The Round Rock Leader
December 21, 1998
La Frontera in store for more than retail
Midrise apartments, hotels, office buildings also in plans
By Jodi Berls, Leader Staff
Developers of La Frontera project have plans on a scope and scale never before seen - maybe undreamed of - for Round Rock.
Slated to begin construction as early as April on nearly 350 acres at the northwest corner of IH-35 and FM 1325, La Frontera is expected to feature a large shopping center, as many as a dozen campus-style office buildings that could be as tall as 10- or 12-stories, midrise apartment buildings and hotels.
The development will be split by State Highway 45 when it's built, possibly within five years.
Already the eastern portion of the development has been reserved for a shopping center that has drawn eager interest from possible tenants and Round Rock consumers alike.
But the 101-acre shopping center is only about one-third of the proposed development. Plans call for the remaining two-thirds to be office space, hotels and midrise multifamily space, possibly with a density as high as 35 units per acre.
"The response from the city has been very positive - and very cautious," said Don Martin, one of the developers.
A presentation on La Frontera's planned unit development proposal is expected to go before the Planning & Zoning Commission on Jan. 6, with action on the plans possible as early as February.
The other developers are Bill Boecker, representing Ed Bass of Fort Worth, known for putting together Sundance, a 14-block project credited with revitalizing that city's downtown area, and Bill Smalling of Round Rock, who has teamed with Martin before on San Gabriel Village in Georgetown and numerous other projects in Central Texas.
The shopping center portion, being developed by Developers Diversified REIT and David Berndt Interests Inc. of Irving, is expected be about 700,000 square feet of retail space, including a theater with at least 16 screens, 11 restaurants and a variety of anchor stores.
The shopping center would front on both IH-35 and FM 1325, on the east side of the tract, wrapping around Garden Ridge Pottery.
Kirk Pearson of Berndt Interests wouldn't confirm any tenants because leases haven't been finalized, but he said Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Circuit City, Old Navy, Kohl's department store, TJ Maxx, Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse and Bed, Bath & Beyond are among those who have expressed interest in locating in the center.
Opening of the center has been scheduled for fall 2000.
Likely to be more controversial in low-rise, still mostly residential Round Rock are the plans for large office and apartment buildings. The PUD proposal asks for building heights of up to 144 feet.
Martin said developers understand that Round Rock residents sometimes are suspicious of such plans - he said they're working hard to make the project palatable.
"We're actually more restrictive than the city," he said.
As an example, the PUD proposal requires setbacks of 100 feet, of which at least 50 feet must be landscaping, to separate La Frontera from homes in Chisholm Valley West and George Blessing Mobile Home Park.
Buildings adjacent to the existing residential areas will be low-rise offices at the request of the folks whose homes are there, he said.
Martin said developers believe there's a great and mostly untapped demand for quality office space in Round Rock that they hope to capitalize on.
"There's been a lot of pent-up demand here," he said.
Charles Heimsath, a well-known real estate consultant in the Central Texas area, agreed, though he said he wasn't sure Round Rock has become attractive enough to draw corporations who'd want to build midrise, 10- to 12-story buildings.
"I don't think the market's there yet," he said. "But there's a stronger demand in Round Rock for office space than people think. But
in 10 years, maybe so - I think there'll be a progression."
Possible very dense multifamily structures attracted the notice of residents who attended an open house at the city planning department last week. The residents expressed concern about traffic that would be created by a 35-unit-per-acre apartment building and whether the city has fire equipment that could reach high enough to cope with a blaze in such a building.
"Thirty-five is very high density for Round Rock," said Amelia Sondegeroth, the city's principal planner, noting that even Austin doesn't have apartments at that level of density. "I don't know that the city of Round Rock is ready for that," she said.
Martin said the idea is for the apartments to have an uptown, urban feel. "The kind of multifamily we envision is radically different from what's been built in Austin and Round Rock," he said.
Another issue is traffic that will be attracted to an intersection already widely conceded to be the most congested in town. Martin said roads going through the development could help alleviate the traffic problems in that area because plans are to extend Hester's Crossing westward into the development and connect it to another major street built in the course of creating La Frontera.
Coupled with plans already under way to extend Greenlawn Boulevard and Mays Street, "this helps provide a big reliever to that intersection," at IH-35 and FM 1325, he said.
Part of the development lies in Austin's extraterritorial jurisdiction. Round Rock has indicated interest in annexing the portion in its ETJ to collect property and sales taxes generated by the development and have better control of what's built there.
Martin said the total value of the property is expected to be in the neighborhood of $500 million, once it's built out.
