Massive Resort Coming to Bolivar Peninsula Near Houston

Bolivar Peninsula’s Crystal Beach is getting a massive makeover.

The recently formed Bolivar Investment Group has started development for a 110-acre beach resort called the Peninsula, bringing a wave of excitement and business opportunity to a small unincorporated community that’s relatively undeveloped, the Houston Business Journal reported.

Located at 1520 State Highway 87, the site will feature 90 single-family homes on 15 acres, 117 rental cottages with a clubhouse and two pools, 50 RV sites and five beachside condominiums totaling 160 units.

Besides that, a small airport, a restaurant and spa, a three-story bar and grill, a 1,400-foot retail strip frontage along Highway 87 are among the plans, the outlet said.

Construction on the first phase of the project, expected to begin soon, will include the 41,000-square-foot Zoo Beachbar & Grill. The project could be completed by February of next year, said Bolivar Investment Group co-founder Michael Wiglesworth.

“We’re really going to change the paradigm of destination for Bolivar,” Wiglesworth told the outlet. “This is the biggest development there, from what we know, and it will really drive a lot of awareness and traffic to Bolivar.”

Wiglesworth and his team of investors, developers and builders, including Jim Hayes, Tom Harrison, Curtis Hampton and J.W. Turner, purchased the first chunk of land, amassing 89 acres, in 2021. They gradually acquired more land for the project, which reached a total value of $204,000 in 2022, according to the Galveston County Appraisal District.

Bolivar Peninsula has seen steady growth in recent years. Bolivar Beach Club & RV Resort opened last year and eventually became part of the Camp Margaritaville franchise. Austin-based developers Island Sky Investments are expected to open a luxury condominium community called the Pearl of East Marsh later this month, the outlet said.

The Peninsula’s private airport will make it the only fly-in beach resort in the United States, Wiglesworth told the outlet.

—Quinn Donoghue