Spoonbill Bay is a development of luxury homes and amenities that is being built on the bay side of Highway 361 in Port Aransas. It has been in the planning phases for about nine years, and neighbors who drive by can now start t o see the first set of model homes popping up.Nine years ago we looked at this property," Alex Harris, the Operations Manager of Spoonbill Bay LLC said.Spoonbill Bay is set to have 200 homes in total and several amenities, including a water park, a convenience store, pickleball courts, a steakhouse restaurant, parks, and more. But our amenities will really make the difference. We are the pioneers on the bayside and we want people to come over here. The beach is a lot of fun, but we want to have a little bit of balance on both sides," Willard Hammonds III, the CEO of Spoonbill Bay LLC, said.Besides the fact that its on the bay side and not the Gulf side, the Spoonbill Bay development is similar to others in the area like Cinnamon Shore and La Palmilla. The biggest project thats coming up, is our waterpark. Its on an amazing track that will have a splash pad thats 50 feet in the air. You wont miss it driving down this highway," Harris said. First set of homes popping up in first bayside luxury neighborhood in Port AransasProject managers in Spoonbill Bay say they want buyers to get a bang for their buck.All of our houses are starting at $490,000, which is why were trying to find that kind of different area of the market," Hammonds said. Neighborhood News Reporter Erin Holly compared the prices of a three-bedroom, three-bathroom house in the Cinnamon Shore development across the street and a three-bedroom, three-bathroom house at Spoonbill Bay. The Cinnamon Shore property is listed at $995,000 and the Spoonbill Bay property is listed at $737,000.Spoonbill Bay staff hopes to complete the waterpark, pickleball courts, and some of the shops by Spring break 2026. That will be the water park. It will be the pickleball courts, those two things primarily. Then were gonna try to have all of our retail done, minus the C-store, that will be on their own timeline, done in phase one as well," Hammonds said. The project managers expect phase one of Spoonbill Bay construction to be finished in about two years and the entire development to be completed in about five years. For more information about the development, click here.For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.Catch all the KRIS 6 News stories and more on our YouTube page. Subscribe today! ...read more read less