Marshall Tract could include fire station, senior living center or day care facility

Development assessment plans for the Marshall Tract, a roughly 37-acre parcel located within the city of Austin at the edge of the Lost Creek neighborhood, will be filed by mid-August by the tract's developer, real estate company Cousins Properties, Senior Vice President Tim Hendricks said.

The parcel is bordered by Lost Creek Boulevard, Quaker Ridge Drive and Capital of Texas Hwy.

Cousins intends to construct a 150,000-square-foot, five-story office building; a 225,000-square-foot, seven-story office building; a 20-foot to 25-foot tall parking garage; and either a fire station, senior living facility or day care, Hendricks said at a July 29 presentation to the Lost Creek Neighborhood Association.

LCNA board members met with Hendricks in the spring but did not communicate residents' concerns to Cousins representatives until the community knew their plans for the site, LCNA President Jennifer Lamm said.

Hendricks said Cousins would like to determine what Lost Creek residents prefer—a senior living facility in which residents can remain in the community after they are no longer able to maintain a home, or a fire station to add to the safety of the neighborhood. The proposed senior living facility would have a larger footprint than the fire station and would be sold by Cousins to a senior living operator for development, he said.

The property is zoned for single-family use and Cousins will request a zoning change from the city of Austin to adopt a planned unit development, or PUD, Hendricks said. A PUD designation allows Cousins to add varied uses on the tract under a common set of regulations, he said.

Hendricks said he has been speaking with the Marshall family about preserving their private cemetery located on the tract.

He said the property could have been developed into 122 residential homesites with 60-foot wide lots, adding more traffic to the community. However, under the proposed PUD plan, all office building traffic would be routed through the adjoining Las Cimas office project, creating an estimated one-third of the amount of traffic a single-family development would cause, he said. The two office buildings would generate about 3,700 vehicle trips daily, he said.

The fire station or senior living facility traffic would flow through Lost Creek Boulevard, Hendricks said.

Quaker Ridge Drive residents said they were concerned about the office buildings abutting their homesites.

However Hendricks said a 293-foot buffer is planned between the nearest home on Quaker Ridge Drive and the edge of the five-story office building.

"Our goal is to leave everything [between Quaker Ridge Drive and the building] undisturbed," he said.

Other residents said they feared excessive lighting from the buildings and siren noise from the fire station.

Austin Fire Department eyes Marshall Tract for new station

The Lost Creek neighborhood will be fully annexed by the city of Austin on Dec. 31, 2015. The Marshall Tract has already been annexed and is within the city's borders.

Upon annexation, the Lost Creek neighborhood will be serviced primarily by the city of Austin station located at RR 2222 and Capital of Texas Hwy., said Tim Hendricks, vice president of Cousins Properties, the Marshall Tract's developer. Other fire departments, including Westlake, can still respond to an emergency call under a reciprocity agreement, he said.

The Westlake Fire Department currently serves Lost Creek with its station at 1295 S. Capital of Texas Hwy., Austin, located less than a mile from the development's entrance.

Austin Fire Department officials met with Hendricks on July 23 to discuss the option of constructing a station on the Marshall Tract, Assistant Chief Brian Tanzola said.

The department is focusing on real estate along the Capital of Texas Hwy. corridor, from Lost Creek Boulevard to Bee Caves Road, for a new station, he said.

"It's important that people understand we're aware that annexation is coming," Tanzola said. "We are fully prepared to meet those service needs when the time comes. After annexation we will have a response unit out there."

Hendricks said the city would need to purchase the property for its appraised value. Cousins' intent is to value a portion of the tract as a senior living facility, he said.

"We'd be taking a big haircut on a fire station," Hendricks said.