$10 Million In Amenities Set Galveston’s New Roseate Beach Development Apart — How an Island Son Is Creating Something Completely Different
The Last Major Tract of Land In West Beach Takes Shape With Six Pickleball Courts, Natural Walking Trails and Room For Much More
BY Chris Baldwin // 04.30.24Roseate Beach brings a full amenity center that's unmatched on Galveston.
The figure cuts through the usual marketing jargon, drives home the reality in a way that no slick brochure can. $10 million in amenities. That is what Roseate Beach, the new beachside development in Galveston’s West Beach will bring. What will help set it apart in a a Galveston real estate world where a basic pool is sometimes touted as prime amenity.
Roseate Beach is set to have three full buildings of amenities in contrast. Possibly four in the future if the plans for a showcase restaurant on property come to fruition. Green East Realty CEO Manny Mehos, the born and raised Galveston guy spearheading this development, revealed the $10 million figure to PaperCity for the first time during an exclusive sit-down interview. It is a number that gives the clearest idea of yet of just what is coming to West Beach.
And how different it is going to be.
“The strategy is that people don’t like to leave their toys for a long period of time,” Mehos says. “Walking on the beach is not enough. They need the toys they have at home. Their fitness center. Their pickleball courts. Their dog parks. Their pools. All those.
“The idea was then to build them something they could stay at for months at a time and not miss a beat in their life outside of work. That’s the amenity center.”
It really will be a center at Roseate Beach. Multiple buildings. A pool that could be lifted from a resort. A full clubhouse. Six pickleball courts. That gym worthy fitness center. Conference and office spaces that can be reserved by residents. With room for more. The new renderings with this story — released for the first time to PaperCity — reflect this amenity rich reality.
Adding on-site spa services is one thing being considered, depending on the demand. This is Galveston beach living — with all the perks you’d find in a plush high-rise in a major city. Of course, Roseate Beach is in Galveston, with all the nature that can provide. To take advantage of that, more than two miles of walking trails are being designed by CARBO Landscape Architecture, a firm recommended to Mehos by Thomas Woltz, the famed landscape architect behind the transformation of Houston’s Memorial Park.
Wotlz believes in (and advocates for) letting an area’s true natural surroundings be the star and CARBO will follow that ethos at Roseate Beach, weaving the trails through the wetlands.
“Their goal is native planting,” Mehos says. “Which is a trend, but unique in Galveston.”
Roseate Beach will be a very walkable land, one where getting out into nature is part of the lure. This is a different type of a Galveston development. No pastel colors. No Victorian finishes. Roseate Beach is set to be a much more modern and contemporary development of houses. With large windows encouraged. The impact glass of today can withstand winds of up to 200 MPH and Roseate Beach plans to take full advantage of the views that help make beach living such a delght.
“It’s not all about the windows,” Mehos tells PaperCity. “Our colors are much more earth tone. You’ll see the difference as you drive down (FM) 3005.
“What we’re doing is creating something that hasn’t been done yet in Galveston.”
In many ways, Roseate Beach is what Manny Mehos envisions Galveston living can be. Mehos graduated from Galveston’s Ball High School in the 1970s, founded two Texas banks, building a career in finance. His ties to Galveston go all the way to the sea. Mehos’ grandfather came over from Greece, started a grocery supply company and a snapper and shrimp operation called Liberty, named after the beacon of a statue that greeted him as he came through Ellis Island. Eventually, Manny Mehos’ grandfather became the largest wholesale distributor of shrimp on the Gulf Coast. Some of that entrepreneur drive certainly seems to have been passed on Mehos.
Many real estate developers can’t wait to tell you how visionary they are, Manny Mehos resists such talk. He’ll tell you he just happened to be in the right place at the right time to see this opportunity. The last thing he wants to do is make Roseate Beach about him.
But there is no denying that this new development owes plenty to having an island son, someone who knows these beaches as well as anyone, at its helm.
“The strategy is that people don’t like to leave their toys for a long period of time,” Mehos says. “Walking on the beach is not enough. They need the toys they have at home. Their fitness center. Their pickleball courts. Their dog parks. Their pools.” — Roseate Beach developer Manny Mehos
Roseate Beach is not about an outsider trying to tell everyone what Galveston should be now that it’s cruise ship and real estate hot. Mehos has never left Galveston for long (he currently owns two houses on the island with plans to sell one and buy another in Roseate Beach) and he understands what’s coming with the widening of I-45.
“When the highway’s finished, it’s going to be a 30 minute drive to (downtown Houston),” Mehos says of Galveston. “It’s going to be a suburb of Houston.”
Almost all of the early buyers — and interested buyers — are from Houston. There are 160 homesites for sale, with the 22 on the beach priced at $1.2 million each.
Embracing Everyday Beach Life
This is a place for people who want to be able to make a quick beach escape, people who want to turn the beach life into their every day. With COVID changing the office work life equation (with even those who’ve returned to the office having the freedom to not be there every single day), this type of development is more relevant than ever.
“We believe the majority of buyers are buying it for more extended stays,” Mehos says. “. . . There’s no shame in going into a (Zoom) meeting in T-shirts and shorts from your beach house.”
Especially if that beach house happens to be a next level modern stunner. Part of the allure of Roseate Beach comes in the location, it’s proximity to Pirates Beach (where many would be Roseate Beach buyers have friends), halfway between Galveston Country Club and the Seawall, and the site itself. It turns out that the beach in Roseate Beach is not just another beach.
“I walked the beach with my daughter and said, ‘God, where did this come from?’ ” Mehos tells PaperCity. “I didn’t know there was anything left on West Beach that was left to develop.”
There is not anymore. Roseate Beach is the last significant tract of beachside real estate open on the island’s west side. In addition to those 22 beachside lots, there are 56 estate lots (priced at $600,000 each) and 82 manor lots ($300,000 each). Roseate Beach’s beach itself is set to get bigger too.
“It’s time. This is the last piece of beachfront property you can do. And Galveston is blowing up.” — Roseate Beach developer Manny Mehos
Galveston’s West Beach is receiving federal and state funding to re-nourish the beach, which will add an additional 300 feet to an already large beach. “As Land Commissioner and as a Texan who spent over a decade living on Galveston Island along our beautiful coast, caring for Texas beaches is one of my top priorities,” Texas land commissioner Dawn Buckingham says. “By restoring the shoreline for the benefit of recreation and habitat building as well as preserving the primary evacuation route for West Galveston, this project supports the needs of citizens and wildlife that call this part of Texas’ coast home.”
It also makes this new development even more of the now.
“It’s time,” Mehos says. “This is the last piece of beachfront property you can do. And Galveston is blowing up.”
Of course, beach lands sometimes have been marked by developers overpromising and underdelivering in many ways. To let potential buyers know this will not be the case at Roseate Beach, this development is doing non-binding reservation agreements, only requiring a small deposit. With everything refundable up until the time construction starts on the amenities center. That is how important those amenities are to this entire project. They’re being put at the center of it all.
That $10 million is not just a figure. Everything hinges on Mehos and Green East Realty following through.
“The amenity center is what’s attracted buyers,” Mehos says.
Roseate Beach has already had its groundbreaking, with the streets and utilities work required for the new community slated to be completed early in 2025 (that is when lot owners can start building houses). Plans call for that $10 million amenities center to be up by fall 2025.
When you’re doing something completely different for Galveston, when you’re making sure the perks of city living hit the beach, it’s best to be bold.
For more on Roseate Beach, check out its full website.