More plans were announced in 2014 for the former Camp Strake site, which was purchased in July 2013 by the Johnson Development Corp. Construction is expected to begin on a new development at the former site of Camp Strake in Conroe along the corner of I-45 and Loop 336 within the next two years.
Johnson Development officials revealed detailed plans for an estimated 2,000-acre, mixed-use development known as Strake–The Grand Central Park to be constructed about 4 miles north of The Woodlands.
The Boy Scouts of America owned and managed the Strake property for about 70 years before Johnson Development acquired it in 2013.
"There's a strong scouting community and the Strake property holds a lot of things and promises to it," said Virgil Yoakum, general manager of Woodforest Development in Conroe at Johnson Development Corp. "So the difficult task will be to weave ourselves into this natural resource and come away with something prideful and the least impactful, so to speak."
Strake–The Grand Central Park will be divided into several different sections with a variety of residential units, retail areas, corporate offices and green space.
"There are a multitude of potential uses for the development," Yoakum said. "From traditional family to higher density units, to corporate retail and corporate office uses, to townhomes and many other forms."
In late September, Johnson Development and Fidelis Realty Partners finalized the acquisition of a 112-acre tract planned for future retail development at the Strake property.
The tract is proposed to include a 750,000-square-foot shopping, dining and entertainment complex. Construction is slated to begin on the retail area in late 2016 and is expected to open to the public by early 2017.
The west village portion of the Strake property is proposed to include several traditional, single-family homes, Yoakum said. In addition, there are plans to construct a town center in the middle of the Strake property with urban living centers and entertainment areas as well as corporate offices along I-45, he said.
Housing up to 5,000 residents, the Strake property could include about 2,500 to 2,700 residential units of various types, including traditional houses, townhomes, apartments and live-work units, Yoakum said.
At build-out in the next few decades, the property is proposed to include at least 1 million square feet of retail space.
Meanwhile, Sam Houston State University is working toward a deal with Johnson Development to build a medical school at the Strake property in the future. If the deal is finalized and the project is completed, the SHSU facility will be the first medical school in Montgomery County.
