Kresston - Behind the Kresston Name

 

Kresston is a special name for a special community. And it’s named after a special man — Larry Johnson.

 

Johnson Development, developer of Kresston, was founded by Larry who grew up in
the west Texas town of Kress located about an hour south of Amarillo. There, he worked alongside his family on a 300-acre tenant farm, milking cows, hauling hay and spending countless hours on his father’s Ford tractor. He learned the necessity of hard work and developed a love for the land that served him well as he became an industry-leading residential developer, unafraid to push boundaries and walk the unbeaten path.

 

Larry first visited the place he would establish his legendary company on a school bus with 24 other seniors from his high school. Before returning to Houston, however, he would go on to graduate from Texas Tech — attending on a football scholarship — and and also begin law school at the University of Texas at Austin. But residential real estate was calling his name, so in 1962, Larry returned to Houston to work for a real estate brokerage firm. Larry saw the tremendous potential Houston offered and recognized the opportunity to bring more regulated residential development to the area. In 1967, Larry partnered with a client to form the Johnson-Loggins Development Company, which was later bought out by a Florida based public company.

 

In 1975, Larry started Johnson Development. Throughout the years, Johnson communities could be found not only in Houston, but also in Atlanta and Los Angeles. However, Texas was where Larry’s heart belonged. Today, Johnson Development has 19 active residential communities in Houston, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Atlanta, many of which have been ranked among the nation’s top-selling master planned communities.

 

Larry passed away in January 2022. As Kresston is the first Johnson Development community to be named since his passing, we thought it appropriate to name the community in his honor.

But Kresston will also reflect the small-town values instilled in Larry when he grew up in Kress, which — at that time — had only about 400 residents. Everybody knew everybody. Parents watched out for all the kids — not just their own. People gathered for church, potlucks and picnics. Above all, Kress was a community. And that’s exactly what Kresston will be.