What Everyone Ought to Know About the Bolivar Peninsula > Bolivar Peninsula Chamber of Commerce

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What Everyone Ought to Know About the Bolivar Peninsula
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What Everyone Ought to Know About the Bolivar Peninsula

The year 2007 was a great year for the Bolivar Peninsula and with all of the new and exciting events happening all around us,
2008 is sure to be even better.

People come from all over the country to visit Bolivar for its beautiful beaches, bays, boating, birding, gulf carts, fishing and building. It's a bedroom community and oceanfront resort for Beaumont, Houston, and Dallas and is becoming the Hamptons of the Texas Gulf Coast.

Crystal Beach

Its proximity to Beaumont, Port Arthur and Houston, as well as the fact that it’s not overbuilt, has made this a favorite destination for families looking to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. Its low crime rate and small rural town feel as well as great boating and fishing activities have attracted people to the area for decades.

Larry & Susan Wolfe own a beachfront home in Ramada Beach Subdivision, where they come to escape the chaos of their Houston lives. They purchased their vacation home 16 years ago, and have been coming down every weekend since. They just can't get enough of the relaxed peninsula lifestyle.

Larry and Susan Wolfe

New companies are coming to the area, and businesses are expanding and improving. Pictured here is the local grocery store equivalent of walmart, the Gulf Coast Market. They have undergone a complete transformation this year, with still more to come. It's a grocery store, hardware store, clothing store, radio shack and more.

With energy companies investing nearly 20 billion dollars , only 45 minutes up the road, in the Beaumont - Port Arthur area, the Bolivar Peninsula is experiencing tremendous growth.

[The Crystal Beach area was the only real estate market on the Texas coast which experienced significant sales growth in 2007 and a median price increase. Total Sales increased 47% and Median Price increased 12%]
*compare that to the national market where total sales dropped -12.8% and median price decreased -1.8%

Energy Plants

With the impact of 20 billion dollars of capital in our primary buyer and renter market, (the largest capital investment in Texas history), the future for the Bolivar Peninsula never looked better - and is almost guaranteed to continue to increase in sales volume and price. This makes our warm climate - oceanfront market - one of the best investment opportunities in the country!

The closest resort homes on the peninsula to the development activity already starting in Port Arthur at the Motiva refinery, is the Audubon Village Resort in Gilchrist. (Note that Bechtel Engineering won the development contract for the 8 billion dollar Motiva refinery expansion.) BECHTEL PRESS RELEASE

Mike Stuart, marketing representative for Audubon Village Resort, says:

"We are already seeing increased sales activity from the Bechtel Engineers and other related development firms. And we expect even more as the expansion is completed and people move in to fill the many new job positions. We also expect to see even more activity from the expanding local economy which will create more demand for our very affordable oceanfront homes."

"In addition to all that, as good as that is, we are already seeing a lot of activity from new retirees coming from the Beaumont, Houston and Dallas areas - and as far away as Canada." "They like our rural family-oriented setting and low crime rate - and you can't beat our prices."

Audubon Village Gilchrist Building Boom

Why is the Bolivar Peninsula doing so well while the rest of the country is near recession and the national housing market in a crisis?

1. We just became a resort capable market. In just the last few years we installed a sewer system, made our water system drinkable and now have high speed internet and cell phone coverage.

2. Our oceanfront property is affordable to the average American, you can still get an oceanfront home for less than $200k.

3. We have a rural family-oriented environment with a low crime rate and no high-rises blocking the 30 miles of pristine beaches.

4. We are one of the fortunate benefactors of Texas's largest capital investment in history. 20 Billion dollars!

"so they loaded up the truck and they moved to Bolivar-ee"

The sandy beaches, warm waters and various activities - combined with outstanding value - give the Bolivar Peninsula an irresistible allure!

Comments

By mikestuart @ Friday, January 25, 2008 11:55 PM

My advice then, is to listen to these great men:

"What a man has to do to become rich in America is find out where people are going, get there first, and buy land." - Douglas MacArthur

"Every person who invests in well-selected real estate in a growing section of a prosperous community adopts the surest and safest method of becoming financially independent. For real estate is the basis of wealth." - Theodore Roosevelt

By By COLIN GUY, The Enterprise @ Wednesday, February 20, 2008 1:15 AM

Southeast Texas chamber of commerce executives told an industrial group Tuesday they are striving to attract new workers to the region.

It's an issue central to the industrial expansion that will result in an outside investment of about $12.8 billion in Port Arthur and Beaumont that also affects Hardin and Orange counties.

Added to that figure is another estimated $1 billion in school bond issues approved by voters in various districts.

Everyone needs to join in the effort to bring in an expected 15,000 workers needed for the projects, said Jim Rich, president of the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce.

Rich, and his Port Arthur and Orange counterparts, outlined their efforts to members of the Golden Triangle Business Roundtable's monthly meeting in Port Neches.

"We have a tremendous need to attract people here," Rich, addressing members of the Golden Triangle Business Roundtable, said.

"We all have to be salesmen for this area. We need to all be out there trying to recruit people because the communities that can attract talent are the communities that are going to be successful," he said.

Rich, along with Sabrina Gray and Mary Ann Reid, presidents of the Orange and Port Arthur chambers of commerce respectively, also noted an accompanying commercial and residential construction in their communities.

Although local workers will be able to fill many of the job openings additional laborers need to be attracted to the region, Rich said.

Toward that end each of the three chambers is engaged in a marketing effort for their communities, although Orange is the only city to have announced a new slogan.

Gray said community leaders plan to market the city as a place with "small town charm and world class culture."

Gray said they hope to raise awareness of the Stark Museum of Art, the Lutcher Theater for the Performing Arts and Shangri La, a series of botanical gardens set to reopen in March.

"The rebuilding of Mr. (H.J. Lutcher) Stark's gardens has brought an excitement to Orange we haven't seen in many, many years," she said.

The consulting firm, North Star Destinations Strategies of Nashville, Tenn., is working on a branding campaign for Beaumont.

A presentation on the plan for Beaumont will be made Tuesday at City Council.

While city leaders from each community are working to raise their city's profile they have also worked well as a team, Rich said, particularly when attempting to acquire relief funds following Hurricane Rita.

He stressed the need to continue to work together and indicated a delegation will travel to Lake Charles, La., to visit with officials there about joining in a cooperative effort to address common issues such as a shortage of skilled labor.

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