Wood Forest

Skim the brochures from any master-planned community around Houston, and you’ll likely read about all of the nearby amenities, with caveats like, “Only 40 minutes from Houston!” But for the developers of Wood Forest, “nearby” wasn’t close enough. When laying out the plan for the 3,000-acre community in 2009, they designated large swaths of the Texas woodland for commercial use, ensuring that dining, retail and entertainment opportunities would be available immediately within the neighborhood. Today, Wood Forest's grocery store parking lots include spaces for golf carts, a testament to the proximity between the neighborhood’s houses and amenities. “The way they designed the neighborhood is perfect,” says Wendy Welsh, a Broker Associate at Coldwell Banking Realty with over 20 years of experience. “There are schools, parks and walking trails inside the community.”

The housing market in Wood Forest is “build or buy,” allowing prospective residents to buy a pre-owned home or to purchase a lot and collaborate with a builder to design their own custom house. Move-in ready homes include traditional brick-and-stone ranches, Craftsman-style Colonial Revivals and contemporary cottages priced between $450,000 and $650,000. Custom builds start at $300,000, offering 13 distinct architectural styles ranging from modest town houses to multi-million dollar estates on the golf course. Regardless of the architecture, homes in Wood Forest feature attached garages, large manicured lawns and plenty of outdoor living space, including covered patios and backyard pools. Sidewalks are rare, but with through-traffic funneled to the major roads on the neighborhood's perimeter, locals can walk their dogs in the streets or along the pedestrian trails that link subdivisions with neighborhood parks.

Wood Forest is home to more than a dozen neighborhood parks scattered throughout the neighborhood. Parents host birthday parties under the pavilion at the Lily Pad Spray Park, perfect for children ages 3 and younger, while older children run to Forest Island, where the 42-foot water tower, water slides and sports zone create hours of supervised entertainment under the watchful eye of the lifeguards. Christine Allen Nature Park is the largest park in Woodforest, a 33-acre nature preserve with jogging trails, fishing ponds and a beautiful pedestrian bridge. Other neighborhood parks include hard-to-find recreational features, including disc golf courses, outdoor yoga spaces, scooter tracks, dog parks and accommodations for children with disabilities. Wood Forest even has its private golf club – a 27-hole course designed by PGA Tour pro Steve Elkington – and additional indoor recreation opportunities are available at The Palm, an event center with space for private parties, dances, spa facilities and an indoor swim complex.

Approximately 90 acres of the Woodforest master plan are zoned for commercial use, allowing immediate access to retail, dining, medical facilities and everyday necessities across Wood Forest’s three distinct commercial districts. The Medical District includes a family hospital, dental office and sports rehab center; the Pine Market District caters to weekday errands, as coffee shops, gas stations, salons and boutiques surround Harvest Market, a fresh-food grocery store modeled after Whole Foods; and the West District caters to kids and families, offering schools, day-care centers and chain restaurants. “The shopping district is very similar to The Woodlands, but it’s all much newer,” says Welsh. Weekday dinners are easy thanks to Grab N Go Tacos, a Tex-Mex restaurant with a gourmet fusion tacos carry-out menu. On weekends, start your day with a latte from Luv Coffee, order spring rolls for lunch at WO Sushi Fusion, or book a table for two at Orioli’s Cucina Italiana, where the house-made pastas are perfectly paired with fine wines to create an ideal date-night destination.

Two separate highly rated school districts intersect within Wood Forest – Montgomery and Conroe ISDs – creating a fun intra-neighborhood rivalry during the high school football season.

Many students in Wood Forest are within walking distance of Stuart Elementary, a school with an A-rating from Niche. From there, students graduate to the A-rated Peet Junior High School and B-plus-rated Conroe High School, where students have access to over 30 Advanced Placement courses and programs to help them prepare for college.

Written By

Jack Hale

Video By

Alex Finneran