By: A.J. Mistretti
AUSTIN BUSINESS JOURNAL
Published September 22, 2006
Toll road likely will help $190M project
A Dallas development team is proposing a $190 million planned community on the north side of Lake Travis to take advantage of the lakeside housing boom and a new toll road that promises to improve access to the area.
WY Atlantis recently closed on the purchase of a 315-acre tract at the intersection of Sylvester Ford and Lohman Ford roads within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city of Lago Vista. The company has plans for 510 single-family homes, including about 50 townhomes, to be built in clusters. That will leave room for 120 acres of open space and more than three miles of trails.
As it's planned, the Falls at Lake Travis will be a resort-style community with shared access of about 3,000 feet along the lakeshore, a clubhouse and pool, a marina and a boat launch.
WY Atlantis will make improvements to the development and sell individual home sites to builders. No homebuilders have been selected yet, but the developers expect homes will be in the $300,000 to $1 million-plus range.
WY Atlantis, which was formed in January, is owned by Wyatt Henderson and Allen Jones, former principals and co-founders of Marlin Atlantis, and Westmount Realty Capital LLC, both out of Dallas, and The Yucaipa Cos., a Los Angeles-based private equity investment group.
"Lake Travis is one of the best-known lakes in all of Texas, and to have that beautiful piece of property, we felt it would provide a perfect setting for what we want to do," says Henderson. We want to create an opportunity for living on the lake that's at a lower price point but still offers great access."
One factor driving the group's interest is the arrival of State Highway 183A in spring 2007. Once complete, that road will significantly cut the time it takes to get from downtown Austin to Lago Vista and other nearby communities such as Leander and Jonestown.
"That major north-south artery is really going to open up that whole area and provide a lot of new opportunities," Henderson says.
Eldon Rude, Austin area director for residential market research group Metrostudy Corp., says as the housing supply shrinks and prices on available properties continue to rise on the south side of Lake Travis, it's becoming more attractive for developers to provide alternatives on the north side. Now areas once viewed as too far from Central Austin are opening up to new projects. He says that also includes the area west of the junction of RR 620 and U.S. Hwy. 71.
Rude says SH 183A will certainly improve accessibility to the area on the north shore, but he says demand for moderately priced homes near the lake is the primary driver of new home projects in that area.
WY Atlantis is moving through the entitlement process with the city of Lago Vista, and Henderson says he wants to work with city officials on the final plan for the project. If all goes well, improvements to the site could begin within the next six months, he says.
The Falls is WY Atlantis' third in a recent series of residential master-planned acquisitions across Texas. Last month, the company purchased a 736-acre tract for a development dubbed The Ranch at Mary's Creek in Fort Worth, and more recently in Houston, it secured 332 acres for another waterfront community called The Bridges at Lake Houston.
Henderson says the company is also working on a number of other mixed-use projects in the Austin area.
