Signorelli Co. to build new 1,300-home community in Waller County

By Florian Martin, Houston Business Journal

The Signorelli Co. will build a 365-acre master-planned community in a rural area north of Brookshire in Waller County.

Bluestem, slated to break ground in the second quarter of this year, will have 1,300 single-family homes to be built by different homebuilders, The Woodlands-based real estate developer said. The company has not yet selected builders but expects to do so later this year.

Signorelli will reserve 64 acres for walking trails, reserves, lakes, creeks and other green space. Amenities will include a 2-acre recreation space.

Students will be zoned to the Royal Independent School District, which currently includes an elementary, junior high and high school as well as a STEM campus and an early childhood center.

“The community is picturesque, with wooded creeks and open green space making it an ideal place to call home,” said Jeff Dewese, senior vice president of land at The Signorelli Co., in a statement. “Waller County is rapidly growing, quickly becoming a major destination to live, work and play for families of all sizes.”

Developers have shown growing interest in Waller County and the area west of Katy in recent years.

Land Tejas’ Sunterra master-planned community and LGI Homes Inc.’s (Nasdaq: LGIH) 840-home Freeman Ranch are just a few miles to the east of Bluestem.

Last summer, homebuilders opened the first model homes in Wolff Cos.’ 564-acre Beacon Hill community at U.S. Highway 290 near the city of Waller, the first master-planned community in Waller County. In addition to hundreds of homes, plans for Beacon Hill include a new commercial center, which Wolff Cos. expects will be a major economic driver for the area.

In Waller County, there are more than 19,000 lots in the pipeline across 15 different planned communities, according to real estate research firm Zonda, formerly known as Metrostudy.

While the immediate area around the future Bluestem community is only sparsely developed at this point, that may change soon.

“Just look at all of the tracts of land that developers have closed on and purchased and have engineering and development planning underway,” said Lawrence Dean, senior vice president of advisory at Zonda in Texas. “Suddenly a lot of that countryside gets filled in with development that will happen either before or somewhat concurrently with Bluestem.”

Within Royal ISD, developers are planning three additional communities with a total of over 4,500 lots at full build-out, Dean said.

Rick Kershner, superintendent of Royal ISD, said he is excited for the 1,300-home master-planned community to come to the area.

The rural school district currently has about 2,570 students, and Kershner said Bluestem should add up to another 800 students.

Royal ISD leaders have had daily discussions about expanding the district and building new schools, he said.