A guide to Houston’s crystal-clear lagoons: Public access, amenities and opening dates
Featured on Houston Chronicle
Published June 25, 2023
By: Sonia Garcia
You’ve probably heard of beach and lake living, but what about lagoon living?
It’s the latest craze to hit the area, where developers are bringing “crystal clear lagoons” paired with luxury living and other fun amenities. Houston is currently home to two of these communities and has more on the way.
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“Communities with lagoons have been popular because we provide a destination to a really unique lifestyle. And people never really have to leave their neighborhood to enjoy it,” said Tim Johnson, director of sales at Land Tejas, a Houston company known for its master-planned communities.
The best part, some of these lagoons are or will be open to the public for Houstonians to be transported to what will feel like a private island.
Balmoral Crystal Clear Lagoon & Beach Club
15808 Crystal Terrace Drive, Humble
Balmoral Crystal Clear Lagoon & Beach Club says it is Texas’ first man-made, crystalline lagoon. The lagoon and club in Humble opened in 2018 offering a beach lifestyle for Balmoral residents. The community surrounding the two-acre lagoon is 750 acres with luxury homes. The new lagoon amenity in the Balmoral development is comprised of several separate pools and white sand beaches in Humble.
The lagoon with two white sand beaches is only accessible to residents of the community. The shallow area, where the water doesn’t get deeper than three feet is designated for swimming. Kayaks and stand-up paddle boards can be seen in other parts of the lagoon that goes as deep as 8 feet. Crystal Lagoons is patented technology that keeps the lagoon clean with minimal amounts of chemicals and energy, according to its website and the Balmoral community site. Developer Land Tejas partners with the company to use its technology. The lagoon is in Amenity Village that includes a 7,500 foot clubhouse.
More than 2,000 homes are in the master-planned community that opened in 2017. The lagoon opened in 2018.”(Balmoral) was a very successful development for us, and the lagoon can definitely be attributed to one of the main reasons why it was a successful development,” said Johnson said.
From the developers behind Balmoral, the lagoon at Lago Mar is Texas-sized at12 acres with 5,000 feet in shoreline. It boasts being the largest lagoon in Texas with the same Crystal Lagoons technology as Balmoral. It has white sand beaches and other amenities like an infinity pool, splash pad and clubhouse, but the lagoon is bigger and 10 feet at its deepest.
A portion of the lagoon is open to the public with a variety of memberships residents and non-residents can choose from. Day rentals, open to anyone, start at $20 for paddle boards, $25 for a single-person kayak, $60 for a sailboat ride and $175 for an electric boat cruise. Lago Mar is a 2,033-acre master-planned community that opened in 2018. Its lagoon opened in 2020.
