National company building $6 million in new houses in Orange

National company building $6 million in new houses in Orange

More than $6 million in new houses in Orange's Reserve at Mallard Lake subdivision are in the construction phase, according to city building permits.

In December, the city issued 25 permits to D.R. Horton, a national homebuilding and developing corporation based in Arlington, Texas. The new houses are being built in a newly-developed area off Allie Payne Road in the Little Cypress-Mauriceville school district.

The permits show the houses will be 1,400 to 1,800 square feet and will sell for prices in the "mid $200,000," calculating to about a total of $6 million.

Also, Barchett Investments based in Beaumont received four permits for new houses on Old Timers Road in Orange.

Mallard Lakes was first developed by the late Tony Houseman of Orange in the early 1990s with several brick houses built along Allie Payne Road with a lake in back.

A big reason for the latest development in housing is the city of Orange extending water and sewer services to the area using Economic Development Corporation grants from a special city sales tax approved by voters in 1992.

D.R. Horton began building houses in the subdivision in 2021, constructing several "spec" houses in the modern farmhouse style along Allie Payne.

The new development goes into acreage off Allie Payne with new concrete streets built by the company. A few of the home sites will be along the side of the lake.

They aren't the only new houses going up in new developments. The Little Cypress Grove subdivison, also in the Orange city limits, has three new houses under construction with a couple completed. The subdivision is off Martin Luther King Jr. Drive west of Little Cypress Junior High. The subdivision is on 28 acres and is planned to eventually have 187 single-family homes.

In addition, DSLD Homes has begun building streets and houses in Orange Gardens, a 14.5 acre development off FM 105 east of the intersection with Highway 62. The subdivision will is in the Bridge City school district and outside of city limits.

Orange Gardens is planned to have 150 home sites with 75 in the first phase.

The Barchett Investment houses are at 310, 312, 318, and 320 Old Timers Road off Tulane Road. The company's website says the two and three bedroom houses will be rented.

DSLD, with sites also in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, also developed Marsh Estates in Bridge City and Cypresswood Village off Highway 87 in Orange, across from the new Chevron Phillips chemical plant. Both those developments are in the Bridge City school district.

The days of local builders and developers like Houseman, Dal Sasso, Zeto-Lakin, and Sid Johnson have passed in Orange County. D.R. Horton is a national corporation with shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It is listed as No. 194 of the Fortune 500 largest U.S. corporations based on revenue.

Local homebuilder David Huerta, who was a graduate of LC-M High School, passed away in December. Huerta Homes, based in Pinehurst, had constructed a number of new houses in the county.