Category: Editorial

HOT SPOT: Waller County | Houston’s New West Side

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BY BRANDI SMITH

Driving on I-10 about 35 miles west of Downtown Houston, it’s a blink-andyou- might-miss-it moment. A larger-than-life Igloo Cooler sits in the distance, marking the entrance to the company’s massive plant. It’s a very visual cue that you’ve reached West Ten Business Park.

It was one of the first premier business parks in that area,” says Brett Walker, executive vice president of Parkside Capital, which
developed the project.

Looking at it now, most developers wouldn’t bat an eye at picking up 500 acres with frontage along I-10, U.S. 90 and Katy’s Cane Island Parkway. It was a different story in 2008 when
Parkside bought the acreage.

“Some people would say we were crazy,” Walkerlaughs. “But in hindsight, we were ahead of the game.”

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O’Connor & Associates Land Forecast Luncheon-Speaker: Clint Hankla – Director, Lee & Associates

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BY RAY HANKAMER
rhankamer@gmail.com
 

Takeaway: The land market in the Houston Metro area is on a “sugar high”, and it is a good time to be a seller while the market is booming. Interest rates will probably rise ongoing. Inventories of usable land are shrinking and prices are rising.

• Lots of activity on the west side of town as distributors seek warehouses to support the ‘last mile’ of delivery to consumers.
• Lots of ongoing activity on southeast side to support increased activity at the Port of Houston, where rail-served sites are in demand and selling at a price premium.
• There is no industrial ‘spec’ development at the moment (without pre-leasing).

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How updates to floodplain mapping will impact Texas

Posted on by ginger

BY: ROBERT PAVUR, P.E, CFM

Natural disasters, such as catastrophic flooding, challenge the very essence of a community.

The state of Texas has seen many dangerous floods in the last 20 years resulting from extreme rainfall. Nearly 5 years ago on Halloween of 2013, 12-14 inches of rain fell in Central Texas, causing Onion Creek to rise 11 feet in 15 minutes and crest at a record 41 feet between Wimberley and Driftwood, Texas. Two years later during the 2015 Memorial Day weekend, those areas again saw 12-13 inches of rainfall over a 4-6 hour period, causing the Blanco River in Wimberley to rise more than 35 feet in 4 hours to a new record flood stage. Just last year, Hurricane Harvey dropped as
much as 50 inches of rain over a seven-day period in parts of the Houston/Beaumont area. Communities across the state are still seeing the effects of that storm.

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Right on the mark: La Marque offers unique development opportunities

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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.”

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

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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.

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

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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.

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