Austin's Mueller development will get its first hotel next year when Marriott opens a Residence Inn in the area.

Construction on the hotel is expected to begin during the first quarter of 2012, with plans to open in spring 2013. Once completed, the location is planned to include 112 rooms, featuring studios and one- and two-bedroom suites. The hotel, located at the intersection of 51st Street and Lancaster Drive, is expected to serve families of patients at the community's Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas.

"Residence Inn is a strong brand to have at Mueller, and its location is ideal for serving the medical center, which is growing even faster than originally planned," said Greg Weaver, executive vice president of real estate development group Catellus, which operates Mueller. " There's so much happening at Mueller right now. In the coming months, you'll be able to drive by a number of areas of the community, feel the energy and see the momentum that's taking shape. And we're just getting started."

The hotel is one of several projects expected to break ground in the development within the next year. Along with 221 new homes, new structures planned for 2012 construction include the Austin Playhouse theater, a children's museum, smart grid research group Pecan Street's commercialization lab and a performing arts center for Austin Independent School District.

Opened in 2007 on the 700-acre site of the city's former airport, Mueller is the state's first development to receive the LEED-ND certification from the United States Green Building Council. The city approved a master plan for the development in 2000 and chose Catellus as the project's master developer in 2002.

The 700-acre Mueller development is a joint project between the City of Austin and Catellus. The development, which will build out over a period of 15 years, will feature more than 5,500 single-family and multifamily homes, a mixed-use town center district, 4 million square feet of commercial space, 140 acres of park space, the Austin Film Studios and the Dell Children's Medical Center.