The planned urban development overlay zoning will provideDeerwood Development with flexibility on the $150-million project.The development site is located along FM 518 and close toInterstate 45, about halfway between Houston and Galveston. Thezoning will allow 30,000 sf of retail space, 34,000 sf forrestaurants, 280,000 sf of office product, an 80,000-sf hotel and48,000 sf of dense residential development on top of the commercialcomponents. The overlay zoning also allows development of anentertainment pavilion and parking garage.

Darell Schmidt, president of Deerwood Development, says thecomponents can be increased under the entitlementagreement--without securing additional OK's from city council. "Wecan either do less or build up to 15% more," he says.

RiverBend was originally scheduled to begin construction in late2005. "Now that we have the overlay, we're preparing our finalengineering documents so we can break ground, probably later thisyear," he tells GlobeSt.com. He says the proposal will go out forbid as soon as possible.