Developer plans $40M Hill Country community - Austin, Texas
Austin Business Journal by A.J. Mistretta, Chantal OutonABJ Staff
A local residential developer is planning a $40 million upscale subdivision in Southwest Travis County.
Kerby Development LLC is finalizing entitlements on nearly 500 acres, known as Rocky Creek Ranch, southwest of the junction of Hamilton Pool and Crumley Ranch roads.
The company wants to build a subdivision by the same name that will eventually include as many as 464 homes priced from $500,000 to $1 million. A groundbreaking is expected within a matter of months.
Kerby Development owner James Kerby says his company purchased the tract from landowner Rebecca Hudson last year with many of the approvals already in place for a subdivision. The company will leave 310 acres of the property undeveloped to preserve the Hill Country landscape. Kerby Development is negotiating with four different homebuilders to take on lots in the subdivision, but no deals have been finalized. Kerby says there is some opposition to the subdivision from neighbors, but he says the company is doing its best to work with those groups.
"We want to be a responsible neighbor to the current ranch owners in the area," he says.
A number of new subdivisions are now at various stages of development in the Hamilton Pool Road area, including a proposed 453-lot subdivision called Falconhead West, on the north side of State Highway 71 about a mile west of the intersection of Hamilton Pool Road, and the 222-lot Belvedere community that's already springing up across the road from Rocky Creek Ranch. Kerby says that due to Austin's expansion, the Hamilton Pool area simply isn't considered as remote as it once was.
"With the Bee Caves area pretty much built out, that has pushed what we call the preferred corridor out to [SH] 71," he says. "It's a very nice lifestyle with great rolling hills that we're going to preserve. It's important that we leave it pristine like that. And we're still only 20 minutes from downtown."
Eldon Rude, Austin area director for residential market research group Metrostudy Corp., says demand for housing in the Hamilton Pool Road area is likely to increase.
Metrostudy places the Rocky Creek Ranch property within its Lake Travis submarket, which includes all of the Lake Travis Independent School District. Rude says new-home starts within the submarket have grown from about 400 units to more than 600 units annually in the last two years. "The addition of the new retail projects along SH 71 will make this area even more attractive as homeowners will not have to travel into Austin to find the stores they are looking for," Rude says.
Metrostudy's research indicates that nearly 60 percent of all new-home starts in the Lake Travis submarket have been priced above $400,000 for the last three years. Rude says given the higher land prices and increasing costs associated with development and entitlement in the area, he anticipates that home prices there will continue to rise.
George Cofer, executive director of the Hill Country Conservancy, says while his group does not comment on individual projects, HCC generally supports the idea of clustering homes with appropriate density, thereby allowing for open space. But he says infrastructure issues like adequate roads and water access remain as concerns for new development in the Hamilton Pool area. He says the county will need to address those issues as development expands.
Meanwhile, Kerby Development last year purchased KC Engineering of San Antonio in order to bring much of its engineering services needs in-house. The $500,000 acquisition of KC, which the company renamed KD Engineering, added 12 employees to Kerby's payroll.
In yet another move to reduce dependence on outside firms, Kerby launched construction subsidiary K2C Development in December. That unit will eventually employ as many as 45 full-time workers and build infrastructure for the company's multiple subdivision projects.
"It's money that we're paying out anyway so it made more sense to pull this stuff in-house," Kerby says. "This will allow us more control over schedules and cash flows on these ventures."
Kerby says his company is now on pace to develop about 1,000 lots a year, a figure he doesn't expect to change dramatically, considering the firm's project pipeline. Kerby Development now controls land for as many as 10,000 lots between the Austin and San Antonio-area markets.
amistretta@bizjournals.com (512) 494-2519
A local residential developer is planning a $40 million upscale subdivision in Southwest Travis County.
Kerby Development LLC is finalizing entitlements on nearly 500 acres, known as Rocky Creek Ranch, southwest of the junction of Hamilton Pool and Crumley Ranch roads.
The company wants to build a subdivision by the same name that will eventually include as many as 464 homes priced from $500,000 to $1 million. A groundbreaking is expected within a matter of months.
Kerby Development owner James Kerby says his company purchased the tract from landowner Rebecca Hudson last year with many of the approvals already in place for a subdivision. The company will leave 310 acres of the property undeveloped to preserve the Hill Country landscape. Kerby Development is negotiating with four different homebuilders to take on lots in the subdivision, but no deals have been finalized. Kerby says there is some opposition to the subdivision from neighbors, but he says the company is doing its best to work with those groups.
"We want to be a responsible neighbor to the current ranch owners in the area," he says.
A number of new subdivisions are now at various stages of development in the Hamilton Pool Road area, including a proposed 453-lot subdivision called Falconhead West, on the north side of State Highway 71 about a mile west of the intersection of Hamilton Pool Road, and the 222-lot Belvedere community that's already springing up across the road from Rocky Creek Ranch. Kerby says that due to Austin's expansion, the Hamilton Pool area simply isn't considered as remote as it once was.
"With the Bee Caves area pretty much built out, that has pushed what we call the preferred corridor out to [SH] 71," he says. "It's a very nice lifestyle with great rolling hills that we're going to preserve. It's important that we leave it pristine like that. And we're still only 20 minutes from downtown."
Eldon Rude, Austin area director for residential market research group Metrostudy Corp., says demand for housing in the Hamilton Pool Road area is likely to increase.
Metrostudy places the Rocky Creek Ranch property within its Lake Travis submarket, which includes all of the Lake Travis Independent School District. Rude says new-home starts within the submarket have grown from about 400 units to more than 600 units annually in the last two years. "The addition of the new retail projects along SH 71 will make this area even more attractive as homeowners will not have to travel into Austin to find the stores they are looking for," Rude says.
Metrostudy's research indicates that nearly 60 percent of all new-home starts in the Lake Travis submarket have been priced above $400,000 for the last three years. Rude says given the higher land prices and increasing costs associated with development and entitlement in the area, he anticipates that home prices there will continue to rise.
George Cofer, executive director of the Hill Country Conservancy, says while his group does not comment on individual projects, HCC generally supports the idea of clustering homes with appropriate density, thereby allowing for open space. But he says infrastructure issues like adequate roads and water access remain as concerns for new development in the Hamilton Pool area. He says the county will need to address those issues as development expands.
Meanwhile, Kerby Development last year purchased KC Engineering of San Antonio in order to bring much of its engineering services needs in-house. The $500,000 acquisition of KC, which the company renamed KD Engineering, added 12 employees to Kerby's payroll.
In yet another move to reduce dependence on outside firms, Kerby launched construction subsidiary K2C Development in December. That unit will eventually employ as many as 45 full-time workers and build infrastructure for the company's multiple subdivision projects.
"It's money that we're paying out anyway so it made more sense to pull this stuff in-house," Kerby says. "This will allow us more control over schedules and cash flows on these ventures."
Kerby says his company is now on pace to develop about 1,000 lots a year, a figure he doesn't expect to change dramatically, considering the firm's project pipeline. Kerby Development now controls land for as many as 10,000 lots between the Austin and San Antonio-area markets.
amistretta@bizjournals.com (512) 494-2519
