The Woodlands to Provide Homes for Houston Commuters

By Georgiana Mihaila, Associate Editor

For the past year, M/I Homes has been making its way into the Texas market with the construction of single-family houses in the Houston area. Laying a solid foundation, M/I Homes, which has built more than 75,000 houses in its 35-year history, has started construction at the Bridgeland master-planned community in Cypress, the Cinco Ranch in Katy, Eagle Springs in Humble and Long Meadow Farms in Richmond.

The Columbus, Ohio-based homebuilder has now targeted the Woodlands, acquiring a number of 100-home lots in the 400-acre May Valley, in the village of Sterling Ridge. The company has not disclosed the terms of the purchase but has scheduled a completion date of June for the model home. The starting price for the homes is $220,000; according to the Houston Business Journal, M/I Homes will offer eight two-story home plans and six one-story plans on 55-foot lots.

Local developer Sam Yager Inc. also has an 800-acre master-planned community in mind for Montgomery County, a mile east of Interstate 45 on Texas 242. The Harper’s Preserve gated community will take 10 to 12 years to build and will accommodate a total of 1,722 homes. Besides the pool, bowling and bocce ball greens, horseshoe pits and a central park called Preserve Park, the community is to be surrounded by a 160-acre wetlands and wooded open-space preserve; also, its nature theme is to include trails, boardwalks and other recreational amenities.

With home prices ranging from $170,000 to $300,000, the first phase of the preserve has already been put in motion—contracted builders Highland Homes, Darling Homes and Plantation Homes have already started work on the entrance to the community and the model homes. Seventy acres are designated for commercial, multi-family and other mixed uses.

Developer Sam Yager III is confident of the project’s success, given the high demand for housing in the area. That optimism is bolstered by data from residential consulting and research firm Metrostudy, which has found that planned residential communities can contribute as much as 30 percent to new home sales each year.