STAFF REPORT
An investor group’s plans to build a horse racing track in Creedmoor could have spill-over tourism benefits for nearby Buda.
KTAGS Downs, a company headed by Victoria businessman Cliff Thomas Jr., has bought a 148-acre tract near the intersection of Texas 45 and Old Lockhart Road, about five miles from Main Street in Buda. The group is seeking to buy a Class II racing license currently owned by the Austin Jockey Club, which has floated various plans in recent years to open a track in the Austin area.
Longhorn Downs would host 10 to 20 dates a year of quarter horse and thoroughbred racing, Bryan Brown, an Austin Jockey Club partner told the Austin American-Statesman. The partnership plans a 25,000-square-foot club house stocked with flat-screen TVs for watching other horse races and televised sports events, Brown said.
The seven-eighths of a mile tract would be managed by the Retama Entertainment Group, Brown said.
Buda’s proximity to the proposed track put it in line to reap some of the benefits of tourists headed there, said Warren Ketteman, the Buda Economic Development Corp. executive director.
“The live racing sounds very interesting and sounds like we could see an economic bump from it. ... We’re right down the road from Creedmoor,” Ketteman said.
Buda’s hospitality industry now includes six hotels with a total of a 409 rooms.
