncefuturistic bells and whistles of the digital age are becoming standard for new homes.
Houston-based McGuyer Homebuilders announced Friday it partnering with the home-automation company Control4 to offer smart-home technology in every home it builds.
“Smart home technology has made important advances in the last few years, and we wanted to offer our buyers these modern-day conveniences,” Gary Tesch, the company’s chief executive, said in a post on the company’s blog.