by BRAD ROLLINS
Invoking the Mayberry RFD ideal, Plum Creek’s sleepy streets of front porches and plank board homes has become something of a model for Central Texas developers who lay claim to the New Urbanist mantel.
The tree-lined environs proved to be a hit with homebuyers since construction started in 1999 and the development was a major component’s of Kyle’s decade of unprecedented population growth. Plum Creek’s first residential phase is all but fully built out with 1,500 units; lots in a second phase, expected to add 350 more homes, are being sold now.
“We feel that if you are building something right it will get better over the years instead of deteriorating,” said Terry Mitchell of Momark Development, a consultant to partners Benchmark Development and the Negley family that owned the land.
Austin Community College’s purchase last week of 96 acres fronting Kyle Parkway and Kohler’s Crossing underscores Plum Creek’s potential as a commercial center.
The college district’s tentative plans for a campus there are sure to push further commercial development along FM 1626, which has boomed in recent years with the opening of Seton Medical Center Hays just across the interstate and a major retail node anchored by HEB Plus, Target and Kohl’s.
Eight hundred of the 2,200 acres that comprise the Negley family’s former Mountain City Ranch are being marketed for commercial uses, ranging from large greenfield acreage being offered as “employment sites” to the fledgling mixed-use Uptown district sprouting up around Hays CISD Performing Arts Center. The area is primed for attracting large employers, particularly in the medical and technology sectors, because many of the properties already have access to utilities such as water/wastewater and communications, said Brett Arabie, a broker with Oxford Commercial, whose projects included the Mueller development in Austin.
“The commercial that we do have is ready to go. One of the things that we have been able to show people is that we have sites they can start building on today. That was a big deal for ACC,” Arabie said.
Although ACC is the biggest fish Plum Creek has landed to date, it is not the first commercial project to take hold there.
• RSI Inc., which manufactures ruggedized computers, moved into a 40,000-square-foot facility on Kohler’s Crossing in late 2007 after relocating from Austin. The defense/aerospace sector company brought 70-100 engineering, manufacturing, management and support jobs to the community.
“It’s a great success story for us to kind of point out an economic development deal that the community got behind and supported,” Arabie said.
• The 264-unit Vantage apartment community opened earlier this year across FM 1626 from the ACC site. The complex encompasses 233,000 square feet. Next door, TrustTexas Bank also opened earlier this year.
