In previous issues or online, we reported on the following stories. Here is an update on what has happened since then.

Newest Domain hotel breaks ground

The Valencia Group broke ground in March on Lone Star Court, an upscale hotel with a retro and Texas Hill Country feel. Planned for the corner of Domain Drive and Amy Donovan Plaza, the hotel will have 123 rooms with high-tech amenities as well as a wading pool, restaurant and bar. Construction is expected to be complete in early 2013.

The Valencia Group, a Houston-based company known for its Hotel Valencias in San Antonio, created the concept for the hotel, and the company intends to replicate the concept in several other locations.

"Lone Star Court in Austin will be the flagship of what will eventually be a series of court concept hotels across the southeastern United States," Valencia Group President Doyle Graham Jr. said in a news release. "Each of the court concept hotels will capture the essence of the cities where they are located."

The hotel will be reminiscent of mid-1940s roadside motor courts. RTKL Associates in Dallas is the architect for the project.

At The Domain, Lone Star Court will join the Westin Hotel and Aloft Austin, bringing the total number of hotel rooms to 604. Other construction projects under way at The Domain include a Whole Foods Market, a two-phase residential project and a 9-acre park.

Environmental training school to open in former Chaparral Ice Center

EcoTech Institute, a school for environmental training in electrical, solar and wind programs, is renovating the former Chaparral Ice Center at 14200 N. I-35 for its newest location.

In addition to providing instruction on renewable energy, the building will satisfy much of its own energy needs through solar panels, solar trees (steel poles topped with solar panels) and wind turbines, said Robbie Cather, senior project manager at Stewart Perry, the construction company overseeing the renovation.

Demolition crews tore down 40 percent of the building, or about 30,000 square feet. The remaining 40,000 square feet have been gutted and will be turned into 20 classrooms with six labs.

Construction is scheduled to be finished in July. EcoTech is owned and operated by Education Corporation of America, the same operator of Virginia College.

Balcones Country Club on course to reopen Spicewood golf play

The Balcones Country Club, faced last year with having to permanently shut down its Spicewood Golf Course, has gained nearly 200 new members since launching a membership drive in September.

"Things are progressing extremely well," club manager Phil Stika said.

Still, the 50-year-old club needs about 200 more members until it would have the funds to reopen and maintain the Spicewood course, which snakes through several neighborhoods on the west side of US 183 between Spicewood Springs Road and Anderson Mill Road.

The membership drive aims to increase dues collected by the club from $120,000 to $190,000—money that would also go toward long-term improvements to club facilities, Stika said.

The club was forced to close the course last summer after record heat caused many golfers to stay indoors.