More than 17 years after Bee Cave approved a development agreement for a multiuse project at the entrance to one of the city’s neighborhoods, Kenneth Satterlee, the project’s second developer, said he can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Phase 1 of Gateway to Falconhead—46,750 square feet composed of retail and restaurants—will welcome its first tenant, Bon Sushi, in October, and Phase 2—composed of 80,000 square feet of office space—will be delivered to tenants by March, he said.

‘SYMBIOTIC’ RELATIONSHIP

Satterlee is CEO and president of Austin-based St. Croix Capital Advisors LLC and St. Croix Capital Advisory Services Group LLC, companies that invest, develop and manage clients’ portfolios.

“[Gateway] is what I would call a conventional neighborhood service community,” Satterlee said. “Phase 1 is really a village of buildings. It’s not a behemoth regional mall. So there’s nothing unusual about this at all. The fact is 80,000 square feet of office [space in Phase 2] contributes a daytime population of workers that populate the uses that are in Phase 1. It’s so symbiotic; it’s simple.”

Construction workers ready a building in Phase 1 of the Gateway to Falconhead multiuse site in Bee Cave for completion.[/caption]

He said residents of the homes located behind similar development layouts do not necessarily patronize the project during the daytime.

“You see some other examples of [this setup] in Lakeway where you have a density of homes in back of a retail center, but those aren’t the people who are using the services in a center like this Monday through Friday,” Satterlee said.

Why RM 620?

Falconhead, a Lake Travis-area neighborhood, lies directly behind the project, a factor, Satterlee said, in St. Croix’s decision to place the development on the RM 620 site.

“You basically had a 5,000-home subdivision that was complete, called Falconhead,” he said. “Falconhead didn’t have any services except for that little center across the street. There were people clamoring for those services from the neighborhood out.”

Satterlee said Gateway to Falconhead’s property had been approved, and he touted a development permit from the city that incorporated the two phases of retail and office.

“I appreciated the fact that in order to get the retail people to come—they probably would have leased anyway given the growth in our economy in general and West Austin in particular—[Phase 1 had] 80,000 square feet of employees behind [it in Phase 2], feeding the daytime population to [Phase 1]” he said. “And that really made a difference.”

occupancy focuses on local

Five out of the seven buildings in Phase 1, with the exception of two buildings St. Croix has not yet constructed, are fully leased, Satterlee said. The tenants are primarily local, he said.

“I’m proud of the fact that we have filled up these five buildings with essentially local mom and pop [businesses],” Satterlee said. “This is what I think Bee Cave wants. This is what Bee Cave embraces. It wants the people that live here to work here and be rewarded.”

He said more than “1,000 doors have been built and open[ed] within walking distance of the center since [St. Croix] put the property under contract [in 2013]: 330 apartments next door, 60 patio homes, 700 apartments across the street.”

Satterlee said his company will maintain an office in the complex.

Economic impact

The economic impact of Gateway could be substantial to Bee Cave, whose residents enjoy property taxes of 2 cents per $100 valuation, balanced out by the city’s large intake of sales tax revenue.

This rendering of a building set for Phase 1 of Gateway to Falconhead illustrates the design and style of the complex.[/caption]

“We don’t really have any idea what the economic impact for the subject development is,” City Manager Travis Askey said. “However, our fiscal year 2017-18 budget does not recommend an increase in our current property tax rate.”

Phase 2 of Gateway to Falconhead will feature six office buildings similar to the rendering shown here.[/caption]

Laura Mitchell, the president of Lake Travis Chamber of Commerce, said the group believes strongly that “a rising tide lifts all boats,” meaning improvements in the area’s general economy will benefit all of its businesses.

“Certainly, consumers will try the new and shiny eatery, retail shop or personal service establishment,” she said. “It is what we all do as consumers. Eventually, those establishments that have the products and services the community would like and are willing to return to spend their money, are the ones that will thrive the most.”

Filling in the rest of the space

Although Phase 2 tenants have not yet been solidified, Satterlee said he has plans for the two unfilled Phase 1 sites—including an over 15,000-square-foot building and a 4,500-square-foot restaurant space.

Originally, day care center Bright Horizons at Bee Cave was slated to occupy the larger space, but it was not able to wait until the project finished and moved into another Bee Cave site, he said. Now the building will be partitioned into condominiums “so small businesses can buy their space if they want to,” he said.

Satterlee said he is saving the sole space in Building C for the right tenant—a single, sit-down restaurant that has not yet been identified.

“[Occupancy] will happen in due time,” he said. “We’ll wait. We’ll be patient.”