The land is located at the corner of the I-35 frontage road and Manchaca Springs with about 12 acres in Buda’s extraterritorial jurisdiction and 18 acres in Austin's ETJ. With the land not being located within Buda city limits, an ETJ swap with the city of Austin may be needed for the development to move forward. The land may also need to be annexed into city limits.
The proposal calls 600-700 residential units on around 28 acres with 3-4 acres reserved for retail. The residential units would range from studios up to three bedrooms. The retail space would be reserved for a restaurant or small convenience store, said Rich Wilson, Forum's senior managing director of development.
“My concern around this apartment row down this corridor [is] that all of them start to look alike. I don’t know of one up and down from us to Onion Creek and beyond that has the retail configuration at the bottom, so that would make this really cool and different,” Council Member Monica Davidson said. “I think that would make your project really distinguishable and something that our city could use.”
Council Member Evan Ture echoed similar sentiments, saying he would like to see as much possible sales tax from the area, especially to increase resources and decrease traffic.
However, with less than 5,000 acres of developable land left in Buda's ETJ, Council Member Terry Cummings said they have very difficult decisions to make regarding “our very little remaining land.”
With this being a workshop item, there was no action taken, and the developer will need to go before the Buda Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council for movement on the development.
