Another residential community is coming to Liberty County, and it’s likely the firstdirectly along the newest segment of the Grand Parkway northeast of Houston.
League City-based Windy Hill Development, led by husband- and wife team Randy andRachael Hall, last June purchased 442 acres along state Highway 99 at FM 686 to developFreedom Trail.
The community as currently planned will have about 1,200 homes. And it could growmuch bigger in the future with the potential addition of more land from the Stoesserfamily.
“They own an additional 2,000 or 3,000 acres that we’re in discussion with them onnow,” Randy Hall said. “So ultimately, this entire development could grow to 6,000 or7,000 homes over the course of the development, including multifamily.”
The goal is to break ground in the fourth quarter of this year, deliver the first 220 lots inthe third quarter of 2025 and then add another 200 or so lots every 18 months until fullbuildout.
Lot sizes could range from 40-foot front width to the 70s, Hall said.
“You have good incomes out there… Historically, both husband and wife work,” he said.“So they have the ability and the financial resources (for) a little bit bigger house. And sotherefore, we have the opportunity to not just serve the entry-level, but you have themove-up product as well.”
The houses could be priced from the $300,000s for starter homes to the mid-$400,000sfor move-up homes.
More than 70 acres are reserved for future commercial development along the GrandParkway and FM 686, according to the preliminary site plan, with 15 acres for a potentialelementary school site. The community is zoned to the Dayton Independent SchoolDistrict.
Amenities will include an existing 80-acre lake that was created as a sandpit to excavatematerial to build the Grand Parkway.
“When they did that, they tapped into some natural springs,” Hall said. “So we have aspring-fed lake that we’re working now with our landscape architects and amenityarchitects to create a really, really unique, attractive water feature that will be solely forthe use of our residents.”
The lake will be used for swimming, kayaking, paddle-boating and fishing. Around it,there will be a recreation center with swimming pool, sand volleyball, pickleball andmore, Hall said.
The Halls have not yet selected homebuilders, but interest has been “overwhelming,”Hall said, with four builders sending letters of intent even before they have released lotpricing.
On Houston’s east side, Windy Hill has previously developed Joseph’s Cove, a 450-homeneighborhood south of Mont Belvieu in Chambers County. Randy Hall’s first communityeast of Lake Houston was a mobile home community called Lakewood Village inHuffman in the early 2000s, he said.
Windy Hill is currently developing Indian Springs, a 138-acre neighborhood with 650planned homes at Lake Houston between Huffman and Crosby. Besides Lennar Homes,the developers have now also sold lots to M/I Homes, and Randy Hall expects to deliverthe first homesites in the next six months.
“Might we look for another project in the Cove/Huffman area to complement what we’redoing in Dayton?” he said. “Absolutely.”
Windy Hill is not the only developer focusing on the far northeast Houston market.Houston-based Glenmont Development Ltd. is developing the 7,000-acre River Ranchalong state Highway 146 just south of Dayton.
A few miles south, in Mont Belvieu, Houston-based McGrath Real Estate Partners isbuilding Riceland, a 1,400-acre community poised to substantially change the smallrefinery town.
And with the latest segment of the Grand Parkway opening not long ago and developersand homebuilders buying land in the area, more are sure to come soon.
