Mixed-use project planned in Belterra
Developers are hoping to meet the demand for shops, eateries, offices.
Plans are in the works to develop more than 90 acres into a commercial project that will be part of the Belterra subdivision in the swiftly growing Dripping Springs area.
Crescent Communities and Endeavor Real Estate Group say they are teaming up to build the mixed-use project along U.S. 290 between Nutty Brown Road and Belterra Drive. The land borders the existing master-planned Belterra residential community, which North Carolina-based Crescent is continuing to develop.
The developers say the planned commercial development will help meet the demand for shops, restaurants, office space and additional housing in the Dripping Springs area.
Plans call for a project of more than 275,000 square feet, including retail, medical office, hotel and senior housing components, along with 80 to 100 single-family homes that would be built along Trinity Hills Drive. Arts and entertainment offerings also could be in the mix, the developers said.
“Belterra now has more than 1,400 residences and hundreds more on the horizon,” said Tommy Tucker, residential vice president for Crescent Communities in Central Texas. “The time is right to add a mixed-use development to Belterra’s offerings as the community and surrounding area are becoming more populated.”
The city of Dripping Springs approved a development agreement for the proposed commercial project in August 2009, said City Administrator Michelle Fischer. The developers will need to obtain site development and
building permits from the city before starting the project, the first phase of which they hope to launch in early 2016.
“It’s going to benefit the greater community as a whole,” Fischer said, noting that it will bring commercial services and establishments that residents now have to drive into Dripping Springs or Austin to access.
The mixed-use site is across from the Nutty Brown Cafe & Amphitheatre, a property that the H-E-B grocery chain has purchased to evaluate for a future potential store.
With Southwest Austin having the lowest commercial real estate vacancy rate in Central Texas at the end of 20014, Crescent and Endeavor said they expect to see healthy demand for their mixed-use development.
Daniel Campbell, a principal with Austin-based Endeavor, said Endeavor and Crescent will strive to create “a different kind of development that focuses on establishing a regional destination for all of the (U.S.) 290 corridor.”
“This area is currently lacking many services, and with its explosive growth, there exists a real opportunity to create an impactful project,” Campbell said.
To date, Crescent’s portfolio includes 22 master-planned communities and 15 apartment projects with about 4,300 units under construction or in the planning stages. The company owns and manages more than 42,100 acres, including 800 zoned for commercial uses.
Endeavor’s projects include the mixed-use Domain in North Austin and Southpark Meadows in South Austin, both of which have large retail components.