“I have a vision,” Lakeway Mayor Joe Bain told a full house at a special meeting prior to the Nov. 20 council meeting.

The special session was related to the future of 37 acres of what Bain called the last undeveloped land in the center of the city.

The Nov. 20 meeting was held, Bain said, to quell some of the confusion around eventual possible developments behind The Oaks at Lakeway shopping center.

Bain said he has had heard no interest from council to go forward with a private developer’s proposal made in September that would bring 350 apartment units behind the HEB side of The Oaks in exchange for giving the city the remaining 25 acres of land. Originally the developer, Stratus Properties, proposed building fewer town home units with no land offer, city records showed.

“I think [the Stratus proposal] is a dead issue although [council] has not voted it down. We (the City of Lakeway) are doing an appraisal on this property to see what it could cost the city to buy it,” Bain said. He offered no timeline on when that process would be complete.

“I have a vision,” Bain repeated. “I would like to see a central park here. It would not be cheap, it would be expensive, but it would be a way to control that [multi-unit development].”

Currently Lakeway only has one apartment complex, the Mansions at Lakeway, located on Highway 71 at Serene Hills Drive, although a new 55-and-older apartment community is planned on Lohmans Crossing Road opposite Tuscan Village, Bain said.

What could the Stratus property sell for?

Bain said the 25 acres Stratus is offering the city is “probably worth $2.5 million or $3 million."

“Is that a [financial] benefit [in exchange] for 350 apartments? Frankly, it’s not to me,” he said.

While Bain said he doesn’t know what a "ballpark estimate" would look like for the total Stratus property, he did offer a number.

“I have a feeling this [entire 37-acre parcel] will be available for somewhere in the range of $4.5 million to $5.5 million, I think. That’s not the whole problem. The problem is whomever buys it is required to build [a] piece of road,” Bain said.

Extending four lanes of Main St. from the Oaks would cost an estimated $1 million to $2 million, City Manager Steve Jones said.

Bain said he based his estimate on knowledge of what someone else offered for the Stratus land. Bain said if the city negotiates a sale price with Stratus, council would then vote on going forward with a bond proposal on which residents would have the final say at the polls.

If the city and voters opt not to buy the 37 acres, Bain said Stratus could sell it to another developer, who would have to follow existing guidelines for the Oaks planned unit development, or PUD, unless they get a zoning amendment from council. Those PUD restrictions would leave it unlikely the land, which Bain showed the meeting has three ponds and a drought-tolerant stream, would remain in its natural state.

Remaining land parcels 'too expensive not to develop'

The Stratus property is one of 11 connected parcels that Bain said will be developed eventually since they are too expensive not to develop.

Those parcels include large swaths owned by Haythem Dawlett, CEO and principal of Legend Communities and the developer of nearby Tuscan Village. Dawlett introduced his plan for an 80-acre City Center mixed-use concept in August this year under the name HSD Lakeway.

However, Bain said as part of that plan, Dawlett has told him verbally of his interest in extending the four-lane road, now Main St. at the Oaks, through his parcel to exit on Lohmans Crossing Road across from the Wingreen Loop entrance to The Village of The Hills.

Dollop is also verbally promising to create four lanes at the section of Lohmans Spur Road on his property behind the new police station land and connect with his portion of Main Street, Bain said at the meeting. Dawlett will still have to secure a PUD from City Council to get his projects underway.

“If we got all this done, that would be a significant improvement to the traffic in Lakeway,” the mayor said, adding several neighborhoods would no longer have to use RM 620 to get to The Oaks.

Residents at the meeting suggested the city encourage the landowners to work together toward a common vision. Mayor Bain said he’s working on that.

“I was ignorant,” Dennis Hogan told council. “I feel much better and want to say thank you. My concern was that this whole big parcel of land, be as people-centric as possible.”

Another recent big land purchase involving the city of Lakeway was $3.7 million to acquire 60 acres of land along with 10 acres of donated land that will be turned into soccer fields thanks to the passage of the Nov. 2017 Travis County bond. Bain called that “a good investment for the kids.”