Houston City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday, October 7, to turn a piece of city-owned land in south Houston into a 144-home residential community, KPRC Click2Houston reported.
The ordinance authorizes a purchase and sale agreement with the developer Willowbend Link, LP, along with a forgivable loan to help the developer buy the property. The loan is forgiven when a land use restriction agreement on the site expires. The report does not give the amount of the loan.
The project
The site is 12.22 acres at 10301 Stella Link Road, about a five minute drive from the Texas Medical Center. The development is called Braes Park. Plans call for 144 two, three and four bedroom detached single family homes built in seven or eight phases, with about 89 of them priced from $210,000 to $300,000 and the rest at market rate. The below market homes are aimed at households earning up to 120 percent of the area median income.
The city bought the property in March 2022 for $13,839,150 using 2017 Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery funds, and later re-acquired it using Uptown TIRZ Series 2021 affordable homes funds. The council’s Housing and Affordability Committee reviewed the proposal on September 15, and the city’s Housing and Community Development Department recommended approval.
Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex-Tatum, who represents District K and led the effort, said of the site, “I can’t say enough about the location,” and added, “It took us a while to find the right person to develop this.” Council Member Willie Davis, At-Large Position 2, called the project “a way to bring people back to the city.”
Kingwood sits inside Houston city limits, so how the council disposes of city land and spends city housing money is a local matter here even when the site itself is across town.
