MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS The three new projects making headway this year include the Manvel Town Center anchored by popular Texas grocer H-E-B, the new Hillwood Communities “Valencia” subdivision and the city’s downtown concept anchored by an expansive athletics complex.
2015 coincides with the city’s major developments, including the Hill- wood housing development called Valencia, located at the north end of Pollard Avenue. Some of the main focuses of the city’s thoroughfare improvements include upgrades to the Hwy. 288 corridor, speci cally through adding more convenient access points. “The Valencia development is kind of a key. It’s a lynchpin area for some of the development on [FM 1128 and Valencia broke ground in May 2022 and is expected to deliver its Phase 1 homesites by September, Hillwood Marketing Manager Lori Evans. The $90 million Phase 1 includes 393 homes, and home sales are expected to start in January 2024, she said. Upon completion, the community is expected to bring 940 single-fam- ily homes with 30 acres of dedicated commercial properties as well as a new Alvin ISD school. The projected con- struction value will be over $500 mil- lion at completion, Hillwood Houston General Manager Russell Bynum. This 400-acre development fol- lows the opening of the Pomona sub- division, another Hillwood housing development o Hwy. 288. Pomona opened in 2015 with 600 of its pro- jected 2,100 homes, and the devel- opment is about 58% complete, according to the city’s capital proj- ects webpage. “Last year we issued almost 1,000 new home permits,” Jung said. “My guess is that we will probably either slow down a little bit or keep about that same amount [yearly].” Meanwhile, on the west side of the Hwy. 288 and Hwy. 6 intersection lies the site of the upcoming Manvel Town Center development, on which developer Weitzman broke ground June 22, 2021. Hwy. 288],” Jung said. The biggest projects Phase 1 of the 273-acre project hinges on the city’s rst HEB, which is the anchor of the expansive commercial development, or the pri- mary economic draw that attracts other tenants to the area. The new HEB is expected to open in late summer, Jung said. “Most of the other contracts that they have are dependent upon HEB opening,” Jung said. “You know, this store over here wants to make sure [HEB] is going to bring all the peo- ple to their parking lot.” Davison said contracts for other “junior anchors” are not yet
MAP KEY:
288
Town center location Proposed parcels Major anchor H-E-B Valencia subdivision New Alvin ISD school Sports elds
town center 273-acre
athletic complex $63.9M
940-home home subdivision
Downtown Commercial developments
+3 major new
3
development projects
N
POLLARD BLVD.
MANVEL TOWN CENTER • 273 acres of land with restaurants, shopping, entertainment • $25 million in infrastructure improvements • New detention pond and surface water treatment plant ANCHORED BY NEW H E B • 108,000 square feet • New fuel station and car wash • Supplied by local farmers and retailers
VALENCIA SUBDIVISION • New Alvin ISD elementary school • 940 new homes • 400 acres total • 30 acres commercial properties • $500 million+ at build-out
DOWNTOWN ATHLETICS CENTER
• 160 acres • $115,000-$145,000 annual operation cost • $63 million estimated construction cost • 15 new multiuse elds • $61 million generated annually • 12 sport event types • Built around town hall, new police department
PHASE 1 INCLUDES • September 2023 delivery • 393 homes • $90 million cost
SOURCES: CITY OF MANVEL, HILLWOOD COMMUNITIES, WEITZMAN GROUP COMMUNITY IMPACT
COMMUNITY THOUGHTS A survey of Manvel residents conducted by Community Impact showed residents overall approve of the major changes coming to the city, with some longtime residents criticizing the projects as damaging to the city’s history as a rural town.
of residents that approve of the new developments have resided in the city for less than ten years. 76.5% of residents that generally disapprove of the new developments were longtime residents, residing in the city for over 10 years, and 37.5% residing for over 20 years. 62.5%
Time residing in Manvel
Disapprove of new developments 8 Approve of new developments 17
More than 20 years More than 10 years Less than 10 years Less than 10 years More than 10 years
MANVEL COMMUNITY POLL
SOURCE: COMMUNITY IMPACT
had to redo them. We had to update all those numbers because it went faster than we thought it was going to, which is not a bad thing.” The city attempted to be proac- tive with its thoroughfare plan; city o cials said they were advised by nearby municipalities to focus on connectivity and intuitive tra c ow to avoid “chokepoints.” “This amount of development
gives you huge growing pains, … but you need to be able to learn from others’ mistakes,” Manvel Mayor Debra Davison said. “That’s where our thoroughfare plan came into play: We didn’t want [one main thoroughfare] completely governing where our tra c goes, you know, for the rest of time,” Jung said much of the city’s evolving thoroughfare plan from
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comprehensive study that predicted an entirely built-out city of Manvel, which comprises about 27.45 square miles, would be able to hold a popu- lation of 120,000-150,000 people. “We did the master water and wastewater plans in 2017, and we blew through all the 20-year pro- jections,” Jung said. “Last year, we
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COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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