b'C o m m u n i t yUpper/Left: Rendering of Whitecap NPI from its northwest corner looking toward the Gulf. Lower/Left: Rendering of a walkway along the new main canal. Above: Recent aerial photo from angle of the rendering. Below: Coastal Con-temporary architectural design for Whitecap NPI homes.Whitecap NPI Changing Landscape of PadreLakePadre,passingundernewoverpassbridgeson SPID (Park Road 22), currently under construction, the Island, Elevating Waterfront Living Options Whitecap NPI canals are a natural integration that cre-ates an endless waterway through the new community.For those who hold a stake in the success of North Pa-North Padre Island has been the aspired location of aNashville. The companys approach is the integration ofdre Island, writ large, confidence is being found in the premium oceanfront resort like Miami Beach for almostmodern, luxury residential product along with elevatedcompetency of the Whitecap NPI developers and mar-a century, since Colonel Sam Robertson purchased theretail, entertainment, and restaurants, into natural sur- keters. Every detail seems to have been fully considered, Pat Dunn Ranch in 1925. The good colonel funded theroundings that are preserved for the enjoyment of theespecially those trap doors through which sales success first dry route to the island, the Don Patricio Cause- entire community. can fall. Building covenants, from the upscale, coastal way, that lasted six years before it was wiped out byThe concept for redeveloping the Padre Isles Countrycontemporaryarchitecturalstyletohurricanesafety a hurricane, in 1933. After the JFK Causeway openedClub site started with making use of the entire, formerstandards,willbeconsistentthroughout.Common in 1973, Padre Isles took off with the sale of condo- golf course property that extends from Commodoresamenities like a community pool and clubhouse are al-miniums,followedbycanal-fronthomes,ofwhichDrive to the north, all the way to Whitecap Boulevard toready under construction contract and will be available there are now over 4,000, and with the opening of thethe southand that concept was centered on provid- for the newest residents, and not years later. A parking Padre Isles Country Club. ing more of what sold on The Island: canal-front homes.structure will be built in order to alleviate the inevita-Houston-basedAshlarDevelopmenthasestablishedPadre Isles waterfront properties that were selling forble street congestion that happens during peak vaca-its success as a creator of luxury, master-planned subur- less than $300,000 in the 1990s, are now moving fortion periods. While canal culverts will allow kayak and ban communities, with major projects in Humble in theover $1 million, so Ashlars plan called for the dredgingcanoe navigation, multiple new, pre-cast bridges will be northeast section of Houston, Dripping Springs in theof almost seven miles of new canals on which some 600installed that will provide 12-foot boat clearance.Hill Country west of Austin, Lake Lewisville northwestnew home sites would be offered. With the new waterOf greatest buzz for The Island community, including of Dallas, and in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, northeast ofconnection between the Padre Isles canal system anddozens of business owners who have been waiting gen-48THE COASTAL BEND GUIDE TheCoastalBend.com'