Millions of Houstonians as well as international tourists affirm the Waterwall is a cool place to visit. It’s also a magnet, of sorts, for developers who want to develop high-rise properties. After all, having a tall tower next door to the Waterwall park guarantees a great view below of the Galleria area’s best green space.

One new project adjacent to the Waterwall has just been proposed by Skanska USA, a subsidiary of a large Swedish construction firm. Skanska hopes to build a 14-story, 300,000-square-foot office tower near the corner of the West Loop and Hidalgo. Skanska’s desired site is a 2.3-acre parcel that was formerly the location of Tony’s Ballroom. The developer has contracted to buy the land from Hines Real Estate Investment Trust.

Skanska has been telling people that it will finance construction of this new building with cash. No bank loan needed, thank you. That’s good, because it would be pretty hard for any developer to get a loan to build an office project in today’s credit crunch. To get this built, Skanska will have to write a check for more than $50 million.

Developers have also been lusting over the land just west of the Waterwall. It’s three acres at the northeast corner of Hidalgo and McCue. The site would have been the location of Turnberry Tower, a high-rise residential tower. Turnberry was going to be a super-luxury tower with most units valued at $1 million and up, says land broker Stan Creech, who is marketing the land.

“It probably would have been the nicest residential project ever built in Houston,” Creech says. Pre-sales for the Turnberry were good, Creech says, but the sour economy killed the deal and the developers have put the land up for sale.

Nevertheless, Turnberry residents would have enjoyed a great Waterwall view, if it had been built. The Turnberry site is a nice parcel, but selling land in today’s economy is no piece of cake. So the pristine parcel sits there vacant – and very available.

By the way, since the Waterwall opened in 1985, most folks assumed that it was a city park. People played Frisbee there, relaxed on lawn blankets and even got married there. (Former Houston Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini was married at a Waterwall ceremony in 1987.) But all along, the Waterwall and the adjacent grassy lawn was actually owned by the Hines company – until just recently.

About a year ago, Hines sold the property to the city at below market price and the venue was renamed the Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park.

Telfair: From Prison to Paradise

In a scant six years, Telfair has gone from being 2,000 acres of excess prison land owned by the Texas Department of Corrections to somewhat of a success story. And success stories are hard to find in today’s home building market.

The Telfair master planned community in Sugar Land reported a 10 percent gain in new home sales in 2009, with 449 houses sold in 2009, up from 408 in 2008. It was the strongest year for new-home sales in Telfair since the community opened in 2006.

Telfair, according to developer Newland Communities, was modeled after Savannah, Ga., which is known for having homes lining an abundance of small square parks and plazas, and uniform grid street patterns. Savannah, with its walkable neighborhoods, is one of model cities held in high esteem by the many architects and New Urbanist planners today.

Telfair’s nod to history is incorporated into its new Telfair Central Hall building which will draw architectural inspiration from the old prison dormitory there. For the residents of Telfair, located near the intersection of Highway 90 and Texas 6, the design of Central Hall will be a cut above the typical community center.

Where did they come up with the name “Telfair”? The community was named for Telfair Square, a park in Savannah. Interesting coincidence: in Helena, Ga., there is a penitentiary named Telfair State Prison.

Fort Bend Keeps Growing

Poor? Destitute? Down on your luck? No problem. Just hop in your car and drive out the Southwest Freeway where economic Nirvana awaits.

Boosters of Fort Bend County are touting the fact that their community was ranked No. 1 in the “Best Places to Get Ahead” -- a national study by Forbes. Forbes looked at job growth and income growth and put Fort Bend at the top of the national heap. Our southwest suburban friends in Fort Bend had a 10 percent gain in income between 2007 and 2008, Forbes reports.

Not missing a beat, the Fort Bend Economic Development Council followed up the Forbes article immediately by firing out a press release headlined: “Fort Bend County, Texas, Provides a Premier Place to Relocate, Open a Business.”

Fort Bend is working overtime to keep the growth churning. They are spending hundreds of thousands on advertising and publicity campaigns to get businesses to move there. This includes television, radio and print ads in down markets like California. It may be working. Forbes reports Fort Bend County has added about 6,000 new jobs since mid-year 2007. That’s not a lot of new jobs and 2009 was not a barnburner, but at least it’s better than the job losses reported in most parts of the nation lately.

Ralph Bivins, former president of the National Association of Real Estate Editors, is editor-in-chief of RealtyNewsReport.com.