Editor's note: This is the first story in a 3-part series regarding real estate trends in Cy-Fair. To learn more, see the December issue of Community Impact Newspaper Cy-Fair, in mailboxes and online starting Tuesday, Dec. 13. Read the second story — Demographer projects nearly 40,000 new housing units will be built in Cy-Fair by 2025 and the third story — Cy-Fair stays ahead of Houston in real estate market. 
Elyson Elyson[/caption] Elyson is one of several master-planned communities bringing thousands of new homes to the Cy-Fair area. Five neighborhoods have already opened at Elyson, a new community located off FM 529 near the Grand Parkway. About 6,000 homes will complete the build out in 10 to 12 years, said Heather Gustafson, marketing director with developer Newland Communities.

Why do you think people are attracted to this part of the city?

I think when you see the West Houston area, we’ve got a lot of employment out here, very strong school districts. You see a lot of strong master-planned communities in this area. When people are making the biggest purchase of their life, they want something that’s a little more comprehensive from quality developers—[something] that they know is going to be around for a long time.

What are some amenities in the Elyson community? Has the Greater Houston area’s slowed economy affected those plans at all?

It was very important to us to have amenities from day one. We opened Rorick House, our on-site resident and welcome center. It has a full fitness center, children’s playroom, teen game room, meeting area, large pool, playgrounds, a big event lawn with artificial turf and then one of the biggest things—an on-site café and restaurant. It’s open seven days a week, and once the pool is open, [residents] will be able to get lunch right out at the pool. It’s a resort in your own backyard. Newland is very focused on making sure we have price points that fit the needs of numerous families and different people. Right now we haven’t introduced any larger products just because we don’t feel like there’s enough demand and the market can’t bear that right now. We plan to increase products with more custom builders in the future.

Along with price points, what has attributed to the success you’ve seen at Newland?

We started at mid-200s, and it’s pretty tough to get under that price point for master-planned communities in the Houston area. Land is just too expensive. We have five different neighborhoods open so far, and within those the price ranges up to the 600s. For us at Newland, I think part of what’s really helped us is that we developed Cinco Ranch, which has been around for 25 years. People see that strength and stability, so they feel very comfortable with Elyson even though it’s brand new.