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Already better than The Woodlands? Springwoods Village to compete with ecotrails

An artist’s rendering looking south at the Holzwarth Road bridge across SpringCreek that connects the Springwoods Village community with The Woodlands inMontgomery County. The Springwoods Village Nature Preserve is to be located tothe right.
The plan features a nature center building, out of the floodplain, and a seriesof hard and soft trails through the 150 acres of forest habitat, wetlands and apond.
The planned community structure at Springwoods Village
Located 30 miles north of Houston, Springwoods Village is the last remainingmajor undeveloped piece of land along Interstate 45 and comprises about 1,800acres.

Life on the cul-de-sac has never been so eco-friendly: Just when you thought that The Woodlands represented the last frontier in far-flung New Urbanism, Coventry Development Corp. has in the works an 1,800-acre master-planned development south of The Woodlands, to be known as Springwoods Village.

The name of the game is "sustainability" for the suburb, which will straddle I-45 and a proposed future extension of the Grand Parkway — a ring road that has come under criticism for destroying wildlife habitat.

Springwoods Village's developers anticipate a walkable community with "smart, sustainable elements." We can expect a hip mix of luxury rentals, "urban-style" compact housing and single-family dwellings with yards.

A highlight green feature of the $10 billion community is a peripheral mile-long natural open space that is slated to become part of a regional greenway system, allowing for 33 miles of trails, recreation and natural ecosystems for the Springwoods community. Coventry — the development company behind Springwoods — elaborates on its website:

"The mixed-use community will unfold carefully and methodically to balance nature, urbanism and diversity. The existing forest and Spring Creek ecosystems will be protected and preserved utilizing the best practices in sustainable design and infrastructure. Springwoods Village will be user friendly, earth friendly, connected and current."

One thoughtful aspect of the design is the attention to wind aeration. The community is positioned to take advantage of prevailing winds from the southeast, which Coventry promises are consistent in frequency, duration and speed. The developers have also identified areas of "wind catchment" or wind chimneys — architectural devices that enable the wind from above to be brought down to the ground, providing further comfort for pedestrians in key areas of the community.

The community's construction is bound to devastate a portion of local wildlife habitat, but Coventry promises to "reconstruct savannah wetland ponds and create open green spaces," including a water feature that "looks like it was etched by water over the millennia."

Poetic sounding, no? Surely the up to 5,000 homes, 8.5 million square feet of commercial development and more than one million square feet of retail space will have little impact upon the native state of Springwoods Village.

There's speculation that Springwoods will be a home-base for employees of a future consolidated Exxon Mobil campus. Coventry begins two years of infrastructure work during the second quarter of 2011, at which point it will sell land tracts to outside developers who will construct office buildings, hotels, retail centers and residences.

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bang for your buck

These are the 6 most affordable ZIP codes for Houston renters

Facebook / City of Bellaire, Texas

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Trying to afford buying a home in Houston is difficult enough with current mortgage rates, and doubly so if you're already paying high rent on an apartment or a house. But there are six Houston ZIP codes where renters can get the most bang for their buck, according to a new study by financial services company CashNetUSA.

To find the most affordable ZIP codes to rent in the U.S., analysts compared median household incomes by ZIP code to the average annual rent costs using the Zillow Observed Rent Index. ZIP codes where the average annual rental costs required the lowest percentage of median household income were considered the "most affordable."

Two Houston-area ZIP codes specifically stood out in CashNetUSA's ranking of the most affordable ZIP codes for renters in America: 77401 in Bellaire (No. 9) and 77094 in the Energy Corridor (No. 12).

According to the study's findings, the average monthly cost of a rental in Bellaire comes out to $2,401.25, and the median annual income of a Bellaire household is $210,577. Analysts then calculated that the annual rent of a home in the Bellaire ZIP code only takes up 13.68 percent of a household's median income, which is the ninth-lowest in the nation.

But as Houstonians know all too well, Bellaire residents aren't exactly struggling to pay their rent, seeing as they live in one of the wealthiest places in America.

Meanwhile in Houston's 77094 ZIP, annual rent costs only represent 13.88 percent of a household's median annual income. The area – which encompasses the Kingsland Estates, Green Trails, Green Trails Oaks, Windsor Park Estates, Windsor Park Lakes, and Barker neighborhoods – has a median household income of over $168,000, and average rent costs add up to $1,944.58, according to the study.

CashNetUSA found the No. 1 most affordable ZIP code for renters nationwide is 66224 in Leawood, Kansas, where annual rent only takes a 10.57 percent cut out of a household's median annual income.

Elsewhere in Texas, San Antonio's 78248 ZIP ranked as the No. 4 most affordable ZIP code for renters in the U.S., and the No. 1 most affordable ZIP code statewide. The North Texas ZIP code 75013 in Allen ranked two spots behind Houston to claim the No. 14 spot nationally.

The most affordable Houston ZIP codes for renters
CashNetUSA further unveiled the five most affordable ZIP codes across major U.S. cities, including in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.

Following 77094 (which took the No. 1 spot citywide) is 77008 (No. 2), which spans Greater Heights, Houston Heights, Shady Acres, and Lazybrook/Timbergrove. Rent costs in this ZIP code averaged out to $1,856 per month, the report found.

Landing in the No. 3 spot is 77024, which includes four of Houston's historic Memorial Villages, including Hedwig, Bunker Hill, Hunters Creek, and Piney Point. The report said average rent in the area comes out to $1,730 per month, which takes up 16.88 percent of a household's median annual income.

The remaining top two most affordable ZIP codes for Houston renters are located in 77007 (Washington Avenue Coalition/Memorial Park, Rice Military, and Crestwood/Glen Cove) and 77345 in Kingwood, which is about 30 miles north of downtown Houston.