Wolff Companies’ Acquisition of 521-Acre Beacon Hill Shines Spotlight on U.S. 290 Development Trend
When Wolff Companies recently announced the acquisition of Beacon Hill, 521 acres of land in Northwest Houston near Waller, the news shined a spotlight on the future of the U.S. 290 corridor as the thoroughfare approaches the completion of an extensive widening/improvement project. Disruptive but necessary, the “new 290” will greatly improve mobility – and be a significant catalyst to new development when traffic starts flowing.
Beacon Hill, one of the highest points in the Houston area with elevations approaching 300 feet, is located in the City of Waller just west of FM 362. Here, Wolff Companies has carved out 251 acres for a high-end business park offering almost 4,200 feet of frontage on 290 and prime sites suitable for development ranging from light industrial and distribution to office and retail. Houston homebuilder Long Lake Ltd. will develop about 1,000 homes in a master planned community on Beacon Hill’s northernmost 270 acres – land purchased from Wolff Companies out of the original 521 acres.
Houston area and national news media – including the Houston Business Journal, Houston Chronicle, Globe Street, and others – noted the importance of Wolff Companies’ vision for the 290 corridor.
“Six months from now, it’s going to be a different world out there.” – Read David S. Wolff’s predictions for the 290 corridor in the Houston Business Journal
“300 feet above sea level … is sort of unheard of in Houston. There are some obvious implications there.” – Read the Houston Business Journal’s article about the acquisition
“The freeway had been such an inhibitor because it was torn up. People didn’t pay as much attention to it as I think they will now.” – Read about Beacon Hill in the Houston Chronicle
“By reducing drive times, it (completion of 290 construction) will open the area up to further development. We see this impact as being particularly significant in the areas of single-family housing, industrial and distribution.” – Read about Beacon Hill in Globe Street
Beacon Hill continues a strategy that Wolff Companies has executed for over 50 years of creating master-planned, mixed used developments along emerging freeway corridors. David S. Wolff and Wolff Companies have consistently led such trends, beginning in 1966 with Brookhollow, a 160-acre project on the then yet-to-be completed West Loop at U.S. 290. The company followed that success with projects such as Park 10, Ten Oaks and Central Park on Interstate 10, and Beltway and Westway Park, on the Sam Houston Tollway. Wolff Companies now sees completion of the Texas Department of Transportation’s eight-year, 38-mile, $1.8 billion reconstruction of U.S. 290 as the bellwether of a new phase of growth for that corridor.
“We see much the same opportunity along 290 that we saw years ago along I-10 in The Energy Corridor,” said David S. Wolff, Chairman and President of Wolff Companies. “With the connectivity created by Grand Parkway, the growth of North and West Houston, as well as Bryan-College Station and Austin, is raising the strategic profile of 290 for corporations and for Houston. We’ve already seen major investment in the region by Daikin, Johnson Development and Buc-ee’s. Additionally, in January, we sold our 70-acre Liendo Park property on 290 at Liendo Parkway, which will soon become the Prairie View Cricket Complex. The pace of development will increase rapidly when 290 is completed early next year and as we bring sites in Beacon Hill to market.”
For over 50 years, Wolff Companies has strategically created master-planned, mixed used developments along emerging freeway corridors including the new Beacon Hill and recently sold Liendo Park developments in the U.S. 290 Corridor.
According to TxDOT officials, most major construction – including all widened lanes and new bridges – along the main lanes of U.S. 290 will be completed by the first quarter of 2019. When complete, U.S. 290 will have 11 lanes, including a reversible HOV lane, from Loop 610 to Texas State Highway 6/FM 1960, and nine lanes from there to Waller County. TxDOT has indicated that it will soon begin feasibility and design work on the next phase of U.S. 290, a 10-mile widening from FM 362 to the State Highway 6 turn-off in Hempstead.
For more information about Wolff Companies, please visit www.wolffcompanies.com or call Carolyn Wolff Dorros at 713-626-8050.
Thank you,
Carolyn W. Dorros
Executive Vice President
Wolff Companies
Phone: 713-626-8050