CITY-IN-CITY PLANNED...

GEORGETOWN - A 600-acre urban development resembling a city within a city with up to 10,000 residents is being planned just outside Georgetown's city limits. Developer David Singleton, president of Leander-based Southwest Land Services Inc., plans a project that would include thousands of homes, retail, a hotel, churches and a school. The announcement comes on the heels of other big projects in recent months, and the development could transform the city of 40,000 in northern Williamson County. Triangular in shape, the yet-to-be-named project is just east of Sun City Texas and will be bounded by Texas 195 and County Roads 147 and 234. The project will have about 2,500 home lots, but other housing types, including lofts above stores, could mean that up to 10,000 people eventually could live there. In scale and design, the project will resemble the redevelopment of the former Robert Mueller Municipal Airport in Austin, which will include dense, walkable neighborhoods and a town center. The project also mirrors the block structure of old Georgetown, including the pedestrian-friendly grid system.

"The inspiration for our project is actually Old Town Georgetown," Singleton said. "It's that historic part of Old Town that is so appealing to me. The way they used to lay out towns before the automobile became such a dominant factor in our lives...when walking was a much more important part of their lives." Singleton said he plans to negotiate with the city to annex the property, currently in Georgetown's extraterritorial jurisdiction, as it is developed. The development will have four communities, three with neighborhood centers and one town center, a 40-acre lake and a 40-acre park. More than 300,000 square feet of retail will be in the four centers, and more is planned along the frontage of Texas 195.

Several other large Georgetown projects have been announced. They include: A 590-acre mixed-use development west of Sun City Texas by the Madison Georgetown Cotenancy. The 1,900-acre Water Oak at San Gabriel by San Antonio-based ABG Development Ltd. that will include 4,000 high-end homes and 650 acres of green space. A 2,000-home subdivision by Arizona-based Pinnacle Development Group. A master-planned project by Waterstone Development of Austin with 2,400 homes, town-homes, a town center, schools and a church. Singleton, who has not submitted official plans to the city, will meet with council members and Planning and Zoning Commission members next month to discuss the project. "The concept has been discussed at a couple of meetings," said Valerie Kreger, a city planner. "We're very open-minded to the project. As a staff, we look at it as an interesting project"

Southwest Land already has started working on the lake system and plans to break ground on the first neighborhood center in early 2008. The project will take 10 to 15 years to complete, Singleton said. The project will include 10 housing types, from single-family detached houses to bungalows and work-live units. Singleton also envisions garden court homes, garage apartments or granny flats and mansion homes: large residences that appear to be single homes but are divided into three or four residences. Aiming for diversity of architectural styles, Southwest Land will have an approved list of builders and architects but no national-brand builders. Nearly all homes will have alleys, and more than 50 percent will directly overlook a park or other green space. None will front the lake so the area is accessible to all, Singleton said. The houses also are meant to cut across all income levels, said Milosav Cekic, an architect with MC/A Architects, an urban designer for the project. "They don't have to leave the neighborhood to buy a nicer home," Cekic said. "Their kids can keep their friends. That's not really happening in the subdivisions." Cekic said one focus for the development is to bring work to where people live.

About 500 feet along Texas 195 is being designated for multiple employers. Singleton, who has secured financing for the project, said that it is too early to know what home prices will be but that he doesn't anticipate including starter homes. Whether Georgetown is ready for this type of project is unclear. Larry Peel, an Austin builder and developer of multifamily units and condominiums, just sold his last condo in his Village Park project on the San Gabriel River. It took more than two years to sell the 53 units, longer than expected. "I'd do another project there, but I would be very tempered in the size of it because you'd need more people to support that density,"said Peel, who said the majority of his residents were from out of town. "We were a little before our time, and marketing was much slower than we anticipated." Singleton, however, is forging ahead. "We're trying to craft an authentic community," Singleton said, "where you can go through an entire life cycle within that community, where you can go through all the phases of your life." Southwest Land also plans a vertical hotel with retail and restaurants on the first floor, with possibly office space on the second floor and condominiums on the top floor.