Part of a 54-acre master planned project, The Oak at Katy Park is adjacent to new H-E-B
HOUSTON, TEXAS (Dec. 11, 2023) —Wayfinder Real Estate and Read King Commercial Real Estate have broken ground on a 348-unit luxury multifamily community in the Katy, Texas area that is expected to open in early 2025.
Located at 24720 Morton Ranch Rd. across the street from the Katy Park and Athletic Fields, The Oak at Katy Park is part of a 54-acre master-planned project – The Market at Katy Park. H-E-B will anchor the project with a 120,000-square-foot grocery store that is scheduled to open early next year.
“From the 100-acre park across the street to Texas’ most sought-after grocery store right next door, The Oak at Katy Park will offer walkable amenities that residents most want in one of the fastest-growing areas of Houston,” said Wayfinder Co-Founder Mac McElwrath.
As one of Houston’s most coveted suburbs due to its excellent public schools and proximity to major employment centers, the Katy area has limited sites available for multifamily construction, in part due to zoning regulations within the city limits, as well as the ever-increasing demand for housing inside the Katy Independent School District.
Since early 2021, residents have leased nearly 6,000 more apartments in the Katy area than developers have built, illustrating both the undersupply and strong demand in the area. This imbalance is expected to intensify in the next few years as multifamily developers dramatically cut back on new construction due to high interest rates and market uncertainty. According to RealPage Market Analytics, developers have broken ground on just 40 multifamily communities throughout the entire Houston area in 2023, fewer than half of the 91 multifamily projects started in 2022.
The median sales price of a single-family home in the Katy area has increased 45% to $350,000 since 2019. The price increases coupled with a near doubling of mortgage rates has pushed single-family home ownership out of reach for many families.
With the southern and northeastern areas of Katy nearly built out, thousands of new single-family homes are expected to be built in the northwest quadrant of the city and surrounding area in the coming years, driving demand for additional retail.
The Market at Katy Park will become the first grocery-anchored retail center north of I-10 and west of Grand Parkway.
“The Katy Park and Athletic Fields already draw families from across the Katy area year-round, and the new H-E-B will attract a steady stream of customers seven days a week from the moment it opens,” said Cort King of Read King. “This location will quickly become one of the most trafficked intersections in the region and among the most desirable places for residents seeking apartments.”
The Oak at Katy Park is the second development that Houston-based Read King and Austin-based Wayfinder Real Estate have partnered on in the Houston area. In 2021, the two companies co-developed The Waterview, a 295-unit luxury multifamily development in Richmond, Texas. Part of Read King’s Waterview Town Center mixed-use development, the apartment community was sold to Dreamstone Investments in February 2023.
The Oak at Katy Park is scheduled to be completed in mid-2025 with the first residents expected to move in earlier that year.
Amenities will include a resort-style pool, pickleball court, co-working space, a sauna, outdoor kitchens and grilling areas, and a fitness center with state-of-the-art equipment and pitched ceilings.
The Oak at Katy Park project team includes:
- General Contractor — OHT Construction
- Architect — Meeks Architects
- Landscape Architect — Norris Design
- Interior Design — Wayfinder Design
About Wayfinder Real Estate
Wayfinder Real Estate is an Austin-based real estate development and investment company that focuses on developing and acquiring properties in high-employment and high-growth regions of Texas. Founded in 2019, the company specializes primarily in multifamily housing and mixed-use development – with acute emphasis on value creation, principal protection, deal-by-deal optionality, and cycle awareness. Wayfinder’s principals have developed more than 13,000 apartment units valued at over $2 billion and have acquired over $500 million worth of distressed real estate assets, corporate aircraft, and infrastructure projects over the course of their careers.
About Read King
Read King is an industry leading, full-service commercial real estate development firm based in Houston. With over 30 years of experience delivering quality projects across the country, the company has completed over 3.5 million square feet of Class A retail space and over 240 build-to-suit projects for a wide range of retail, restaurant, medical, and service tenants. In addition to ground-up development, Read King provides a wide range of real estate services, including property management, project leasing, finance, accounting and brokerage. Since its founding, Read King has developed projects across 10 states in the US with an estimated value of over $2 billion.
