What’s happening?
At a July 13 meeting, Cedar Park City Council approved a petition from Endeavor Real Estate Group to consider amending its future land use plan to transition 145 acres previously designated as office, retail and commercial space to planning area, which allows for more diverse use of the land.
The 496-acre High Ridge Development would include:
- 1,000 single-family homes
- 3,000 multifamily homes
- 600 hotel units
- 3.1 million square feet of commercial and civil space
- 50 acres of parks and open space
- A major athletic facility campus
The details
Cedar Park’s Future Land Use Plan designates how the city intends to develop certain areas, said Fran Irwin, the city’s community affairs director.
One of these land use designations are planning areas, which identify one of three “missing places” in the city: walkable mixed-use, entertainment/cultural district and business park. As Cedar Park is 80% built out, planning areas comprise much of the city’s remaining vacant land, according to the city’s Comprehensive Plan.
If approved, the land use amendment before the council would expand a 126-acre planning area to include 145 additional acres that were previously designated for regional office, retail and commercial uses.
The expanded 271-acre planning area would allow Endeavor to build several different structures, including homes and a potential athletic facility, and have more flexibility to plan the development as a whole with roads and infrastructure, said Megan Frey, a principal with Endeavor Real Estate Group.
While the council’s approval did not officially amend the area’s future land use plan designation, it has allowed the city to move forward with potentially amending the land use and rezoning the area to accommodate the development, said Andreina Davila-Quintero, the city’s assistant director of development services.
The backstory
High Ridge would replace Indigo Ridge, Frey said, a 155-acre mixed-use development that was previously proposed for the site by Indigo Ridge Development Partners.
The $1.5 billion Indigo Ridge development was proposed to include office and hotel space, residential options, restaurants, retail, and entertainment, and host the headquarters and facilities of the U.S. Tennis Association Texas, according to previous reporting by Community Impact.
“I think what we're seeing here is an expanded version that has more promise for cohesion in a continuous walkable neighborhood that's going to really help us as a city continue to thrive in the middle of this century,” Mayor Jim Penniman-Morin said, comparing High Ridge to Indigo Ridge.
In 2019, the city of Cedar Park entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Indigo Ridge Development Partners and USTA Texas, expressing intentions to initiate a $60 million incentive package.
Frey said Endeavor Real Estate Group was in conversations with UTSA Texas about continuing to include the organization in High Ridge but could not guarantee that USTA Texas would be a part of the development.
“We feel positive about where we are with them,” Frey said, “We also want this project to go forward even if they choose not to be here.”
