Porter Heights

The small community of Porter Heights in Montgomery County is about to get much bigger. The bedroom community is currently home to roughly 1,900 residents. "Porter Heights is going to be growing rapidly, thanks to the development of The Highlands master-planned community and H-E-B center that is supposed to be coming," says Elizabeth Harrell, a broker with Rhoden Real Estate for nearly a decade and a Montgomery County resident. Porter Heights is about 27 miles north of Houston.

The Highlands master-planned community spans 2,300 acres in a densely wooded park-like setting with large recreational lakes and miles of walking and hiking trails. Some residents can enjoy golf course living, with their Highlands home being on the course of the Highland Pines Golf Club. The Highlands' new builds feature brick and stone facades with backyard-covered patios and two-car garages. These homes are priced from the high $300,000 to the high $600,000. Besides The Highlands, many newly built craftsman homes are coming to Porter Heights. These homes feature three to four bedrooms and range from $230,000 to $280,000. Older homes in Porter Heights are primarily spacious ranch-style homes built in the 1970s. No matter where you live in Porter Heights, you can live on spacious lots with large front yards surrounded by tall trees.

Two public school districts serve Porter Heights: New Caney Independent School District and the Conroe Independent School District. "There are plans for a new elementary school and middle school to go in The Highlands as part of the New Caney Independent School District," Harrell says. "The area is growing so fast. We need another elementary and middle school." Families zoned to the New Caney Independent School District can send their children to Crippen Elementary, which has a C-plus rating from Niche, White Oak Middle School, which has a B-minus rating from Niche, and Porter High School. At Porter High School, which has a B rating from Niche, the student-teacher ratio is 17 to 1. Porter High School is divided into three small learning communities: engineering, the arts, and business and criminal justice. Porter Heights students zoned to Conroe Independent School District can attend San Jacinto Elementary, which has a B-plus rating from Niche; Grangerland Intermediate School, which serves fifth and sixth graders and has a B-plus rating from Niche; Moorehead Junior High School, which serves seventh and eighth grades and has a B-plus rating from Niche, and Caney Creek High School. The student-teacher ratio is 16 to 1 at Caney Creek High School. Niche rates Caney Creek High School with an overall B-minus rating. Caney Creek High students can participate in various sports, including football, powerlifting, swimming, and water polo.

As a resident of The Highlands, you can surround yourself with nature daily and participate in various outdoor activities. You can hike and bike on over 30 miles of trails, feel like a kid again with your kids on the playground or enjoy a day of fishing and paddle boarding on one of the community's recreational lakes. There's also a golf course right in the community. Located on the banks of the San Jacinto River and nestled by tall pines, the Highlands Pines Golf Course offers 18 holes of golf with elevation changes and stunning views of meadows and lakes. Highland Pines is also the first public access golf club to open in the Houston area in over a decade.

You can stop for a coffee at Summer Moon Cafe when you need some fuel. You can enjoy traditional coffee drinks, matcha lattes and chai teas or peruse the seasonal menus. For classic bar food, you can order buffalo wings and a cold beer on tap at Woodson's Local Tap + Kitchen. A Kroger and Walmart Supercenter are roughly 10 miles away when shopping for groceries and everyday essentials. For now, the closest H-E-B is about 12 miles away, but soon, one will be in The Highlands community.

"Porter Heights is going to become the most valuable community in the area," Harrell says, who has sold both commercial and residential properties in Porter Heights.

Written By

Jess Nocera

Photography Contributed By

Michael Forbes

Video By

Victoria Sharpe