|
A group from Dallas has
purchased 2,795 acres of
beachfront property on
Bolivar Peninsula for a
residential development that
could include thousands of
homes.
But the companies —
Provident Realty Advisors
and the PNL Cos., also of
Dallas — said they don't
expect to develop the land
for at least two years.
"We may get into it and
decide the market's not
ready for this," said Jay
Hawes, a development partner
with Provident, which
develops master-planned
communities and other types
of real estate.
The land's price was not
disclosed, but Hawes said he
saw it as a good investment,
as the area is on an
upswing.
While Bolivar hasn't seen
the kind of development that
its Galveston Island
neighbor has, it has started
to attract beach house
developers and second-home
buyers looking for an
alternative to the island.
Developers see the area as a
bargain compared to property
on the east and west coasts,
said Stephen Dinjar, owner
of Galveston realty firm
Barefoot Properties, who
sold land on Bolivar to a
developer for one of the
area's newer residential
projects, Avocet, a
Polynesian-style development
with a beach club.
Hawes said Bolivar's "going
in a good direction," with
developers getting permits
for about 90 homes per year
and some beach houses now
selling for up to $1
million.
The demographics on Bolivar
are changing as well.
"It used to be only the Port
Arthur and Beaumont crowd
that came down. Houses were
extremely cheap," Dinjar
said. "Now you're seeing
more and more Houstonians."
Provident is studying
exactly how much of its
newly acquired land can be
developed and how much is
encumbered by wetlands.
Hawes estimates between 30
and 40 percent of the
property can be developed.
"I don't picture it being a
very dense development,"
said Hawes, though it may be
styled architecturally after
Seaside, a neotraditional
resort community in the
Florida Panhandle.
The property, known as Cade
Ranch, is considered one of
the largest and few
remaining beachfront
properties on Texas' Gulf
Coast, according to real
estate firm CB Richard
Ellis, which represented the
seller, Crown Team Texas, in
the transaction. The site
has more than 13,000 feet of
frontage on the Gulf of
Mexico and Intracoastal
Waterway.
Located about 90 minutes
from Houston, "it's a little
bit farther to get there,
but it's still not a very
far drive for a weekend
home," John Endendyk of CB
Richard Ellis said.
Still, Bolivar has typically
played second fiddle to
Galveston.
To get there, visitors have
to go through Winnie off
Interstate 10 east or take a
ferry from Galveston.
And there's still little in
the way of major
restaurants, grocery stores
and entertainment venues
compared to the island.
"The commercial side of it
is still developing," Hawes
said. |
