After 14 Years, Beachtown has Residents

Galveston County Daily News, February 22, 2007
by Laura Elder

GALVESTON — When Tofigh Shirazi first visited the island more than a decade ago, he didn’t experience love at first sight.

Shirazi, whose family fled Iran during the Revolution of 1978, was accustomed to the beauty of the Caspian coast and the beaches of the French Riviera.

But the civil engineer gave the island a second look. The stately turn-of-the-century homes, reminders of when Galveston was regarded as the Wall Street of the South, charmed him, he said. He discovered the city’s downtown and the sparsely developed East Beach, where he saw huge potential.

Galveston began to get under his skin, and he wondered why he had never noticed before, he said.

“Where was I?” he said. “I fell in love.”

Some might call it obsession.

What else could explain Shirazi’s devotion to a project that one architect said earned the developer the “Patience of Job” award. Shirazi at times faced so many obstacles to create his utopia, he would question whether the project was worth it.

14-Year Effort

In 1993, Shirazi purchased land on the East End of the island with plans for a development called Beachtown, inspired by traditional American neighborhoods.

The land transaction alone was a complicated process involving many owners. Fourteen years later, the streets are paved, hundreds of manicured palm trees are planted, five houses are built and the first families are finally moving into the initial phase. The 130 lots for single-family homes are sold out.

“There was pent-up demand,” Shirazi said. “We had no idea; we were caught off guard.”

The first phase also includes 27 townhouse lots, five of which have been released to builders for construction. There are handicapped-accessible dune walkovers and a clock tower, with a Texas inspired design, reminiscent of an oil derrick.

The Vision
Beachtown, as Shirazi envisions it, will eventually be the size of a small town. It will include thousands of homes, townhouses, retail stores, cafés and shops on the beach.

Beachtown would give the island its own version of Rosemary Beach or Seaside, “new urbanist” communities in Florida.

Planning for the project was something island residents had never before seen.

In the 1990s, Shirazi and Kent Hytken of San Diego planned to build Beachtown on 223 acres.

Shirazi and Hytken owned separate tracts, but agreed to use their land together for the Beachtown concept, Shirazi said.
They hired one of the nation’s hottest architectural firms, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co., to design Beachtown. The firm was known for its Seaside project in Florida, which was renowned for being a traditionally organized town, designed with pedestrians, not cars, in mind.

The McConnell Effect
Some islanders were skeptical. They had heard developer promises before. It didn’t help that Beachtown was planned for the same land where locally infamous J.R. McConnell had pitched his Grand Beach project.

McConnell, who wound up indicted and bound for federal prison, electrocuted himself in a medical holding unit of Harris County Jail in 1987.

Nevertheless, hundreds gathered to hear architect Andres Duany speak about “new urbanism.”

Duany had traveled to the island for a two-session “charrette,” a public brainstorming where designers, neighbors and city officials, police offers and firefighters offered input about what they wanted Beachtown to be.

Out of those sessions came architecture inspired by old Galveston homes and a site design meant to “de-emphasize” the automobile with narrow streets and rear access for most lots. The human element was, in turn, emphasized, with green space, big porches and walkways.

Beachtown became the island’s first project to be zoned Traditional Neighborhood Development.

After the charrette, many critics came to embrace the inclusive planning process and the concept itself, he said.

“We were shaking hands,” Shirazi said.

Please Permit Me

Beachtown was making progress though a complex permitting process when something happened that sent Shirazi back to the drawing board. Hytken sold some of the land to a high-rise developer, Shirazi said.

Shirazi had to reconfigure the development. He bought more land, and now owns 260 acres. All the changes required major revisions with the city’s planning department.

It might have been enough to kill the project. Other grand plans have sunk here with less encouragement.

But by then, Beachtown had become something other than a business deal, Shirazi said.

“Sometimes, I thought about throwing in the towel,” he said. “But it’s like a child.”

He declined to say how much he’s invested in the project or whether he expects to ever see a return on that investment.

Shirazi said he doesn’t consider himself a developer — but a founder of a town.

“He’s definitely committed,” said Jeff Sjostrom, president of the Galveston Economic Development Partnership. “This is a legacy that he’s creating; he’s attempting to create a community that is above and beyond anything we’ve ever seen in terms of quality and planning.”

Ten years from now, a quarter-century after the concept, Shirazi expects Beachtown to be a vibrant community, where residents are outside playing bocce ball or dining in cafes and enjoying the beach.

“We’re hoping it will be a great town in 10 years,” he said.