la Frontera In the News
Austin Business Journal
May 22, 2000
McCombs drives growth
Multimillionaire car dealer, NFL owner and partner to build offices in La Frontera
by Matt Hudgins, Austin Business Journal Staff
Deep-pocket San Antonio developers are breaking into the Austin market with a 200,000-square-foot office complex in Round Rock's La Frontera multiuse project.
Minnesota Vikings owner Red McCombs and partner Bart Koontz plan to begin construction in July on The Summit at La Frontera. The three-building project will be the first Austin development for Koontz McCombs LLC, a real estate development partnership the two formed in 1997.
"We were drawn to La Frontera because of all its amenities, its proximity to Dell, and thirdly because it's a pro-growth climate there," Koontz says.
McCombs owns the Red McCombs Automotive Group and co-founded Clear Channel Communications and McCombs Energy LLC. In 1998, he purchased the Minnesota Vikings NFL franchise.
McCombs and his wife recently donated $50 million to the University of Texas business school.
Koontz is CEO of Koontz McCombs, Koontz McCombs Realty Services Inc. and Koontz McCombs Construction Ltd. Koontz has developed more than 1 million square feet of office and retail space in Texas.
The partners hired Kirksey and Partners Architects of Houston to design The Summit at La Frontera, and Austin's Bury + Partners as civil engineers.
The Koontz McComb's construction firm will build the complex on 17.9 acres on the northern border of La Frontera. The site will be on the north side of Hester's Crossing Road after that street is extended westward through the project, connecting I-35 with Quick Hill Road.
"Eventually that will connect into the Dell campus," Koontz says of Hester's Crossing. "We thought that was a pretty nice feature."
The partners expect to buy the land in July, and Koontz plans to have everything in place to begin construction soon after the purchase closes.
The offices will go up in phases, beginning with an 80,000-square-foot, two-story structure. The building will use tilt-wall construction and will be finished out for office uses.
Koontz says the space will be marketed to general office users, but he expects most of those looking at the space to be technology companies.
Subsequent phases will include another 80,000-square-foot building, followed by a final, smaller, 40,000-square-foot structure.
La Frontera is a 328-acre, master-planned development that will include 136 acres of office uses, a 300-room Marriott Hotel and conference center, 411 high-end apartments in The Enclave at La Frontera, a 16-screen movie theater and a variety of retailers.
Koontz McCombs isn't the only office developer at work in La Frontera.
Phil Capron, senior managing director of Kennedy-Wilson International in Austin, says his firm is nailing down final plans for a 190,000-square-foot office building near the center of La Frontera.
Koontz says the combination of restaurants, utilities, a hotel and other uses in one place make La Frontera a desirable spot to build office buildings.
"This site offers a quality, mixed-use park environment with all the amenities such as a fiber optic telecommunications loop and redundant power sources," he says.
"We wanted to be a part of that while being a good citizen and building in the Desired Development Zone," he says. "We also like La Frontera's close proximity to Dell."
A partnership headed by Barshop & Oles Co. plans to build 151,800 square feet of offices across I-35 from La Frontera in a project called TechRidge Plaza.
Milo Burdette, vice president for development at Barshop & Oles, says Koontz McCombs' design of two-story, tilt wall offices is similar to what his firm will build at TechRidge Plaza.
"That product type is what a lot of the tenants that need space are asking for," Burdette says.
