Category: Focus 2018

Right on the mark: La Marque offers unique development opportunities

Posted on by ginger

BY BRANDI SMITH

Growing up in La Marque, a southern suburb of Houston, Alex Getty says he watched as growth from the state’s largest city slowly started to spill into Galveston County. Now, he says, it’s pouring into his hometown, which is just 15 miles south of Houston and four miles north of Galveston.

“It’s exciting. It’s a big opportunity and we’re excited to see it finally come to fruition,” says Getty, who now serves as the executive director of the La Marque Economic Development Corporation. “We’re the second fastest-growing city in Galveston County.”

Click here to read more.

Good to the last drop: How Texas-based WaterLogic is conserving water and saving clients money

Posted on by ginger

BY BRANDI SMITH

Texas has always had a complicated relationship with water. It seems we’re constantly in a bind; there’s either too much of it or not enough. As a result, water rates aren’t just rising, they’re skyrocketing. According to Circle of Blue, those rates have increased 55 percent since 2010 alone.

That can generate substantial issues for just about every individual and every industry, but it’s especially problematic for companies that rely heavily on landscaping, such as property managers and developers.

Click here to read more.

Eyes to the north – The development boom in Houston’s I-45 corridor

Posted on by ginger

BY BRANDI SMITH

Grand Central Park is a master-planned community by Johnson Development Corp., one of the nation’s most respected residential real estate developers in the nation.

The sky is blue, save for a few puffy cumulus clouds that dot the horizon. Ahead lay miles of walking trails under a forested canopy, offering a chance for you to connect with nature. The experience is one you could find at any number of Texas state parks, but it’s also an opportunity available for residents of Grand Central Park, a 2,046-acre master-planned community in the Houston suburb of Conroe.

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Developments in 2017 Land Markets

Posted on by ginger

BY CHARLES E. GILLILAND, PH.D, TEXAS A&M REAL ESTATE CENTER
Reprint from Texas Rural Land Value Trens 2017/ Annual Outlook for Texas Land Markets

Rebounding activity in the oil patch reinvigorated the statewide land market. Posting a surprisingly strong year end result at $2,644 per acre, a 4.46 percent expansion from 2016 prices and the strongest growth since 2014. The 6,272 reported sales topped 2016 totals by 577 sales.

Driven in part by remarkable developments in energy-dominated areas, overall Texas statewide results continued to post price increases. However, market conditions in some regions varied where weak results pointed to market adjustments in three areas: the Panhandle and South Plains, West Texas, and Austin-Waco-Hill Country where prices ebbed for various reasons.

Click here to read more.

 

 

Imminent eminent domain: How public projects are impacting Texas landowners

Posted on by ginger

BY BRANDI SMITH

From pipelines that cross the state to high-speed rail plans that cut Texas in half, massive projects are underway that have a significant impact on property owners all over the Lone Star State. REDNews touched base with eminent domain expert, David Showalter, to discuss the biggest implications.

Showalter, who got started in real estate law in 1977, has over 40 years of experience in real estate law. In addition to real estate development, he has handled hundreds of eminent domain cases in that time. His clients are a healthy mix of landowners, special-use properties, homeowners and business owners, large and small.

“This broad experience helps us because we see all facets of the process and how it affects different types of owners,” says Showalter. “We are more aware of, and sensitive to, the different ways that owners of property can be damaged and we can analyze each of those aspects in every case and make sure we’re covering all the ways they’ve been harmed so that they get full compensation along the way.”

Click here to read the rest of this Article.

Shipping Containers: The building blocks of the future

Posted on by ginger

BY BRANDI SMITH

You’ve undoubtedly seen the viral images as they appeared on your social media timeline: shipping containers gaining new life in architecture. The giant steel boxes, which were built to withstand the stress of shipment, storage and handling, have proven themselves a new tool for builders.

The trend started in Europe, where the containers have been used to create everything from apartments to homes to buildings, such as London’s famed Container City. The idea recently transitioned across the pond to the U.S. Here, developers and consumers are examining the benefits of using containers to build or add interest to projects.

That includes Bill Wetterman, who had been wondering what to do with the century-old downtown Waco building he’s owned for going on 20 years.

“With all the activity and redevelopment, as well as traffic from The Silos, it was just time to utilize the building for something,” he says. “Waco has such tremendous tourism going on right now, we wanted to seize on that.”

The building is located on 4th Street, two blocks from the Magnolia Market, basically next door to the historic Dr. Pepper Museum and four blocks off the river, on the one-way entry into downtown Waco off of U.S. 35.

Click here to read the rest of this Article.