A new wastewater line to be built along Ronald Reagan Boulevard could help draw development to the Leander thoroughfare between Highway 29 and East Whitestone Boulevard. The developer of Palmera Ridge, which is located just north of Hero Way on Ronald Reagan, plans to build utilities that will support more homes and businesses along the corridor. Additional developers will be able to tap into the oversized wastewater line funded through a new municipal utility district expected to be approved this summer. The MUD can levy taxes within its boundaries over decades to fund debt payments for infrastructure. Growth along the corridor in Leander would follow a commercial boom to the south, where Cedar Park's second Walmart store is scheduled to open in May on Whitestone. Interested businesses also anticipate northward expansion on Ronald Reagan, said Marci Cannon, a commercial real estate agent with Marketplace Real Estate Group, who sold the Palmera property. "Palmera coming in is just a huge opening," Cannon said. "In the next year and a half ... you're going to see [development] exploding out there."

Palmera Ridge

The Palmera Ridge property is owned by Blake Magee Co. LP, which took over the project in 2013 from developer John Lohr. On Dec. 5 Leander City Council approved the project's development agreement and consented to the MUD, setting the wastewater line construction in motion. On April 3 City Council approved voluntary annexation for a portion of the Palmera Ridge site located within the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction. City Council also approved the tract's rezoning as a planned unit development. Developer Blake Magee said he expects the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to approve the MUD by summer. "[That] will fit perfectly with our plans to start infrastructure development by the third quarter of 2014," Magee said. Plans call for Palmera Ridge to include 600 single-family houses on the site of the former Kittie Hill Airport. About 15 acres west of Ronald Reagan Boulevard are zoned for mixed use. Construction on Palmera Ridge houses should begin by summer 2015, Magee said. Developers will pay about $2 million for the new wastewater line that runs south of the Palmera Ridge property, Magee said. Near Brushy Creek the 12-inch line will widen so other builders can also tap into it, Leader Development Services Director Tom Yantis said. The city will reimburse developers 55 percent of the line's total costs, using 60 percent of other homes' or businesses' fees for hooking up to the new line, Yantis said. "It ends up being a good deal for the city because essentially [Magee] finances the construction of the line on the city's behalf, for the oversize piece of it," he said.

City expectations

New utilities mean Leander leaders must determine what kinds of developments they prefer at which locations, Yantis said. "Obviously it's a fast-growing area," he said. "From the city's perspective we are trying to encourage as much development as we can because we've made a lot of investments in our long-term infrastructure, and right now we have a small pool of people paying for that." More rooftops could lead to lower residential property taxes and utility rates citywide. Leander's population is about 30,000, and more people will help offset what the city already pays for its secured water supply—enough to meet the needs of 200,000 residents, City Manager Kent Cagle said. City planners are also drafting a land-use plan that outlines the city's goals and indicates development hot spots including Ronald Reagan Boulevard's intersections with Hero Way and Crystal Falls Parkway. The city must also determine which roads to improve, such as widening Hero Way to allow for more traffic, Yantis said. "Those are the things that we can really control as the city," Yantis said. "We can't necessarily control the timing of when that development happens, but we can control where it goes. With [Toll] 183A, with Reagan, with rail, we really feel like we're perfectly positioned to provide good [housing] alternatives for people to be able to commute to their jobs."

Businesses wait

Cannon is one of the founding members of the Reagan Parmer Corridor Association, a group started in 2007 by individuals and businesses who want to aid the thoroughfare's development. RPCA members hope to draw more than homes and retail to the corridor, she said. Leander residents' education levels and annual household incomes are higher than Austin's and could attract primary employers, she said. "Our focus has been sustainable, quality growth," Cannon said. "We definitely want to maintain the look similar to what [RR] 360 is and not what [US] 183 is. The Hill Country is just beautiful." Much of the land behind Ronald Reagan Boulevard frontage property is reserved for conservation or owned by homebuilders, especially within Leander ISD, which developers appear to favor, Cannon said. Before businesses build, they want the local areas to reach a certain threshold, Yantis said. "[Interested companies are] mostly retail right now, grocery stores and large-format retailers," he said. Cannon said RPCA members want shopping plazas similar to those in Cedar Park. "We're not interested in the typical strip centers that last only 10 years," she said. "We would love to see a [shopping center like] 1890 Ranch. That would be perfect—a theater, some restaurants, all the things Leander is missing. That's what we need. And the big hold has been the cost to develop."

Former Kittie Hill Airport owner reflects on property's sale

For 12 years, Charles Densford hoped to sell Kittie Hill Airport to someone who would keep an airport on the site. Then he chose to sell his 146 acres to Palmera Ridge developers. Densford signed the contract in 2013, 20 years after he bought the property in 1993. "I have seen the plat of what they're going to do up there, and I think it's going to be a very nice subdivision," Densford said. "It's just too bad it won't be an airport anymore." Given Kittie Hill's lack of utility access, Densford said he found it difficult to market the airport to aviators, and challenging to subdivide according to zoning requirements. Another attempt to sell the property to the city of Leander also fell through, he said. "I began to realize that the value of the land was such that nobody was going to keep it as an airport," Densford said. "I figured I'm 79 years old, and I needed to do something." Densford sold the airport to Baizer Interest Inc., and the firm's successor, Blake Magee Co. LP, plans to replace the airport's hangars and runways with 600 single-family homes and nearby mixed-use development. "Anybody who flies airplanes hates to see an airport get closed up, and I certainly felt the same way," Densford said. "But in the end, it was time for me to go do something else. My wife and I are going to do some traveling. We've got a bunch of things on our bucket list."