“Our goal is to offer something extraordinary for Houstonians seeking a different kind of lifestyle, while addressing the needs of our growing onsite workforce, anticipated to reach 25,000 to 30,000 people in the not-too-distant future.” – Warren W. Wilson, Executive Vice President of CDC Houston
HOUSTON (PRWEB) July 12, 2021
At a press conference on June 29, CDC Houston, a subsidiary of Coventry Development Corporation, New York, along with its strategic partners, unveiled the expanding vision for north Houston’s Springwoods Village, home of the state-of-the-art ExxonMobil campus and recently selected as the global headquarters of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Residential Joint Venture with DMB Development
CDC Houston, the master developer of Springwoods Village, entered into a joint venture with Scottsdale, AZ-based DMB Development to bring thousands of residential units to this prime location at the confluence of Interstate 45, the Grand Parkway, and Hardy Toll Road. Groundbreaking for the new residential development is slated for next year, with model homes and an experiential sales center opening in 2023.
“We’ve made tremendous progress at Springwoods Village over the past decade, attracting major employers and a mix retail, hospitality, entertainment, luxury apartments, and other uses, all of which have set the stage for this major new residential opportunity,” said Warren W. Wilson, Executive Vice President of CDC Houston. “Our goal is to offer something extraordinary for Houstonians seeking a different kind of lifestyle, while addressing the needs of our growing onsite workforce, anticipated to reach 25,000 to 30,000 people in the not-too-distant future.”
This is the inaugural project in Texas for DMB, which has created some of the most acclaimed residential communities in the western United States over the past 30 years, encompassing some 67,000 homes in one-of-a-kind settings. DMB Development formed in 2017 to take DMB’s community development capabilities forward with the next generation of ownership and a new wave of major projects.
According to Brent Herrington, President and CEO of DMB Development and a native Houstonian, “Urban designers dream of creating true live-work-play environments on a grand scale, but most new master-planned communities are located at the edges of major metros and offer suburban housing for residents who commute into town for employment. With world-class employers and thousands of jobs already in place at Springwoods Village, and more coming, we have the chance to create a truly 21st century forward thinking community that will serve as a model for future development.”
For Herrington, who grew up in the Kingwood area and whose father worked for Exxon, this project has been something of a homecoming. According to Herrington, “Over the past 60 years, some of the greatest master-planned communities in America have been developed in the Houston area. I’m proud to be contributing to this legacy with our work at Springwoods Village. Here, DMB is part of a team that’s breaking the mold of conventional suburban residential communities. We’re creating a sophisticated, pedestrian-oriented environment where people really can walk, bicycle, or ride an e-bike or e-scooter to work and reclaim hours each week that might otherwise be wasted in freeway traffic.
Dining, shopping, entertainment, healthcare, and many other daily needs are equally convenient and accessible. It’s more of an ‘inside-the-loop’ vibe where life can be more fun, less stressful, and easier on the environment.”
Springwoods Village Evolves to City Place
Over the past year and a half, CDC Houston and DMB Development have worked in concert with top consultants from around the country to conceptualize the new residential offerings. As the vision for the community expanded, it became evident the Springwoods Village brand needed to evolve.
According to Robert Asselbergs, President of Coventry Development Corporation, “It became clear the Springwoods Village name was not ideally aligned with the energetic and forward-looking community we’re creating. We realized that ‘CityPlace’, the name we’d already adopted for our mixed-use core, was a far better fit and can be readily expanded to encompass the entire community.”
The existing CityPlace urban core is a 60-acre mixed-use district developed through a joint venture of CDC Houston, Patrinely Group and USAA Real Estate. Anchored by a vibrant central plaza and framed by a waterfront park, Class-A office buildings, luxury multifamily, a AAA Four Diamond hotel, and an expanding roster of specialty and first-to-market restaurants, retail, and entertainment uses, CityPlace is already well established as the centerpiece of the community. It’s not only a dynamic place for business and a popular gathering spot, it’s also a destination drawing visitors from around the region.
As of June 29th, the entirety of Springwoods Village took on the name City Place, accompanied by a refreshed brand, a new website, and modified social handles.
The new web address is http://www.CityPlaceNow.com. On Facebook and Instagram, CityPlaceNow (formerly SpringwoodsVillage) will showcase City Place happenings and amenities and will soon become an information source for new residential opportunities and insider perks. Also on Facebook and Instagram, CityPlacePlaza (formerly CityPlaceSpringwoods) will be focused on events, programming, lifestyle, and news related to the City Place urban core.
“City Place was conceived as a dynamic, 18-hour community,” said Robert Fields, President and CEO of Patrinely Group. “The addition of this residential program adds to the character of what we’ve set out to create. Going forward, City Place will be among the best, most vibrant places to live and work in our region.”
Key Leadership Appointment
According to Warren Wilson, “City Place is a breakthrough project for the region, and as such we have put a great deal of effort into selecting our partners and leaders. Brent Herrington of DMB Development is recognized nationally as a thought leader in the community development industry. To help implement the City Place vision and lead the residential venture at City Place, DMB has recruited renowned local developer Alex Sutton, former president of The Woodlands.”
Sutton, who retired in late 2020 from a high-profile role as Co-President of The Woodlands Development Company, now serves as General Manager of the CDC Houston/DMB Development residential joint venture. Coming full circle, he began his career in a succession of professional and technical positions with Exxon. He spent a total of 27 years at The Woodlands. Sutton placed any thoughts of retirement on hold after feeling inspired by the vision he saw emerging at City Place.
“I’ve been fortunate to see many innovative approaches to residential development over my career,” said Sutton. What we’re undertaking at City Place is truly transformative. I’m excited to be part of the team bringing it to fruition.”
Sutton and DMB Development have opened a new office at City Place, located just off the Plaza at 1700 City Plaza Drive, adjacent to CDC Houston’s new office.
New Connections: Grand Parkway Interchange and Spring Creek Greenway
To enhance access to the growing City Place community, two major road extension projects are underway. Springwoods Village Parkway is being extended to connect to its interchange with the Grand Parkway. Opening in 2022, this new interchange is envisioned as the “front door” to the forthcoming residential development. Additionally, Energy Drive is being extended south to a new connection at Interstate 45, with completion planned for late this year.
In addition to new road connections, officials from Harris County Precinct 4 and CDC Houston celebrated the completion of a much-anticipated three-mile Spring Creek Greenway trail section that connects Rothwood Park to City Place on June 26th. From the new trailhead at the City Place nature preserve, visitors, employees and residents now have dedicated access to the largest forested urban greenway in the United States – a mecca for ecotourism, education and outdoor recreation, including hiking, biking, kayaking and horseback riding.
About CityPlace
City Place – formerly Springwoods Village – is a sustainable, forward-thinking and dynamic hub for business, leisure and living located at the axis of the Grand Parkway, Hardy Toll Road and Interstate 45. Spanning 2,000 acres, protected forests and natural ecosystems coexist beautifully within an architecturally significant, built environment that has attracted major employers such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, ExxonMobil, HP Inc., Southwestern Energy, St. Luke’s Health and the American Bureau of Shipping, along with a daytime workforce approaching 20,000. Complementing two existing residential enclaves – Audubon Grove and Harper Woods – in addition to several luxury apartment communities, a new development initiative will soon add a multitude of single and multifamily housing options. Miles of trails connect an array of amenities including three Marriott hotels, more than 30,000 square feet of indoor meeting and event space, 4.75 million square feet of office space, a 150-acre nature preserve, 10-screen Star Cinema Grill dine-in theater, 38,000-square-foot 24-Hour Fitness super sport club, The Market – Houston’s first LEED Certified multi-tenant retail development – and a 60-acre, mixed-use urban core that frames a programmed, waterfront plaza and park. For more information, please visit http://www.CityPlaceNow.com.
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