The couple moved from Pearland looking for more space and now find themselves surrounded by new homes and ongoing development.
Workers tend to dozens of nearby homes at all different stages, from finishing touches to laying the foundation. Sidewalks are still missing, and trucks come and go throughout the day.
“It’s kind of an upgrade,” Joe Tan said. “We love the neighborhood.”
Many will be joining them in the coming months and years as Alvin continues a substantial expansion in the form of housing and business development. The growth is adding millions in value year over year to the area—and officials see no end in sight.
The big picture
With roughly 9,000 new homes planned for the area, a growing tax and business base, and several projects that will open up the region even more to the Greater Houston area, Alvin community leaders said they are preparing for a boom.
The growth started as a trickle about a decade ago and is only picking up steam, said Cary Perrin, president of the Alvin-Manvel Area Chamber of Commerce.
Development patterns, Perrin said, tend to start in the center of a metropolitan area before moving out east and then going counterclockwise to the north and then south.
That pattern suggests Alvin could be next for substantial growth.
The area has several strengths, said Ashley Davis, a real estate agent at Compass Real Estate and the vice chair for the city’s planning commission. Those strengths include:
- Less expensive housing compared to other areas
- Ease of access to both Houston and nearby facilities, such as energy plants or industrial locations
Zooming in
Of the city’s many projects, the largest can be found on the west side of the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction area.
W Land Development officials are planning a nearly 3,000-acre development that will bring with it about 9,100 homes, along with schools and major infrastructure projects.
The project could break ground as soon as January and take 15 years to build out, Perrin said. It will include a wastewater treatment expansion project, which could be the largest infrastructure project in the city’s history.
“Certain [businesses] require a certain number of rooftops before they even consider coming to an area,” Davis said.
Also of note
An anchor of this growth has been Alvin ISD, which is the largest employer in Alvin, Perrin said.
Unlike enrollment in neighboring districts, such as Friendswood ISD or Pearland ISD, which have remained stagnant, AISD’s student population has grown at a rate of about 1,000 students in each of the last several school years, and district estimates show another 5,000 students could be enrolled by 2028.
From 2017 to 2022, it had the 12th largest increase in enrollment in the state, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Assistant Superintendent Rory Gesch said he believes the district plays a role in the area’s growth due to the quality of education it offers.
However, that growth also means constant planning, as the district projects one elementary student for every two houses, Gesch said.
“We continually look at [projected numbers] and constantly monitor our facilities,” Gesch said.
By the numbers
The city of Alvin is seeing added value in a number of areas from fiscal year 2021-22 to FY 2022-23.
- 339 new housing permits issued in FY 2022-23
- 10 homebuilders developing houses in Alvin
- 7 active residential developments
- 10.88% increase in property tax revenue
The takeaway
In the next five years, the city is projected to add about 5,000 more people, Perrin said.
That number could change depending on business and development coming into town. But Perrin compared it to compound interest: Growth will beget more growth.
Upcoming highway projects will improve access to Alvin as well, Perrin said. Those projects, according to the Texas Department of Transportation and the city of Alvin, include:
- Expansion of the Grand Parkway, which is slated to begin by 2027
- Expansion of Hwy. 288, which is labeled by TxDOT as in the planning stage
- Work on Hwy. 6, which does not yet have a build-out date
And while cities such as Pearland or Frisco in northern Texas saw extreme growth in recent decades, Perrin said a lack of space could make it hard to continue that trend.
Alvin, meanwhile, has the luxury of land that spans to the Gulf thanks to the city investing in land in the past. With its location and plenty of room to grow, Perrin said Alvin could turn into a “mega suburb” if it follows the right plan.
“The sky’s the limit,” Perrin said. “If you want to be a city like The Woodlands, you could do it.”
