BAYTOWN, Texas – Plans have been announced for a residential community in Baytown, a municipality located just east of Houston where more than $30 billion in chemical plant construction is underway in the surrounding area.
Bordered by the Grand Parkway and FM 2354/Tri City Beach Road, the Trinity Oaks community will have hundreds of homes on 190 acres on the shore of Tabbs Bay in Baytown.
In a press release, the project developer, Wells Holdings, called the project “Baytown’s first master-planned community.” of new homes aimed at providing a convenient, minutes-away option for the thousands of workers in the area who experience long daily commutes from other parts of town.
Outlying parcels within Trinity Oaks will be developed for shopping, dining, office and multi-family, according to Matt Wells of Houston-based Wells Holdings.
“We’re looking to attract those working in Baytown who have grown tired of the drive to Clear Lake, Kingwood and other parts of town,” says Wells. “Our goal is to keep Baytown’s workforce in Baytown.”
Trinity Oaks is located at the epicenter of $30 billion of petrochemical expansion, within seven miles of the Port of Houston, major employment centers for ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron Phillips, Enterprise Products, Katoen Natie and Cedar Port, the world’s fifth-largest industrial park. Easily accessible to I-10 and 225, the community also is nearby major distribution centers for Wal-Mart, Home Depot and IKEA.
“There isn’t a master-planned community of new homes at our price point this close to Baytown employers,” Wells adds. “One turn off the Grand Parkway and you are home.”
Bordered by the Grand Parkway and FM 2354/Tri City Beach Road, Trinity Oaks spans 190 acres on the shore of Tabbs Bay in Baytown.
Phase one of the Trinity Oaks development calls for 384 new homes, priced from the $250s, on 50- and 60-foot homesites.
Wells says the development team is in the early stages of negotiating contracts with several builders and retailers now that the property is fully entitled, a process which began in 2011.
In addition to new homes, Trinity Oaks will offer 118 acres of parklands and green space on property previously occupied by Baytown’s Evergreen Point Golf Course.
The former golf course with a chain of lakes and old-growth hardwood trees will be converted into a city-owned park with playgrounds, hike-and-bike trails, a disc golf course and open green belts. The former golf course clubhouse will be transformed into a new civic center for community events.
Families in Trinity Oaks will attend schools in the Goose Creek Independent School District. Two of its schools, De Zavala Elementary and Mann Junior High, are located adjacent to the community. The historic Lee High School has been awarded the most distinctions by the Texas Education Agency in the district, is a Nationally Accredited STEM program and has been named an Apple Computer Distinguished School. Trinity Oaks also is 1.5 miles from Lee College.
For years, the historic Baytown property was held in a trust by the family of Ashbel Smith, a pioneering physician who arrived in Texas in 1837. Smith, who ultimately became Surgeon General of the Texas Army and good friends with Sam Houston, purchased the land in 1848. He later became the first President of the Board of Regents of the University of Texas.
A Baytown family purchased most of the property from the Ashbel Smith Family in the mid 1990’s.