Developers of Cane Island, a nearly 1,000-acre master-planned community in Katy, have announced details of the community ahead of its spring 2015 grand opening.
Cane Island, the city of Katy's first master-planned community, will contain a range of single-family and custom homes. Once it reaches full build-out, the community located between Hwy. 90
and Morton Road will feature some 2,000 homes, said Dan Naef, CEO of Rise Development, the developer of Cane Island.
Community construction
Construction on Phase 1 of Cane Island began in October with builders focusing on the neighborhood's featured amenities, said Jennifer Jones, vice president of marketing at Rise Development.
Plans originally called for the community to be built on an 830-acre plot purchased by Rise Development from the Minze family. An additional 160 acres of land were purchased from nearby landowners allowing for developers to build additional homes and amenities on the now nearly 1,000-acre plot. A 14-acre parcel of land near the development's center is still privately owned with no negotiations underway for the plot to be annexed by the community, Naef said.
Plans for plots of land surrounding a planned Katy ISD elementary school site in the community and around a planned future Katy Fire Department fire station have yet to be determined, Jones said.
Similarly, though the community is expected to contain some light commercial zones, developers say it is still too soon to speculate on what businesses may eventually be built inside of the community.
Cane Island's 4-acre amenity village will feature an outdoor amphitheater, a family pool with a nearby splash pad and an adult pool. The community's outdoor amenities will feature two large tree houses with decks overlooking the amphitheater. A third tree house will be the home of the community's ambassador, Hub, a golden retriever, who will function as the community's pet, Naef said.
"He'll have ambassador duties like greeting people and will have his own business cards," Naef said. "He will be center stage and become part of the community."
Residents will be able to visit Hub's tree house suite by special invitation only.
Community features
The community's other features will include a two-story fitness center complete with a gym, yoga studio, multipurpose room and a commercial kitchen.
An amenity center will feature a conservatory for weddings and other functions and will be backed with a living wall covered in seasonal flowers, Naef said.
Those same flowers will be visible at the community's entrance, which will feature living arches spanning over the road. The arches will be covered in flowers that will be swapped out several times a year.
The living arch will be situated yards away from the entrance to the community on Cane Island Parkway, a road between Hwy. 90 and I-10 where construction began in October 2013. Construction of an overpass at I-10 started in July. All facets of the road's construction are scheduled for completion in spring 2015 as the neighborhood readies for its opening, city of Katy officials said.
"We think this is the best community of our careers," Naef said. "We think that by combining and embracing the spirit of [Katy] with the strengths of the small-town charms of the city, the proximity of Cane Island to I-10, the Energy Corridor and Katy's great school districts, you have an absolute home-run community."
Living in Cane Island
Construction of the community's first 13 model homes began in November, Jones said. Plans for seven distinct neighborhoods have already been laid for the community with lots ranging from 50 to 100 feet wide.
Homes will range in price from $200,000 upwards of the millions and will be built by Coventry Homes, Toll Brothers, Ryland Homes, Shea Homes, David Weekley Homes, Perry Homes and Trendmaker Homes.
Models will be complete at the time of the community's grand opening, Jones said.
"A potential buyer will be able to go and meet directly with each builder, and each builder will have several different floor plants and elevations that they'll be offering at a range of prices for different floor-plans," Jones said.
Developer moves to Houston
The Houston area will be Rise Development's next frontier after building more than 14,000 acres of master-planned communities in Arizona and Nevada, Naef said.
Construction is underway on
Meridiana, another master-planned community by Rise Development, south of Houston in Manvel and Iowa Colony.
Additional master-planned communities in the Houston area are in the works,
and the developer will move its headquarters from Nevada to an undisclosed location in Houston in 2015,
Naef said.
