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BOLIVAR PENINSULA,
TX-Dallas-based
investment partners
Provident Realty
Advisors and PNL
Cos. have started
entitlement work on
one of the largest
undeveloped tracts
on the Texas coast.
The partners control
2,700 acres with
three miles of Gulf
of Mexico beach
frontage and one
mile of intracoastal
canal.
Jay Hawes, partner
for Provident
Realty, predicts the
entitlement process
will take two years
to complete. He
tells GlobeSt.com
that infrastructure
work on the
Galveston County
land, of which
roughly 600 acres
are developable,
most likely won't
get under way until
2010. The balance of
the land will remain
wetlands for the
20-mile island.
Bolivar Peninsula,
connected by a
state-run ferry to
Galveston, is
predominately
single-family
properties and wide
open space
controlled by the
Houston Audubon
Society,
intermingled with
scattered
neighborhood retail.
"There are no
condos, hotels or
resorts right now,"
Hawes says. "We will
get the entitlements
in place and
determine what the
market wants."
The development
partners' affiliate,
GM-I Ltd., bought
the former Cade
Ranch in late August
in an off-market
transaction with
Crown Team Texas, a
local partnership
that had acquired it
several years ago
from heirs of the
C.T. Cade family.
The ranch is
situated northwest
of Texas 24 and 87
near High Island.
"With just over 6%
of Texas coastal
property remaining
for development, we
saw the Cade Ranch
as a very compelling
story," says Leon
Backes, founder of
Provident Realty
Advisors and general
partner of GM-I Ltd.
"As the pricing on
the East and West
coasts continue to
escalate, the demand
for the Texas coast
will too and we see
the Bolivar
Peninsula as a
direct beneficiary."
Hawes says the
partners acquired
the land on a
per-acre basis, cash
on the barrelhead.
Prices on the
barrier island are
widespread. Real
estate agencies are
hawking home sites
from $70,000 to
upward of $300,000.
"It varies in value.
We feel like we made
a good buy," Hawes
says. "The island
has not been
developed in a dense
manner historically.
We don't see our
development changing
that." But, the
build-out plan is
sure to include the
missing links of
condos, hotels and
resorts in some
fashion, with the
developer promising
to take full
advantage of the
ocean exposure and
nearby wetlands.
"And, we will
probably have enough
retail to serve the
demand that we
create," he adds.
Provident
historically has
developed mixed-use
projects and
master-planned
single-family
communities, but
it's making inroads
into the second-home
market to place a
bet on Baby Boomers
from inside and
outside the state.
It recently acquired
130 acres on Lake
Texoma, the state's
largest man-made
lake situated 70
miles north of
Dallas. "We will
continue to evaluate
opportunities. As
with all our
endeavors, if the
fundamentals are in
place, we’ll be
active
participants,"
Backes says. |
