Bridgeland sale canceled

General Growth is bankrupt

Steve Hawley, May 22, 09.

UPDATE (7/20/09, 10:33 am): Bridgeland is no longer for sale, according to the Houston Chronicle. General Growth Properties believes the Houston real estate market is improving, and Peter Houghton said that “Bridgeland is poised to benefit from that resurgence.”

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Caldwell Cos. and the Sumitomo Corp. have been awarded a preliminary contract to buy the Bridgeland development northwest of Houston, according to the Houston Business Journal. The contract would cost between $90 million and $95 million.

General Growth Properties, the current owner of Bridgeland, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April. General Growth also owns five Houston-area malls, as well as The Woodlands Development Corporation, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The controversial project would include 20,000 homes and 65,000 residents in 20 years, according to the Business Journal. Some area residents are concerned that the development, which would occur in a currently-uninhabited floodplain, could cause more frequent or severe flooding.

In March, Peter Houghton, General Growth’s Vice President for Master-Planned Communities, cited the 11,400-acre development as one of the reasons to build Segment E of the Grand Parkway, telling the Harris County Commissioners Court, “We need this road to continue the build-out of Bridgeland.“ John Barton, assistant executive director at the Texas Department of Transportation, affirmed a similar view in March, when he testified that the Grand Parkway provided “an opportunity to open up areas for development in the Greater Houston area.”

Segment E is expected to receive $181 million in stimulus funds, and the Harris County Commissioners Court awarded $22 million in engineering contracts during March.