Willow Creek Farms apart from the urban rush

When Rhonda Pohlman tells potential homebuyers about Willow Creek Farms, she tells them the Brookshirebased community provides the benefits of living near one of the fastest-growing communities in the nation, Katy, while providing some breathing space.

“This is a smaller community that’s tucked away from all of the mayhem, and at the same time, you have access to everything you would need,” said Pohlman, a Realtor-partner at Keller Williams Realty.

Willow Creek Farms is a Johnson Development Corp. master-planned community that is south of Interstate 10 and west of Pederson Road. The community is less than a five-minute drive from the Grand Parkway and will have easy access to the Katy-Fulshear Parkway when that road is completed, Pohlman said.

Willow Creek Farms has more than 1,100 home sites, of which about two-thirds of them are complete. The development started in 2012.

Home prices range from about $200,000 to the $400,000s, and the community has a robust re-sell market.

“Many of the people who move decide to move within the community,” said Pohlman, who lives in nearby Cross Creek Ranch. “The thing that stands out to me is Willow Creek Farms has a strong sense of community.”

The builders in the community are Pulte Homes and Westin Homes.

Like many masterplanned communities, Willow Creek Farms offers amenities such as an Olympic-size swimming pool, splash pads, walking paths and a recreation center.

Katy Mills Mall, and the commercial development that surrounds it, are about 15 minutes away.

But with pre-sales under way at Johnson Development Corp.’s nearby Jordan Ranch, a 1,350-acre development one mile south of I-10, Pohlman expects more commercial development to locate nearby.

H-E-B already has announced plans to build a new store on FM 1463 at Fulshear Bend Drive.

A Memorial-Hermann Urgent Care clinic is coming to the same location, and there are plans for strip center projects along FM 1463 from FM 1093 to I-10.

Willow Creek Farms also benefits from its location within the Katy Independent School District, Pohlman said. The community is served by Wolman Elementary, WoodCreek Junior High and Katy High School, and KISD plans to build a new elementary school in Willow Creek Farms in 2017.

Area colleges include the University of Houston System at Cinco Ranch and the Katy campus of Houston Community College.

Jimmy Loyd / For the Chronicle One year after buying a home in Willow Creek Farms in Brookshire, Travis Manning, fourth from left, and his wife Krystal and their children Reese and Tanner host Tammy McCall, left, with developer Johnson Development, Westin Homes official Wes...