Brookfield Proposes Master-Planned Community Near Houston Mall

Brookfield is building a master-planned community next to a shopping mall it acquired in 2018.

The Toronto-based firm’s residential arm is teaming up with New York-based Coventry Development Corporation to build Midline, a 2,800-home master-planned community near Baybrook Mall in Friendswood, the Houston Business Journal reported.

Midline will be located behind the mall, which is off Interstate 45 about 20 miles southeast of Houston near Clear Lake City. The 1.2 million-square-foot mall is anchored by Star Cinema Grill, Dave & Buster’s, Dillard’s, JCPenney, H&M, Macy’s and Forever 21.

The joint venture has already worked together on developing an outdoor component for Baybrook Mall, which was completed in 2015.

The community will feature commercial development at the intersection of El Dorado Boulevard and Beamer Road as well as pools, playgrounds, coworking spaces, an indoor event space and 14 miles of trails.

The first phase of the 1,066-acre development will include 271 lots for homes ranging from the $300,000s to the $700,000s. It will be located along a future segment of Beamer Road that will stretch from FM 528 to Fife Lane.

The developer has already started infrastructure work on the site.

Brookfield became the owner of Baybrook Mall when it purchased General Growth Properties in a deal worth nearly $15 billion. Coventry has owned the land Midline will be developed on, once known as Webster Ranch, since the 1960s.

This isn’t Coventry’s only project in the area. It’s also partnering with Florida-based Regency Centers to develop a 23-acre retail center that will be anchored by H-E-B on the other side of Interstate 45.

–Jess Hardin