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The winding path alongside Patio Park Lake in the new Royal Brook community. The final village in the Kingwood area is already about half done.

The final piece of the Kingwood puzzle is nearly complete with the completion of Royal Brook.

Almost a half-century since development of the master-planned community began, Friendswood Development Company is building out the final village of Kingwood, Royal Brook.

When fully developed Royal Brook, which sits on about 500 acres of land east of the main body of Kingwood, will include about 1,100 homes. Friendswood Development, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lennar Corp., expects to complete the buildout of the village by next summer, said Michael Johnson, Friendswood’s vice president of land development.

“We delivered our first home in 2014 in Royal Brook Village and we’re about 50 percent of the way built out,” Johnson said. The development features homes built by five of the Houston area’s top builders -- Ashton Woods, Drees Custom Homes, J. Patrick Homes, Lennar and Village Builders -- with home prices ranging from the $200,000s to the $800,000s.

Home sites range from 50-foot wide to 75-foot wide. Additionally, Village Builders offers patio homes on 55-foot homesites.

As in other Kingwood villages, the developer has created a system of greenbelt hiking and biking trails that winds through the forested areas of the community. The trails offer easy access to several neighborhood pocket parks dotted throughout Royal Brook, as well as serve as a link between the village’s 24 sections and the heart of the development, a spacious community center and recreation complex.

The community center features a fully functioning kitchen and comfortable living room, which can accommodate meetings, casual community get-togethers and other events. In August, the community center was the site of Royal Brook’s Summertime, Funtime Event.

Attendees enjoyed free food from a James Coney Island Food Truck, as well as snow cones and ice cream treats served by Snowie Express. The event featured a live DJ, rock wall, bungee trampoline and airbrush tattoos. “It brought together existing residents and prospects, allowing them to enjoy what the community had to offer,” Johnson said.

The center is also home to some of the community’s most attractive recreational amenities, including an Olympic-sized swimming pool, shaded kiddie pool and playground featuring state-of- the-art equipment.

“The Kingwood trails system is second to none,” in knitting the collection of homes into a community, Johnson said. “We’ve continued that idea and focused on trail connectivity through the woods within the Royal Brook Village.”

Kingwood, an early master-planned community

Kingwood was launched back in 1972 as a partnership between Friendswood Development and King Ranch. “Overall Kingwood has been a great success for Friendswood Development Company, a staple for the greater Houston market and a nationally recognized master-planned community,” Johnson said.

Initially, Friendswood had acquired 300 acres east of Mills Branch Road, the last piece of property that lies both within the limits of the city of Houston and the boundaries of Humble ISD. In June, 2015, the company purchased an additional 200 acres of land in Montgomery County to accommodate 400 more single-family lots.

The village straddles the county line between Harris and Montgomery counties, with about 80 percent located both within the city of Houston and Harris County, with the remaining 20 percent of the development within Montgomery County. Students living within the Harris County portion attend schools in the Humble ISD, while those living in Montgomery county attend New Caney ISD schools.

While Friendswood retained the master plan it used to develop the more established Kingwood villages, it has updated that plan to accommodate the changing conditions that the Houston area home-buyers’ market has undergone since the 1970s. For example, in the wake of the devastating floods from Hurricane Harvey, homesites in the village were raised to be above the 500-year flood plain, Johnson said.

Friendswood also decided it was important that the center of activity in the village be focused around the community center, an amenity not found in some of Kingwood’s more established villages. In addition, the pocket parks scattered throughout the village include so-called “smart playgrounds,” compact areas featuring equipment that combines multiple interactive activities that provide fun for children ages 6 months to 12 years old.

The global COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a devastating effect on businesses around the world, ironically has given a boost to developments such as Royal Brook, Johnson said.

“Single-family living has been a beneficiary of the pandemic in the sense that it’s triggered a transition in demand, from high-density urban living to lower-density suburban,” he said. Royal Brook’s home sales are up, year-over-year, compared with 2020.

“We’re seeing great momentum as we look to deliver our final five sections in the village by the summer of 2022,” Johnson said.

Development part of larger growth trend

The development of Royal Brook Village is just part of a recent trend of rapid residential growth in the area impacted by the construction of the Grand Parkway project, such as the development of the 1,400-acre master-planned community of Valley Ranch, just north of Kingwood and west of US Highway 59.

“We have been anticipating this rapid growth since plans for the Grand Parkway were announced. It’s exciting to see the fast growth come to fruition after years of anticipation and planning,” said Jenna Armstrong, president and CEO of Partnership Lake Houston.

Armstrong said community stakeholders such as city and county governments and local school districts have been proactive in planning for the population growth expected to follow the buildout of Royal Brook and other developments.

“For several years, we’ve been convening to discuss growth projections and collaborating with municipalities and entities involved in transportation, infrastructure, and schools,” she said. “However, managing the rapid growth of our area will continue to be a high priority for many years to come. We don’t anticipate this growth will slow down anytime soon.”

Instead of shutting down the program immediately, they let it fade away over the course of a year. A tidal wave of applicants has now rushed to seek billions of additional dollars in last-minute tax breaks.

By Eric Dexheimer and Mike Morris