Activity around the new Springwoods Village master planned community is picking up with the development’s initial infrastructure built and the new ExxonMobil campus taking shape.

And for Keith D. Simon, executive vice president and director of development for CDC Houston, seeing the progress is a welcome sight.

“It has been a long time in the making for this Springwoods Village project,” Simon said. “We purchased this land in 1961.”

Simon said the $35 million Phase I infrastructure development is complete and represents the foundation of the community.

“It took five separate contracts to build all that, including a water treatment facility,” he said.

Contracts for the Phase II infrastructure, totaling about $35 million to $40 million, are expected to be awarded over the next three to four months. That construction, Simon said, will run through the first part of 2013. The first project of the Phase II infrastructure development is the construction of Holzworth Road and was awarded to Texas Sterling.

“All of this represents the first phase of Springwoods Village, which includes the ExxonMobil campus,” Simon said. “It also includes the newly announced Southwest Energy corporate headquarters project.”

Bordered by Spring Creek on the north and Spring Stuebner Road on the south, the 1,800-acre Springwoods Village will be nestled near Interstate 45 and the new Grand Parkway.

Earlier this year, CDC Houston announced developers Taylor Morrison, Sullivan Brothers Builders and Martin Fein Interests would develop the initial residential areas from large, single-family luxury homes to luxury multifamily properties.

A place to call home

Simon said by November 2013, the first residents of Springwoods Village are expected to be moved in. The residential population is planned to grow to about 15,000 people.”

Jason Schlager, with Martin Fein Interests, said his company will build about 342 high-end multifamily housing units in their project called The Belvedere. Ranging from about 539-square-foot studio apartments to 950-square-foot three-bedroom units, the average price will be about $1,500 a month.

“We like the high-density projects,” he said of the four-story unit. “We expect them to be very high end, luxury units.”

Construction on the project will start by the end of the year, Schlager said, with the first units available in April 2014.

Along with multifamily housing, Springwoods Village will offer residents options in single-family housing.

Billy Sullivan, with Sullivan Brothers Builders, said his company’s development, Harper Woods, will showcase “very traditional” homes that range from 1,800 to 3,000 square feet. The project will include three-story town homes designed as work/live units.

“All the homes will have alley access and have large front porches,” he said. “We are very much trying to encourage the residents to interact with their neighbors.”

The homes will cost between $200,000 and $500,000.

Lastly, Taylor Morrison will construct 51 luxury homes in the Audubon Grove development. According to Teresa Shannon, with Taylor Morrison, the homes will be interactive and allow residents to control certain aspects of the homes from their mobile devices. The model home is expected to be complete in fall 2013.

“We are tailoring our designs just for Springwoods Village,” said Shannon, adding the floor plans and designs are still in the works.

The homes are expected to start around $400,000 and will range from 3,300 square feet to 5,500 square feet.

Other amenities

Simon said Springwoods Village will have three or four hotels, likely including a full-service hotel, select hotels and extended-stay hotels, near the community’s Town Center.

“We will be making those announcements early next year as to what brands those are,” he said. “We want to have several hotel offerings in Springwoods Village.”

Springwoods Village will include medical facilities, and Simon said his company has been in discussions with several of the leading health care providers in the Houston area.

“There are two we are working with on some initial facilities,” he said.

The first probably will be emergency facilities.

“It probably won’t start out as full-service facilities, but we hope it will evolve to that over time,” he said.

The community will have a grocery center, although Simon did not say what company would likely build.

A public safety facility is also planned for Springwoods Village to house law enforcement officers and fire services.

Additionally, Centerpoint Energy will construct a substation near the community and will provide buried power lines to ensure better-quality service, Simon said.

Build-out of Springwoods Village is expected to take about 15 years.

The ExxonMobil factor

In 2008, CDC Houston started discussions with ExxonMobil about its property just south of the Montgomery County line in Spring. According to Simon, ExxonMobil wanted to relocate its campus to the area.

“We talked with them about where they wanted to be located on our land and then created our mixed-used development around it,” Simon said. “By December 2008, we were able to close on the sale of that land.”

According to information from ExxonMobil, the company is consolidating its Houston offices at the new site. Initial occupancy is planned for early 2014 with full occupancy by 2015. An economic impact study shows the campus will create about 44,000 permanent jobs during its ongoing operations.