Austin exurb moves forward on a stalled massive residential neighborhood

The city of Elgin, Texas, will move forward with a massive new residential development its city council had approved three years ago to add more than 2,600 new homes.

Back in 2019, Elgin had entered into an agreement with developer Texas Bridle Trails to build the Ranch Road Development on a 637-ace site on the city’s west end, but the pandemic had delayed construction on the project. The plan calls for 1,909 single-family homes, 112 duplexes and 476 multifamily units.

On June 21, Elgin’s city council approved an amendment to the initial agreement to create a development and consent agreement for the Brickston Municipal Utility District and Texas Bridle Trails to move forward on the development.

The amended agreement shows renewed momentum for the plan, although an updated timeline for when construction could start was not available, according to an Austin Business Journal report.

Elgin, which is 26 miles east of Austin, is among a handful of growing exurban communities attracting many long-time residents from Austin’s arts and music scenes who have been priced out of the real estate market of the Lone Star State’s capital city.

Other communities near Austin like Bastrop and Taylor, are also attracting out-of-state developers and interest from major corporations looking for cheaper real estate that is still close to the cultural and technology opportunities of the 11th largest American city.

Alton Butler, owner of California-based Line 204 Studios is developing Bastrop 552 Studio, which will feature 486,000 square feet of studios, 300,000 feet of spaces for warehouses or mills and 200,000 feet of offices when complete.

The town of Taylor annexed the 1,268-acre site where South Korea’s Samsung will build a 6-million-square-foot semiconductor factory. City officials are expecting more than $50 million in property taxes over the next 30 years.

Boise-based Micron Technology is scouting for locations in Central Texas for the site of its next semiconductor plant. Micron plans to invest $150 billion in expanding existing chipmaking facilities and potentially building new ones.

[Austin Business Journal ] — Karn Dhingra