This will be one you may not want to miss!
Eaglebrook Apartments, after much deliberation and consternation on the part of the developer and City, seems to be in a place where we can move forward. It will be on the agenda Monday night for Final Plat approval. If you would like a copy of the staff report please email me.
Eaglebrook Apartments will have 152 units, mostly one and two bedrooms, but a few three bedrooms as well. Average rent will be right around $1000 per month. The developer is using a similar architecture to that seen in the Brookstone Apartments on Rollingbrook in Baytown. The apartments will be located in the vacant parcel immediately to the south of Thrif-Tee.
The other major item on the agenda is the City Park. The contract negotiations and design refinements are finished, so we should have a vote on approving the final contract and get a notice to proceed. If all goes well, we could be looking at an actual construction start date of the middle of next week.
This has been a long and arduous process, both for the apartments and for the park. Positive things have happened, though, including a better relationship with the developer, increased awareness of processes and streamlining, and a better idea of how to budget for improvements in the future. As a City, we are sometimes limited in what we can accomplish by things that are outside of our control, either because we have no authority or because our local, state, or federal regulations require something to be done in a certain fashion.
Having said that, I look forward to getting even more done as the City continues to develop,
5 comments :
How is a development like this going to help business development? If all the property on Eagle Drive is used for residential areas, how can we bring more business to the area?
Anonymous -
Great question! There are currently located on Eagle Drive 38 different businesses (conservatively). The apartments will take up space on Eagle Drive but there will be a remnant parcel created which could potentially have one or two more businesses. I would guess (also conservatively) that there is room for about double that number of additional business spaces. There is also room for a couple of very large business park type development that could take place, either close to the freeway or south of the CWA canal. Other than the apartments (which some may view as a business venture, anyway) there are really only three residences actually on Eagle Drive. The residential developers have generally left commercial reserve areas close to Eagle Drive for the development of commercial and business property. This is for a number of reasons, but mainly because the land is too valuable close to Eagle Drive to put houses on. It's much more valuable as commercial property.
Commercial development, unlike residential, is driven my market factors on a large scale. Each home is bought and sold on an individual basis and is marketable based on more ethereal things, like location, neighbors, proximity to goods and services, transportation, etc. Commercial property depends a lot more on the way the economy is going - people aren't interested in expending venture capital if there are only a few homes to support the business.
Mont Belvieu is a growing economy. We have a lot of potential. We need to attract quality businesses to the area to also attract people with their dollars to spend here in our City.
I hope that helps! Thanks for reading!
Hello,
I am glad to see the park build going foward. When are the final drafts of the park going to be posted so we can see what it will look like? What is the time frame for the build.
Thanks..
Anonymous (II) -
Very good question. The final plans for the park are in and available for view at City Hall. Please stop by any time and you can see them, or call and make an appointment and I can go over them with you, if you'd like.
The tentative time frame is 15 months. The goal is to have things ready for next spring/summer's baseball and softball seasons. It is only tentative because of weather - as we have seen in the last couple of weeks, it can be a little bit hit and miss here in the weather department!
Stay tuned! More to come!
We need a WALMART close by!!!
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