Lagoon blues: Undeveloped pit plagues Leander

It’s been more than two years since a crystal-blue lagoon and white-sandy beaches made billion-dollar headlines in Leander Springs. Since then, there’s been this 78-acre hole that no one in Williamson County can ignore.

In October 2020, the City of Leander launched a public-private partnership with Austin-based developer iLand Development Group, doing business as Leander Springs LLC. They planned up to 1,600 multifamily units, a hotel and more than 1 million square feet of commercial space, less than 30 miles north of Austin.

This partnership came with a lush incentives agreement — $22 million in performance-based tax breaks to the developer, in the form of rebates on property taxes, sales taxes and hotel occupancy taxes.

To qualify, the developer must complete the four-acre lagoon and much of the retail space by the end of 2023. With the development site a gaping dirt hole, it’s unclear if the deadline will be met.

The project is moving forward, said Ivan Manzur of Miami-based Crystal Lagoons US Corporation, a contractor who builds public-access lagoons. ILand Development Group, did not respond to the Austin Business Journal’s request for comment.

“The Leander project continues to advance its regular course,” Manzur told the outlet. “Today it is in the engineering phase and we hope to have further progress in the coming months.”

Another Texas project facing a tax-abatement time crunch is CBRE’s planned headquarters on McKinney Avenue that Trammell Crow announced in 2020. Construction is yet to begin, despite a looming deadline to qualify for $250,000 in incentives. Truluck’s, the restaurant that stands on the planned development site, is taking reservations well into next year.

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— Maddy Sperling