Representatives for the project—referred to in the early stages as the 18516 Heatherwilde Blvd. Rezoning—said during a Sept. 14 City Council meeting the development would consist of multifamily and single-family detached homes.
Council approved the rezone on first reading and spoke favorably of the land use given its proximity to similar single-family subdivisions along New Meister Lane and Pencil Cactus Drive.
Reid Yankowski, the land owner and project lead, said the development would consist of cottage-style, single-family detached homes, as well as four-plex multifamily units.
"Our product is all in one individual tax parcel, so all of our units will always be for rent, and they will not be sold off individually," Yankowski said.
He added the single-family units will have three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and the four-plex units will have two or three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Details have not yet been released with regard to number of units and rental rates, and developers still need to go through the subdivision and platting process, provided the rezone is officially approved during a second reading at an upcoming City Council meeting.
Should the project move forward, it will be the latest example of an emerging trend in housing for the Pflugerville-Hutto area.
Other recent examples
On Aug. 19, Hutto City Council approved a 219-unit single-family rental subdivision called Aspen Heights.
T.C. Selman, vice president of Aspen Heights Partners, said the new community will be company's first fully rentable single-family home community, as well as the first in Hutto.
"What it does [is], it allows individuals that are pushed out of market right now because of the high, high cost of purchasing a single-family home ... the option to rent or lease a ... private home with a detached, full garage, private yard and all the amenities they would normally have," Selman said.
Selman said his company is now working on platting the 36-acre parcel of land, and that plan will go through planning and zoning, and other necessary city departments before moving forward toward construction.
Additionally, on Sept. 14 Pflugerville City Council approved a second reading to rezone a 96-acre plat of land in the far east portion of the city just west of the 1849 Park athletic complex.
Called Cameron 96, the development will consist of commercial retail space and single-family homes for sale, but it will also contain roughly 300 single-family units for rent within a subdivision called Cameron Yardhomes.
Among the selling points, city documents state the development intends to fill a housing option known as "missing middle," which consists of more affordable, mixed-density housing units that are within walkable communities.
Jeremy Frazzell, Pflugerville Planning and Development Services assistant, said Aug. 24 that once the second reading of the rezone passed, the development would move into the subdivision process.
Reason for the trend
During the Sept. 14 discussion of the 18516 Heatherwilde Blvd. Rezoning, Pflugerville City Council Member Doug Weiss asked why there appeared to be an emerging trend of single-family rental communities coming to the area.
Essentially, Weiss said he was concerned about the growing number of home units and communities that offer no options for residents to eventually own the property where they live.
"There's a trend of that because we've entered just a general economic environment where housing prices have gone sky high," Yankowski said. "We can see that all throughout Pflugerville."
Recent data provided by Central Texas real estate firm Bramlett Residential show the average home on the market in Pflugerville from July 1-31, 2021, listed for $412,046.
For the same time period in 2020, an averaged home listed for $311,475, representing a 32.29% increase.
When they pitched city officials, developers for the Aspen Heights and Cameron 96 projects echoed what Yankowski told Pflugerville City Council on Sept. 14—home ownership is becoming increasingly out of reach for a larger portion of people, and the single-family rental market is serving a growing demographic that no longer wants to live in an apartment but can't afford to own a home.
When addressing Pflugerville City Council on Aug. 24, Felipe Castillo, senior vice president of real estate development company Urban Moment, said the Cameron Yardhomes rental community within Cameron 96 would allow more people to live in walkable communities that are often otherwise out of their price range.
"It fills an affordability gap that a lot of people who are trying to buy homes can accomplish," Castillo said, adding rent prices will cater to households with annual incomes between $50,000 and $80,000. "If you look at the Yardhomes part, it's for those folks that no longer want to live in a traditional multifamily [apartment], and we provide the detached component."
Similarly, Selman said when complete, the Aspen Heights rental community will do the same for Hutto residents.
