What's Houston Next Major Suburb? (Sugar Land, Galveston: credit, how much, subdivisions)

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by nikku

Katy isn't going to be a suburb of Houston for very long. It's going to be a sister city to Houston, much as Ft. Worth is to Dallas. It's already a city of 100,000 people, projected to grow to over a million (by 2020 I think).

It's going to be like Orange County (maybe along with Sugar Land too). Brenham will be like San Bernardino/Riverside--metros in their own right except for the fact that most people commute to the job centers of Houston and Katy.

[LizzySWW]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

It's going to be like Orange County (maybe along with Sugar Land too). Brenham will be like San Bernardino/Riverside--metros in their own right except for the fact that most people commute to the job centers of Houston and Katy.

Maybe we'll start calling Houston.........Katy/Houston! Do ya think? I can hear it now, the local morning news comes on & the TV anchor says, " It's gonna be a hot one today Katy/Houston." Next the Astros will become the Katy/Hosuton Astros.

[SilverWings]

Originally Posted by nikku

Katy isn't going to be a suburb of Houston for very long. It's going to be a sister city to Houston, much as Ft. Worth is to Dallas. It's already a city of 100,000 people, projected to grow to over a million (by 2020 I think).

I highly doubt that. A million is a LOT of people. Currently only 9 US cities (NY, LA, CHI, HOU, PHI, PHO, SA, SD, and DAL) have official populations over 1 million people. The largest "suburb" is Fort Worth with just under 700K.

What exactly would a Million Katy residents do? The major industry is the energy corridor which I don't expect can support that kind of population on it's own. Unless something new pops up there besides the corridor and the bedroom communities, you can't have that many people commuting into Houston proper.

Katy may end up becoming the largest (if not already) suburb of Houston as I don't think they're against that kind of development, which would require buildings of considerable height (office and residence) which I don't think Sugar Land will be willing to do. You can't continue to just build outward and reach populations much over a few hundred thousand.

One final note - Sugar Land is also over 100K, just not officially, yet. The 77K figure does not include New Territory, River Park, and Greatwood, which will all be annexed in 2014. SL will probably top out between 150K and 200K unless more "urban" development starts to take place, which I doubt.

[jfre81]

Fort Worth isn't, and never was, a suburb. There is a difference between cities that grow up near another large city but had its own purpose and identity besides being a bedroom community for the adjacent city.

[nikku]

Originally Posted by SilverWings

I highly doubt that. A million is a LOT of people. Currently only 9 US cities (NY, LA, CHI, HOU, PHI, PHO, SA, SD, and DAL) have official populations over 1 million people. The largest "suburb" is Fort Worth with just under 700K.

What exactly would a Million Katy residents do? The major industry is the energy corridor which I don't expect can support that kind of population on it's own. Unless something new pops up there besides the corridor and the bedroom communities, you can't have that many people commuting into Houston proper.

KerrTown nailed it earlier. We're going to see development like in SoCal, with a large city acting as a hub, with commercial and residential areas lining the major arterial highway to another fairly large city (in this case Houston would be LA and Katy would be Pasadena). And if you've been to Katy lately, you would see that there are massive hospitals being developed along I-10 west (some have already been finished). Looks like a second med center being developed. Academy has a major distribution center located off of Mason Rd. north. There is also some industry further along I-10 west toward Brookshire (the Igloo factory comes to mind) as well as a private airport; both factors suggest the potential for more industry. There is also the planned expansion of 99, and the businesses that are already lining either side of the highway. That is supposed to look like Beltway 8 when it gets done.
You're right in that Katy proper will probably not reach a million people, but the "Katy area" (which will eventually include everything west of Park Ten, south of Clay Rd and north of FM 1093, all the way west to who knows where) will.
Also, people may not realize this, but long before it was a suburb of Houston, Katy was its own city, just like Ft. Worth (and unlike The Woodlands, which was planned from the start to be a suburb of Houston), and it has in the past few years begun to emerge from that suburban tag and will continue to do so. I already hear people in Brookshire and in Houston refer to "the Katy area" as a seperate and distinct entity from Houston, and seperate from west Houston.

[dv1033]

Sugar Land is really the only suburb that could holds it own economically. The Woodlands might be able to as they do have some significant businesses.

On a side note, I wonder if the Cypress area could ever form its own city. It would definitely be about +500,000.

[blkgiraffe]

I feel New Caney is going to blow up too once that new amusment park is built. It's suppose to bring in retail, hotels, condos, residental,etc

[Spade]

If Katy does reach that population people are talking about. I hope it's smart growth. If it is the current way our American cities grow as of right now, I will stay away from that area.

[EasilyAmused]

I forsee Katy growing faster and bigger than any other burb. It's the natural migration along the western corridor. The westside is the nicest portion/wealthiest side of the city, I don't see into growing into bad.

[rtdrtd20]

I agree that there is fast growth in the Katy area. I grew up in Nottingham Country and graduated from Katy Taylor years back, at that time South Katy didn't even exist. However, traffic is an issue currently, I shudder to think what will happen if that growth occurs. For example, why did they make Westpark a 4 lane (2 each way) toll road if such growth projections are being made?