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The longtime agricultural landscape of the Tomball and Hockley area west along FM 2920 is beginning to see a wave of new residential and commercial development across more than 2,000 acres of land.
To accommodate thousands of new homes, Harris County Precinct 3 officials are preparing the area roadways to handle an influx of new vehicles with new mobility projects and plans. As development flourishes, Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack said the county is also being mindful to preserve several hundred acres for parks and green space, such as the new 900-acre John Paul’s Landing park and additions to the 140-acre Zube Park, to improve quality of life for residents.
“We’ve been out [in the Hockley area] well over two decades doing various projects,” Radack said. “As more development comes, I think we’ll see more infrastructure added by the county to accomplish things that are necessary—good infrastructure and parks. A lot of people never dreamed of the type of development that’s here in Harris County or what’s coming.”
Transportation improvements
Cypress Rosehill and Mueschke roads are the two main thoroughfares in the Tomball area of Precinct 3 seeing mobility improvements, Engineering Manager Randy Schilhab said.
There are five new projects for Cypress Rosehill Road and three new projects for Mueschke Road in the design phase to complete the four-lane concrete boulevard widening from Hwy. 290 to FM 2920, Schilhab said.
“We have to be prepared when major development comes online to shift our focus where the traffic and the demand is,” he said. “There are a lot of undeveloped areas out there that we need to be prepared to address.”
County officials have also identified a number of future road improvements in the Hockley area to be included in the city of Houston’s long-term Major Thoroughfare and Freeway Plan that is re-evaluated each year, said Charles Dean, planning manager for the Harris County Engineering Department. Precinct 3 projects can be included in the plan as part of the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city of Houston.
Identified thoroughfares include realignments of Bauer, Mason, Bauer Hockley and Barker Cypress roads as well as a deletion of a portion of Hopfe Road.
“The major thoroughfare plan is not a plan for funding—it’s strictly a plan to establish the alignment for a needed thoroughfare in such time,” Dean said.
This year, most of the Precinct 3 recommended projects were not approved by the city of Houston for official inclusion in the plan. To narrow down and tweak the projects, county officials are undergoing a new thoroughfare study with consultant Brown & Gay Engineers, Dean said.
“The city of Houston Planning Department wants the county to provide a study to provide more documentation for the need,” Dean said. “We are hoping to have our study done by early 2016 to have that incorporated into the plan for next year.”
“We have to be prepared when major development comes online to shift our focus where the traffic and the demand is. There are a lot of undeveloped areas out there that we need to be prepared to address.”
—Harris County Engineering Manager Randy Schilhab
Residential development
Thousands of new rooftops are also on the drawing board to develop vacant acreage in the Tomball and Hockley area near the Grand Parkway.
Earlier this year, Empire Continental Land began construction on its 600-acre Dellrose master-planned community between Bauer and Becker roads, developer Steve Sample said.
The first phase of the community will feature 275 single-family homes in the $270,000-$400,000-plus price range with about 1,500 homes expected at build-out in the next seven to 10 years, Sample said. The lots are expected to be ready for homebuilding in February, and the first homes are slated for completion in early summer, he said.
“With the Grand Parkway opening up, it just opens up the mobility of this area because you’re not just limited to having to come in on Hwy. 290 anymore,” Sample said. “We feel like a lot of the jobs of the future will be along the Grand Parkway. It’s definitely where the future of the development is going.”
In addition, construction is underway on the new estimated 670-acre Rosehill Reserve master-planned community between Cypress Rosehill and Mueschke roads. The community is proposed to feature 1,500 homes at build-out in six to seven years.
Nearby in the Hockley area, the first phase of homes in the Bauer Landing subdivision opened earlier this year along FM 2920 near Bauer Road. The community is projected to feature 943 homes at build-out.
As Hockley development continues, the county must also take proper drainage into account in the various flood plains, said Paul Bass, Harris County assistant engineering manager.
“[The Harris County Flood Control District] is developing master plans and working with the development community to work out how those master plans are implemented,” Bass said. “We obviously have to consider flooding and decide the most efficient way to design those projects.”
“We’ll see how many more developers move into that area whether it be commercial or residential. The Goodman facility will certainly help facilitate more development.”
—Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack
Commercial development
One of the largest commercial developments coming to the Hockley area is the $415 million Daikin Industries headquarters, which is expected to employ more than 4,000 people, Communications Director Rex Anderson said.
With a working name of the “Comfortplex” campus, the new facility is under construction between Kickapoo and Kermier roads near Hwy. 290 and FM 2920.
In November 2012, Daikin purchased Goodman Global. Daikin will be manufacturing residential, commercial and industrial heating and cooling systems under the Daikin, Goodman and Amana brands at the new facility, Anderson said.
The company’s distribution center will be the first element of the project to come online in February or March and will feature a limited number of employees, Anderson said. The entire facility, which will include a manufacturing center, is slated for completion between late 2016 and early 2017, he said.
“We’ll see how many more developers move into that area whether it be commercial or residential,” Radack said. “The Goodman facility will certainly help facilitate more development.”
The new facility will be a consolidation of Daikin’s two facilities in Tennessee as well as two plants, an engineering center and distribution center in Houston, Anderson said. As a result, several employees are relocating from Tennessee and Houston to the Hockley area.
“We’ve had conversations with people who have expressed desires to commercialize the area with shopping, housing, lodging and places like that in anticipation of our building as well as other people building in the area,” Anderson said.
“We have to be prepared when major development comes online to shift our focus where the traffic and the demand is,” he said. “There are a lot of undeveloped areas out there that we need to be prepared to address.”
County officials have also identified a number of future road improvements in the Hockley area to be included in the city of Houston’s long-term Major Thoroughfare and Freeway Plan that is re-evaluated each year, said Charles Dean, planning manager for the Harris County Engineering Department. Precinct 3 projects can be included in the plan as part of the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city of Houston.
Identified thoroughfares include realignments of Bauer, Mason, Bauer Hockley and Barker Cypress roads as well as a deletion of a portion of Hopfe Road.
“The major thoroughfare plan is not a plan for funding—it’s strictly a plan to establish the alignment for a needed thoroughfare in such time,” Dean said.
This year, most of the Precinct 3 recommended projects were not approved by the city of Houston for official inclusion in the plan. To narrow down and tweak the projects, county officials are undergoing a new thoroughfare study with consultant Brown & Gay Engineers, Dean said.
“The city of Houston Planning Department wants the county to provide a study to provide more documentation for the need,” Dean said. “We are hoping to have our study done by early 2016 to have that incorporated into the plan for next year.”
