Moran ranch is purchased for residential community
A pair of developers have closed on their acquisition of 500 acres of the former Moran family ranch in Montgomery County and are planning a residential community of more than 850 homes and multiple commercial sites.
Houston-based Satya Inc. and Stolz Partners of Alpharetta, Ga., purchased the property from the heirs of oil and gas magnate W.T. Moran.
The land is south of FM 1097 and east of Interstate 45. It is across I-45 from The Woodlands Hills, the newest development from Dallas-based Howard Hughes Corp.
The purchase price was not disclosed, but in 2014 Hughes paid close to $50,000 per acre for the initial 1,343 acres of what would become The Woodlands Hills, the company’s more affordable follow-up to The Woodlands.
The Moran family recently sold a 150-acre parcel south of the Satya/Stolz tract to Parkside Capital.
Todd Edmonds, a commercial real estate broker with Colliers International who was involved in the sale of the Moran ranch, said there were multiple offers on the ranch properties.
“It was probably one of more sought-after tracts on the north side,” Edmonds said, citing the amount of commercial frontage on all sides of the parcel.
The developers of the Moran ranch property said they were attracted to the area’s job and population growth and specifically to the land’s rolling topography and the creek that runs through it.
Satya has been active in suburban retail and office development
since its founding in 1999. Several years ago, Sunny Bathija, the company’s chief executive, became an investor with Will Stoltz, founder of Stoltz Partners, on two luxury condominium projects inside the Loop: The Sophie and the Giorgetti. Stolz Partners has also developed single-family communities in and around Atlanta.
“I know commercial, but I don’t know residential that well. Will does,” Bathija said. “We were developing Sophie and Giorgetti and I said, ‘Let’s partner up. I’ll bring in commercial; you bring residential.’”
The property is split between the extraterritorial jurisdictions of the cities of Conroe and Willis. The cities will eventually annex the community, the new owners said.
“This project is going to bring huge tax bases and economic development
to both of those cities,” Bathija said.
The new owners have sold 36 acres to retail developer Fidelis Realty Partners for what is expected to be a grocery-anchored shopping center. Fidelis has an option to buy an additional 31 acres.
Bathija said a national homebuilder, whose name he declined to disclose, is under contract to buy around 230 acres slated for housing. The homes are expected to be built on a range of lot sizes
with prices from around $250,000. Construction could begin in about two years.
The property is in an Opportunity Zone, which can provide tax benefits to investors who own land in the area for a set amount of time.
Satya and Stolz have created two in-city municipal utility districts to bring utilities to the community. The portion of the land in the city of Willis is also within a TIRZ, or Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone.
In all, the developers expect to spend as much as $40 million to develop the site’s infrastructure, including a feeder road along Interstate 45.
The new owners, who have had the property under contract for several months, intend to call the community Moran Ranch.
“It’s such a historic farm,” Bathija said. “Why try to create a new brand?”