Dignitaries that included State Rep. Jason Isaac and Buda Mayor Bobby Lane were on-hand last week for the official opening of Huntington Estates, a senior-oriented apartment complex in the Sunfield Municipal Utility District. Residents are also moving into the first single-family homes in the 2,800-acre development. (Courtesy photo)
by JENNIFER BIUNDO
Just east of Buda, on 2,800 acres of rolling prairie once home to ranchers and cotton farmers, the first of 20,000 future residents are starting to trickle in to their new homes.
The Sunfield Development, covering two square miles between Interstate 35, FM 2001 and Turnersville Road, could eventually bring 7,000 living units and hundreds of acres of commercial and industrial development to northeast Hays County, dwarfing the city of Buda over the next two decades.
For now, though, the residents are measured in the dozens, with spider webs of empty streets waiting for new homes to spring up alongside them.
“The only time I hear noise is when another house is going up,” said Dolores Alaniz, who recently moved into Sunfield with her husband and teenage son.
The family looked at neighborhoods throughout Austin, but found that the homes in Sunfield were a full $100,000 cheaper than similar properties to the north. That, along with the amenities and location, clinched the deal for them.
In a tight housing market, buyers are looking for good schools, financing options, plenty of amenities and the best bang for their buck, said James Cargill, a sales representative with Centex Homes.
Sunfield properties are moving largely on the strength of the surrounding amenities, he noted: plenty of park space, a splash pool, community garden, dog park, miles of hike and bike trails, and a stocked fishing pond. The first of four amenity centers is slated for completion next month.
“It’s a more difficult environment than what we were in prior to 2008,” Cargill said. “I’ve opened five different neighborhoods and the first 40 to 50 sales are always the toughest. I’m really pleased at this point with the number of sales we’ve made. It seems to be on pace with better markets.”
Two builders, Centex and Castle Rock, have completed more than 30 of the 350 homes slated for the first residential phase of Sunfield.
Centex homes run from $126,000 - $153,000, for 1,201 – 2,043 square feet. Centex has six homes constructed, including model homes, with 16 signed contracts.
On the higher end, Castle Rock homes start at $145,000 and run to $227,000, with square footage ranging from 1,651 – 3,473. All models feature plenty of windows and natural light, said sales representative Blake Wuellner, with higher end models including two-story vaulted ceilings.
“The neighborhood is nice, we have a great product, and we’re priced right,” Wuellner said.
Following the housing crunch, unable to be sure that completed homes would find a buyer, builders in Hays County and throughout Central Texas largely abandoned their habit of building homes on spec, opting instead to wait for a signed contract.
But Centex Homes has eight completed houses up for grabs. Of the 24 Castle Rock homes sitting on the largely empty network of streets, 20 were contracted by buyers.
Two apartment complexes are also up and running on the eastern fringe of Sunfield. Tuscany Park opened in 2010, and was joined last month by Huntington Estates, an apartment complex targeted at senior citizens.
While the plan for Sunfield includes several hundred acres of commercial development, the retailers have been slower to sign on. Sunfield is sandwiched between two large scale commercial hubs: Southpark Meadows to the north, and Kyle’s Seton development to the south, both of which have pulled in the kind of big box stores that Sunfield hopes to attract.
Industrial development has been faster to come. U.S. Foodservice broke ground last year on a $50 million regional distribution facility on 40 acres east of Interstate 35.
“Right now we’re focused on getting the infrastructure in, and we’re hoping that will set the stage for future commercial development in that area,” said Mike Boswell of Scarborough Lane Development, the project manager for Sunfield. “We’ve been doing the work we’ve needed to do to get it up and running.”
