Homeplace, a new 2,l00-acre community in Montgomery, is emphasizing a cycling-forward design with miles of mountain biking trails and paths.
Homeplace
Homeplace is situated along Texas 105 near Lake Creek High School in Montgomery, about 55 miles north of downtown Houston.
Homeplace
In a region famous for its car-centric lifestyle, the developer behind a new 4,500-home community is taking an unusual strategy: building a neighborhood where bikes may matter just as much as cars.
The 2,100-acre project near Montgomery, known as Homeplace, is being built along Texas 105 by Rochester Development in partnership with the Randall family, a longtime Montgomery family who has owned portions of the land since the 1800s. Building the entire community will take 15 years, according to Homeplace, but the first phase with 330 homes will be ready by August 2027. Home prices will range from about $300,000 to more than $1 million.
The development is being designed around a connected network of paved paths, off-road trails and 17-miles of dedicated bicycle lanes. The bike lanes will form seven interconnected loops integrated into the community’s road system, creating roughly 100 riding routes.
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While large-scale master-planned communities often incorporate trails and paths for pedestrians and cyclists, Homeplace appears to be taking a more cyclist-forward approach.
Although the strategy is uncommon in Texas, cycling advocates say it’s part of a small, but growing trend of real estate developers embracing bike-friendly infrastructure — even in hot, southern climates.
“We are seeing more developers recognize that having great places to walk and bike in a community isn’t just a recreational amenity, but that it’s really a competitive advantage,” said Martina Haggerty, vice president of infrastructure at PeopleforBikes, a national cycling advocacy nonprofit.
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A preliminary, conceptual rendering of a tunnel and paths underneath Homeplace Boulevard. Cars will drive on top of the tunnel, allowing students walking or biking to Creekside Elementary School and Lake Creek High School safe passage below.
Homeplace
A conceptual rendering showing the entrance of the the tunnel in Homeplace.
Homeplace
Bike-forward communities have popped up in Phoenix and Bentonville, Ark., for example, as well as a car-free community in Tempe,Ariz.,Haggerty said
Houston’s cycling infrastructure is far weaker than other large cities, according to PeopleforBikes, which analyzes how well roadways and paths accommodate cyclists in 3,000 U.S cities.
The city’s bike network scored just 17 out of 100 in PeopleforBike’s annual ranking, placing it in the bottom 13th percentile in the country. Houston has expanded its cycling infrastructure over the past decade, though some efforts to reallocate street space for protected bike lanes have since been reversed or shelved.
Outside of Houston, suburbs such as Katy and Tomball performed better on PeopleforBike’s ranking, but only The Woodlands earned what advocates consider a strong ranking of 66.
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Joe Cutrufo, executive director of BikeHouston, also pointed to a relatively new community southwest of Houston called Indigo, a 235-acre agrihood with certain “car-free zones” in Richmond.
“You look at what these developers are doing outside the city – and they know that having trails is good for their bottom line,” Cutrufo said.
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Homeplace is expected to feature 4,500 homes once complete over the next 15 years. The development is in unincorporated Montgomery County.
Homeplace
Suburban dwellers are unlikely to ditch their cars completely but they could rely on them less within their own neighborhoods if streets are safe and comfortable enough to encourage biking to run errands or commute to school, Cutrufo said.
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That would require developers to design streets with slower speed limits and safer crossings to prevent accidents such as the 2023 killing of a 14-year-old boy riding his bike to school in Katy’s Cinco Ranch community, Cutrufo said.
Raised crosswalks and narrower streets can encourage drivers to move more slowly. And separated bike paths or wide medians in the middle of a busy road can reduce risks,Cutrufo said.
Safe street crossings will be a priority in Homeplace’s design, though the developer is still finalizing plans, said Chad Rochester of Rochester Development. Speed limits are not expected to exceed 30 miles per hour, for example, he added.
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The developer has already built a pedestrian tunnel passing underneath Homeplace Boulevard which will allow children to walk safely to nearby schools, Rochester said. His team is also coordinating with a youth cycling organization, the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, to design the mountain biking trails in the project.
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Future bike trails in Homeplace are expected to connect to a 43-acre amenity complex with a bike pump track, a looping course of mounds and turns for riders.
The Randall family wants to build on an existing cycling culture in Montgomery, where groups of bikers routinely ride on trails connecting to Sam Houston National Forest and Lake Conroe on the weekends, Rochester said.
Homeplace is a bet that those riders, and future residents, will embrace cycling as part of everyday life, not just as a weekend pastime.