Grand Central Park, the master-planned community being developed on the former Camp Strake land, will add a full-service hotel and convention center.
Work on the project will begin soon, and the properties are expected to open by November 2022, according to a March 9 press release. However, few details are available yet.
The 250-room hotel, convention center and five-level parking garage will be built and owned by the city of Conroe, but they will be leased to luxury hotel operator. The third-party operator and hotel brand have not been chosen yet.
Meanwhile, other projects are moving along in the community, which is owned by Houston-based Johnson Development Corp.
Adjacent to the future hotel site, work continues on Marcel Boulevard, a 10.5-acre mixed-use development. The Woodlands-based Marcel is developing that project, which will include 68,160 square feet of restaurant and retail space, 32,400 square feet of executive office space and a ground-level special event and entertainment area.
Marcel Boulevard will be the second retail and restaurant project in Grand Central Park. The first was Houston-based Fidelis Realty Partners' 336 Marketplace, with anchor tenants Dick’s Sporting Goods, Marshalls, Ross, Michaels, HomeGoods and a 125,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace.
Additionally, Sam Houston State University’s new College of Osteopathic Medicine opened in Grand Central Park’s City Central commercial district last summer. It's the first medical school in Montgomery County.
Johnson Development also is working on a "permanent arrival experience" at Grand Central Parkway, south of South Loop 336. When the project is completed in April, it will make it easier for those traveling north on Interstate 45 to enter the community directly from the Camp Strake/Crighton Road exit, rather than traveling north to Loop 336 and making a U-turn.
Another project, The Lake House, is expected to open this summer. The 13-acre amenity complex will feature a lap and leisure pool, a grand event room, a fitness center and more.
Johnson Development bought the 2,083-acre property just south of Conroe from the Sam Houston Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 2013.
The developer held a grand opening event for Grand Central Park in April 2017. The company has said it is taking a careful approach with Grand Central Park, protecting more than 1,200 acres of woodlands, 100 acres of lakes and miles of existing trails — which will serve as the main amenity for residents.
Boston-based Sasaki Associates, which designed most of The Woodlands and Bridgeland, designed the master plan for Grand Central Park. The plan calls for traditional single-family homes, townhomes, apartments, condominiums, offices, retail shops, hotels and conference centers