Quiet, idyllic-looking streets filled with new-build cookie-cutter homes and perfectly manicured lawns. Young couples pushing their small children in strollers. A beautiful boathouse on a man-made lake accented by picturesque bridges. A lifestyle that feels all too perfect to be real—it’s almost like a scene from a movie set in an eerie suburban utopia.

Yet this is no movie set. This is Bridgeland, one of the Houston area’s most popular master-planned communities. Located in the western suburb of Cypress, the area used to be acres of prairie, built up from nothing by the developer Howard Hughes Holdings. Construction began in August 2004, with lot sales beginning in January 2006, and the area has since turned into a town of its own, a one-stop shop with restaurants and recreation, as well as residences.

Bridgeland is home to 22,000 residents living in approximately 7,500 completed homes. Another 450 homes are at varying stages of construction. Howard Hughes aims to increase this to about 70,000 residents living in about 23,000 homes and apartments. Which poses the question: how does one create a whole community from scratch?

Master-planned communities are Howard Hughes Holdings’ expertise. Places like Bridgeland are residential neighborhoods that are developed to be small, contained cities boasting commercial properties, recreation, and educational offerings all in one place. When scouting for potential sites, Howard Hughes looks for a great scale of land near metro areas, as well as surrounding infrastructure such as easy access to major highways.

Take The Woodlands, for example, a product of Howard Hughes that dates back about 50 years, located 30 miles north of Houston, a straight shot up I-45. Driving down its streets, you’re surrounded by beautiful tree canopies, a vast number of shopping centers, plenty of restaurants, and even a mall. Over the decades, this master-planned community has become its own city, and one of the largest suburbs of Greater Houston.

The Woodlands and its success have become Howard Hughes’s blueprint in terms of planning, design, community development, and working with nature—more than 35 percent of The Woodlands is dedicated to green space, which is also a priority for Bridgeland.

Jim Carman, president of the Houston region for Howard Hughes, says the goal of a master-planned community is for it to be self-sufficient and sustainable so that it can be around for decades to come. A project as big as Bridgeland is one that will develop as the community and market expands, he says.

“It takes great patience to develop these communities over decades, and it takes a lot of capital investment as well,” Carman says. The company declined to disclose the costs associated with purchasing the land and developing it.

Howard Hughes intends for Bridgeland to become a job center, much like The Woodlands, where there is currently one and a half jobs per household. Earlier this year, the company broke ground on an urban district called Bridgeland Central that will span 925 acres, including the 70-acre Village Green at Bridgeland Central. This new district will create more than 28,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and be home to Bridgeland’s first H-E-B. In August 2023, Chevron acquired more than 77 acres of undeveloped land within Bridgeland Central for a possible research and development campus, furthering the development’s goal of becoming a major job center.

Carman says the hope is to have Bridgeland Central be the community’s downtown, similar to The Woodlands Town Center. The Woodlands has been booming as a headquarters destination for various companies, particularly in the energy and health care sectors, and he wants Bridgeland to become a job center not only to encourage residents to work in the community, but also have generations who are willing to stay or move back to Bridgeland for years to come. With an abundance of growing school districts surrounding Bridgeland—such as Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, Waller ISD, and Katy ISD, as well as other private schools and childcare facilities—there won’t be a lack of students to invite back.

“Through Bridgeland, we hope to give the opportunity to raise a family, and also bring in a job center for northwest Houston—a place where we’re not just going to be a bedroom community to other parts of Houston, but to ultimately create the job center so that people can, not just live, but work, play, pray, learn, and discover,” Carman says.

Bridgeland’s shopping centers and amenities are typically suburban. Residents can make their way to Lakeland Village Center to enjoy some out-and-about time. In recent years Bridgeland has attracted L3 Craft Coffee, Local Table, Marble Slab Creamery, Russo’s NY Pizzeria, Pure Barre, F45 Training, Nails of America, and many others. The area has a farmers market two Sundays a month.

Bridgeland also offers recreational features such as walking paths, a bird-watching facility, a boathouse, and, yes, plenty of bridges. The man-made Chrysalis Lake won a Trailblazer Award from the Houston District Council of the Urban Land Institute for its commitment to sustainability. Howard Hughes Holdings planted almost every tree.

This manufactured utopia is created to attract people looking to transition to the suburban lifestyle. For those who don’t want to leave their job in the loop just yet, the commute on US 290 is longer but doable—if you don’t mind sitting in crazy rush-hour traffic. But if you’re ready to make the leap, once Bridgeland Central is fully developed, you might find yourself so content with the amenities around you—and a job close by—that you may never want to leave.