Clayton Oaks began in the 1970s as a 300-acre business park that was intended to bring office, apartments and light industrial development to west Houston. Even though its developers were strong--the ownership group included former Mayor Robert Lanier--Clayton Oaks was met head-on by a sharp downturn in the Houston economy in the 1980s. Clayton Oaks ended up in the hands of the FDIC.

About five years ago, CO REIG Ltd., a Houston investment partnership led by Bill Smith of Fuller Realty Partners Ltd., bought the remaining 190 acres of Clayton Oaks. But, Smith's group quickly dropped the idea of selling the Clayton Oaks land for commercial development and began selling sites for single-family residential. With the new strategy, the new owners have been very successful in selling off the acreage, located off Texas 6 and Westheimer Road near the West Oaks Mall.

On the parcel just purchased, Elan Development plans to construct 175 single-family homes, starting at $120,000 each. CO REIG has previously sold Clayton Oaks land for single-family development to Kaufman Meeks Inc., Brighton Homes and Lennar Homes. About 600 houses have been built there so far. All of the land that remains to be sold in Clayton Oaks are two small retail tracts and three parcels suitable for apartments. One of the apartment tracts, about 10 acres, is under contract to an apartment developer.