Branding continues for neighborhoods
Effort makes push to help better identify areas in Cypress Creek Cultural District
The Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce has raised more than $350,000 in its campaign to better brand the community and expand economic development.
As part of the capital campaign, new signs to identify Cypress Creek neighborhoods will be installed before the end of the year.
The chamber will start with two signs bookending the Cypress Creek Cultural District. The signs are expected to be installed by the end of the year.
Other signs will be installed as additional funds are raised. The signs will say “Cypress Creek Community” and will then include an identifier such as Gleannloch Farms, Champions or Klein.
It is part of the chamber’s Grow Northwest capital campaign launched a year ago with the goal of raising $3.2 million to address community issues such as community branding, safety and security and economic development.
“We’re moving as fast as we can with the funding levels we have,” said Barbara Thomason, president of the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce. “As we see funds come in, we’ll be able to deliver more and more of these projects.”
To help with funding, the chamber is working to add a fundraising component to utility bills in the region, asking area businesses and residents to contribute $2 for the branding campaign through their utility bills.
“We just got our first check from Ponderosa Utility District and it is over $3,000 for two months,” Thomson said. “That’s just one district. We have seven districts committed. We were able to succeed in getting more sustainable funding without a tax.”
The sign campaign will help give the community identity, said Clara Lewis, vice president and director of the Cypress Creek Cultural District. In addition, the signs will help bring the community together, she said.
The signs will start with the cultural district because it is the center of the community, Lewis said.
The district includes the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Art, the Centrum, Barbara Bush Library, Cypress Creek Community Center and the Harris County Precinct 4 Courthouse.
The Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce received a grant a year ago from the HoustonGalveston Area Council to conduct a study on revitalizing the region, said. One of the ideas out of the study was to install the unifying signs.
The Cypress Creek Livable Centers study focused on the area of Cypress Creek Parkway, also known as FM 1960 West, and the intersections of Kuykendahl Road and Ella Boulevard. It encompasses a 1,600-acre area and includes areas of single-family homes for around 6,100 residents.
The plan calls for creating an effective use of space that includes transforming abandoned shopping centers and underused parking lots into green space, and thriving and aesthetically pleasing economic centers; adding trees and sidewalks along the corridor for walkability and helping to create future building and design standards for the corridor.
The stakeholders group, which consists of the chamber, the Ponderosa Forest Utility District and the Cypress Creek Parkway Property and Business Owner’s Association, was awarded a $125,000 grant from the H-GAC to conduct the study.