The Avalon Marketing Group and Cornerbrook Development held a Realtor Focus Group at PF Chang’s in Sugar Land to gain insight from area Realtors about a new gated, low maintenance courtyard community to be built in the Sugar Land area.

During the dinner, Cheryl White, Sales and Marketing Manager,-Avalon Marketing Group and Chris Helms, Vice President of Construction – Cornerbrook Development presented a site map as well as several new floor plans that are being considered. All of the courtyard homes will include standard, no extra –cost features such as granite counter tops, ceramic flooring in all wet areas and crown molding thought out. According to Jennifer Weaver, REMAX Southwest, An upscale, gated community, with a variety of one story floor plans will provide the Sugar Land area with a much-needed housing alternative."

Attendees included: Carol Gilkey- REMAX on the Brazos, Mickie Mann – REMAX on the Brazos, Hank Mann –REMAX on the Brazos, Cecil Peschel – REMAX Southwest Jennifer Weaver – REMAX Southwest, Nancy Marcis - Prudential Gary Greene, Denise Houser – REMAX Fine Properties, Sonia Cousins – REMAX on the Brazos, Julius Zatopek - REMAX on the Brazos, Eloise Zatopek – REMAX on the Brazos and Ann Nordstrand- Coldwell Banker United.

For more information visit www.cornerbrookdevelopment.com or call 281-261-9009.

Houston Business Journal
December 1, 2005
Allison Wollam

Cornerbrook Development is planning a 128-home community in Katy on property that was once used as a tree farm by the master-planned community of Cinco Ranch.

The Pines will be located next to the developer's well-known Villages of Mason Creek near the intersection of Kingsland and Westgreen.

The new collection of courtyard home designs, created for low-maintenance living, will be priced from the $150,000s to the low $200,000s and range in size from 1,400 square feet to 1,900 square feet.

"We're introducing a new collection of home designs that we've named the Easy Living Series because of their masonry exteriors and smaller home sites, requiring less exterior maintenance," says George Kaleh, president of Stafford-based Cornerbrook Development.

Exteriors will be maintained by the community's homeowners association.

The Easy Living Collection offers both one- and two-story plans, with most of the homes one-story in design. All two-story homes will feature the master suite on the first floor.

Kaleh expects the homes to appeal to both empty nesters and the young singles market.

The homes will feature custom kitchens with 42-inch maple cabinets, granite countertops, tile backsplashes and a full appliance package.

The homes also offer arches, crown molding, storage space and master suites with garden baths.

Houston Chronicle
December 3, 2005
Nancy Sarnoff

A developer is building its second residential project in the Katy area as it attempts to cash in on the appetite there for new homes.

Cornerbrook Development is building The Pines, a gated community of single-family "courtyard homes."

The project is next to the company's Villages of Mason Creek, near the intersection of Kingsland and Westgreen.

The new homes are designed for low-maintenance living, the developer said.

The company's even calling them the "Easy Living Series" because their masonry exteriors and smaller home sites require less maintenance, said George Kaleh, Cornerbrook president.

The homes will range from 1,400 to 1,900 square feet and be priced from the $150,000s to the low $200,000s.

There will be 128 homes in the community, which sits on 16 acres that were once part of a tree farm for the Cinco Ranch master-planned community.

Houston Business Journal
October 29, 2004

A local developer plans to construct nearly 100 luxury town homes priced from $120,000 to $155,000 in Katy.

Cornerbrook Development plans to break ground within a month on The Village of Mason Creek, which is planned for an eight-acre tract on Kingsland Boulevard near Interstate 10.

The 98 units will range in size from 1,149 square feet to 1,473 square feet, and be situated in buildings of one, two and three stories.

Upscale finishes will include nine-foot ceilings, maple cabinetry, built-in desk alcoves, granite countertops, double-pane windows, attached garages and master baths with glass-enclosed showers and garden tubs.

George Kaleh, president of Cornerbrook Development, says eight of the townhomes have already been reserved, and he expects to build out the project in a year and a half.

The developer built a similar project in Sugar Land called Grants Colony Townhomes.

Cornerbrook is also developing The Heights at Madison Park, a condominium project in the historic Heights neighborhood near downtown Houston.

Kaleh says construction is complete on the first 38-unit building, which features Art Deco-styled architecture.

Houston Business Journal
October 29, 2004
Jennifer Dawson

Administrative professionals with the St. Luke's Episcopal Health System will soon be reporting to work in Midtown instead of the Texas Medical Center.

The St. Luke's employees will be moving from 6620 Main to 3100 Main to make room for Baylor College of Medicine physicians. The doctors currently operating out of the Smith and Scurlock medical towers connected to The Methodist Hospital will take over the 6620 Main space.

Baylor became affiliated with St. Luke's in April after dissolving a partnership with Methodist. The unfriendly break-up ended a long relationship between Baylor and Methodist, which had been the medical school's teaching hospital for 50 years.

"It's a little bit of musical buildings," says Eric Johnson, of Transwestern Commercial Services, which developed 6620 Main and assisted with the shift in St. Luke's personnel.

St. Luke's signed a lease two weeks ago for 139,000 square feet of space in Midtown at 3100 Main, a building owned by Houston Community College. The administrative staff will move there in January, says Johnson, who represented St. Luke's on the lease.

Phillip Thompson and Jay Bonano of Trione & Gordon|CB Richard Ellis represented Houston Community College on the deal, taking the 531,000-square-foot building to 100 percent leased.

St. Luke's lowered rental costs by moving down the light rail line into Midtown, Bonano says.

Rates in the Med Center are $25 to $29 per square foot, while the asking price at 3100 Main was $17.50 per square foot, he says.

"We did an 11-year deal with them that was less than that quoted rate over the term," says Bonano, who would not disclose the exact terms of the lease. "It was a cheaper alternative for them versus leasing space in the Medical Center."

The Baylor doctors were scheduled to sign a 10-year lease this week on their new space in 6620 Main, where they will move in April.

The structure had four floors of office space totaling 185,000 square feet on top of 11 floors of parking when it was completed less than a year ago. But it recently underwent a considerable renovation by Transwestern in preparation for the white coats.

The top parking level has been converted into additional office space to give the tenant another 35,000 square feet of space.

Houston Business Journal
December 13, 2002
Nancy Sarnoff

In a sea of high-priced condominiums saturating Houston's inner-Loop residential market, George Kaleh is planning a new development to offer in-town home buyers a more affordable alternative.

Kaleh, president of Sugar Land-based Cornerbrook Development Co., will break ground early next year on The Heights at Madison Park, a luxury condominium development just south of the historic Heights neighborhood.

Madison Park will be built on a three-acre tract of unimproved land fronting Heights Boulevard and White Oak Bayou, just south of Interstate 10.

The roughly $30 million project has been blueprinted as a three-building complex.

The first building — expected to come out of the ground by March — will be a three-story, bricks-and-sticks structure containing 38 units.

Predicting staunch demand, Kaleh is planning two additional five-story buildings containing 152 units collectively.

Price tags will start at $129,500, topping out at around $250,000, which is where prices typically begin for most new condominium construction.

"This project will be the most affordable of its kind inside the Loop," says Kaleh.

EDI Architecture in Houston has been tapped to design the project, which Kaleh describes as having an Art Deco style.

Each residence in the first building will be a one-story flat with a balcony, ranging in size from 732 square feet to 992 square feet and offering one or two bedrooms.

Units will have 10-foot ceilings, oversized windows, designer appliances, computer alcoves and glass brick, an Art Deco design staple. Granite counters in the kitchens, double crown molding and maple cabinetry also will be standard in each unit.

At build-out, common resident amenities will include a fitness club, business center and swimming pool.

A select number of units in the initial building will have garages, while the five-story structures will have parking on the ground level.

An in-house sales office will be developed on the site just after the new year.

Waterfield Financial and Southern National Bank provided financing for the project.

Turning a corner

Cornerbrook purchased the land this fall from Galveston Harbor Properties.

The asking price was $15 per square foot, or $1.94 million.

The Old Bayou Inn restaurant was located on the site for years before it was demolished in the late 1990s.

Kaleh says when he decided to develop an in-town condo project, he initially began scouting apartment complexes to convert into condominiums, a growing trend in close-in Houston neighborhoods.

But after running the numbers and a futile attempt at finding the right location, Kaleh discovered he could build a new product for what it cost to convert.

"I couldn't find this location with these views of downtown," he explains. "We're literally 30 seconds off I-10 and minutes from downtown and Memorial Park."

Kaleh says he is able to sell the units at lower prices because of the building's cost-efficient design and his company's volume buying power.

Cornerbrook's two divisions — multifamily and condominium/townhome — have been building high-density projects in Houston since 1997.

Kaleh, however, has been in the development business since the late 1970s when he first got started building homes in his native Rochester, NY.

Noted for Class A apartment construction, including N  

Houston Business Journal
June 30, 2002
Ralph Bivins

Cornerbrook Development is developing the Northbrooke Apartments, a $15.4 million apartment complex in north Harris County.

The 240-unit project will be on a 12.6-acre site at 17111 Hafer Road, which is one block south of FM 1960 and two blocks west of Interstate 45 North.

The Northbrooke Apartments are slated for completion in 2003. Demand for apartments is strong in north Houston, and leasing for Northbrooke will begin before the end of 2002, said George Kaleh, president of Cornerbrooke Development. The units, ranging in size from 647 to 1300 square feet, will have rents from $700 to $1200 per month.

Greystar Development Construction is building the project, which will be managed by Greystone Asset Management.

Cornerbrook also has proposed to build a 240-unit apartment complex in Stafford in Fort Bend County. The project, expected to be named the Shadowbrooke Apartments, will be located at 1025 Dulles Ave. in Stafford, just north of First Colony.