Downtowns/Town centers in neighboring towns?

[ParaguaneroSwag]

I’ve enjoyed visiting some of the downtown/town centers in neighboring cities and towns. The 2 “greatest” are clearly The Strand in Galveston and The Woodlands Town Center & Waterway.

Downtown Conroe and the Lighthouse District in Kemah have improved a lot over the years to be a nice tier 2. Sugar Land Town Center is cool but in my opinion just bland. Doesn’t have character like the others.

Old Town Spring in Spring is another little nice one with its own charm.


I know Katy is trying to build something with the Katy Boardwalk. Seems like they’re modeling after the Woodlands. Bridgeland supposedly just broke ground on their town center as well.

Brenham is now in the part of the CSA so I suppose they’re in the convo

What else?

[ParaguaneroSwag]

No doubt the Woodlands is has the brightest and present future of them all. It’s the most liveable when you consider the access to housing in respect to its walkable access to stores, grocers and other necessities including high paying jobs. They also have a free trolley bus service (with dedicated lanes) that go through the different central neighborhoods. Recently, the Woodlands waterway is managed by the township, not Howard Hughes anymore. We’ll see if that’s a good or bad thing.

This video does a good job covering the Woodlands Central districts in aerial view

https://youtu.be/__OCq5Cjujg?si=6fgXMbnzwXRkaE6M

Here’s one in street view

https://youtu.be/kH_e3FgDre4?si=3AJphnT34CnVGHFF

[DaBears02]

Sugar Land Town Center is definitely a step up from most other Houston suburbs and it’s also nice that you can walk to the mall from there but I agree that it looks like it could be literally anywhere in the US. Galveston and The Woodlands have very nice downtowns. Excited to see what Bridgeland and Katy can develop, as more of this type of development would be very nice for the area.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by DaBears02

Sugar Land Town Center is definitely a step up from most other Houston suburbs and it’s also nice that you can walk to the mall from there but I agree that it looks like it could be literally anywhere in the US. Galveston and The Woodlands have very nice downtowns. Excited to see what Bridgeland and Katy can develop, as more of this type of development would be very nice for the area.

I see Bridgeland leaning more towards the CityPlace in Spring route. Which isn’t a bad thing. But I don’t see it being a major downtown like the Woodlands.

[LocalPlanner]

That Sugar Land Town Square is "bland" shouldn't be a surprise - being "beige" is in the town's DNA (they had, and may still have, requirements for buildings to be in the "beige" color range).

There are mini-mini versions of these kinds of things at Towne Lake and King's Point (Kingwood).

Generation Park is doing Redemption Square, intended to be similar to Sugar Land Town Square eventually.

League City was going to have RiverView, but I think that's kind of dead.

Friendswood is (slowly) working on creating a small "downtown" area that it never had before. There's also a "Town Center" development underway, but from what I've seen, it's not going to be walkable.

Pearland Town Center was a somewhat half-hearted attempt at one, but I find it underwhelming (more bland than Sugar Land).

Humble is interested in reviving its downtown. Conroe's and Tomball's downtowns are getting investment and becoming more interesting now. Richmond and Rosenberg have the historical element but could use more sprucing up and investment like what Humble wants. Lake Jackson has a 1940s-50s originated "downtown" that is kind of unique.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

That Sugar Land Town Square is "bland" shouldn't be a surprise - being "beige" is in the town's DNA (they had, and may still have, requirements for buildings to be in the "beige" color range).

There are mini-mini versions of these kinds of things at Towne Lake and King's Point (Kingwood).

Generation Park is doing Redemption Square, intended to be similar to Sugar Land Town Square eventually.

League City was going to have RiverView, but I think that's kind of dead.

Friendswood is (slowly) working on creating a small "downtown" area that it never had before. There's also a "Town Center" development underway, but from what I've seen, it's not going to be walkable.

Pearland Town Center was a somewhat half-hearted attempt at one, but I find it underwhelming (more bland than Sugar Land).

Humble is interested in reviving its downtown. Conroe's and Tomball's downtowns are getting investment and becoming more interesting now. Richmond and Rosenberg have the historical element but could use more sprucing up and investment like what Humble wants. Lake Jackson has a 1940s-50s originated "downtown" that is kind of unique.

Conroe and Tomball are in entirely different ballparks tho. Tomball is more of in Spring and Montgommery’s tier. Conroe’s downtown isn’t quite the size of The Woodlands and Galveston but definitely larger than that group.

I do like the Tomball and Spring even being small. They have a lot charm.

By downtown spring I’m talking about Old Town Spring. City Place is obviously more modern and larger. Maybe Uptown Spring? It’s hard to put a label on it since Spring isn’t incorporated

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Went to both Tomball and Spring over the weekend. Not completely intentionally but took the opportunity while I was that way. I always wanted to try Tejas Chocolate + BBQ which is in Downtown Tomball so I finally made the move.

Old Town Spring >>>> Downtown Tomball.

Tomball has more potential but Old Town Spring is just so much further along. Maybe being sandwiched between Houston and The Woodlands helps. I don’t know. But it does have a lot of pedestrians there and maintains its old world charm very well. Old Town Spring is very worth checking on a Saturday.

Corkscrew BBQ is in Old Town Spring. Haven’t tried that yet so I’ll look forward to revisiting in the future. They’re next on my BBQ bucket list.

[Watchful]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Corkscrew BBQ is in Old Town Spring. Haven’t tried that yet so I’ll look forward to revisiting in the future. They’re next on my BBQ bucket list.

Corkscrew is a MUST - get there early and prepare for a wait - later in mid-afternoon the lines are shorter but can be hit and miss if they run out of what you want.

I live in Virginia now, and try to hit Corkscrew whenever I make it back to H-town!

[NigerianNightmare]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

I’ve enjoyed visiting some of the downtown/town centers in neighboring cities and towns. The 2 “greatest” are clearly The Strand in Galveston and The Woodlands Town Center & Waterway.

Downtown Conroe and the Lighthouse District in Kemah have improved a lot over the years to be a nice tier 2. Sugar Land Town Center is cool but in my opinion just bland. Doesn’t have character like the others.

Old Town Spring in Spring is another little nice one with its own charm.


I know Katy is trying to build something with the Katy Boardwalk. Seems like they’re modeling after the Woodlands. Bridgeland supposedly just broke ground on their town center as well.

Brenham is now in the part of the CSA so I suppose they’re in the convo

What else?

Fulshear doesn’t have anything right now but the stuff in the plans look promising. I think Baytown and Pasadena as older slightly more compact suburbs could do with a new town center look but don’t know if anything’s likely to pop off like that on the East side. Pearland has a Downtown and a Town Center but the former is super small and the latter is a sea of parking. A fun exercise is looking at suburbs Comprehensive Plans as you’ll be able to see which cities are planning big and which ones are planning small.

I’m surprised all the towns in the SE don’t have more going on because there’s like 12 tiny downtowns in that region.

Richmond and Rosenberg don’t have much now, but I expect it to pop off in a few years. Once more communities get built in their ETJ.

I’m excited for these towns because County Seats tend to get a boost from overall development in their county, and Richmond is probably the weakest county seat of any major suburban counties in Texas. Hell I don’t think a County with 400,000+ people in the state has a less economically relevant County Seat (The cutoff is at Angleton). It’s weaker than many county seats with smaller populations like San Marcos, New Braunfels, Bryan etc. it’s also Pgysicslly tiny due to Sugar Land, Rosenberg and Houston. But it could do something like Stafford did except involve more people and less businesses.
Once Austin Point, the 99 Corridor, Siena, and Southern Fulshear kick into full gear as well as developments in it and Rosenberg ETJ maybe these larger grids will get influenced to provide more for all these suburban residents.

[NigerianNightmare]

This is also why I think annexation is important. Katy, Cypress and Spring to a certain extent have the tax base to fund a Woodlands style development. They just either need to get incorporated or annex the wealthy areas to fund a big Downtown project. Missouri City will also be in the same boat if they annex Sienna soon. But then League City and Pearland have squandered their size and relative wealth. I just think with Houston, one suburb needs to commit hard (Fulshear hopefully) and then the rest will join once they see the benefits.