Lakeway Is Exploding With Growth

I went to a meeting last week at which Chessie Blanchard, the Lakeway Deputy City Manager, gave a Lakeway development update. If you haven’t been to Lakeway in a couple of years, you might not recognize it. For those of you not familiar with Lakeway, it is a bedroom community of Austin on the south shore of Lake Travis. Here are some of the highlights of Chessie’s presentation:

Lakeway Regional Medical Center – this is a 54 acre development just south of Lake Travis Middle School on RR 620. There will be a hospital with a level II trauma center and helipad, medical offices, a specialty hospital for physical therapy, a hotel, a day care and an area for retail and restaurants. Construction is expected to be completed in 2-4 years.

Lakeway Highlands – this is a 1500 acre tract that will connect Lakeway with Bee Creek Road via a new boulevard. There will be 1400 single-family home lots, 330 condos, 35 acres of commercial, 10 acres for a hotel, over 300 acres for parks, an 8 acre yacht club and sites for an elementary school and ball fields. Construction has already begun on the boulevard and once that is finished, expect the rest of the area to develop quickly.

Downtown Lakeway – this may be the most exciting of the developments. What has long been referred to as the goat ranch will become a very nice downtown area. Chessie said it will be similar to Southlake in Dallas. Downtown Lakeway will be ponds, trails, retail, office space, residential and restaurants. This tract of land is on the west side of 620 between Sonic and a shopping center and contains the little road called Glen Heather.

Serene Hills – this is what will give Lakeway a presence on Highway 71. West of Bee Cave, Serene Hills will be 456 acres of single-family home lots, 300 apartments, 100 acres of commercial, a 15 acre middle school site and 39 acres of greenbelts.

By the way, Lakeway is in the Lake South (LS) area of the Austin MLS. LS was one of the only MLS areas that had an increase in the number of homes closed in December, 2007 over December, 2006. Why is Lakeway exploding with growth? Fabulous Lake Travis ISD schools, the new Hill Country Galleria Mall in Bee Cave, a major medical facility on the way, beautiful Lake Travis, the beauty of the Central Texas Hill Country, golf and other recreation over the place and something nobody expected – a state championship high school Football team.

Disclaimer: all of this information was provided by the City of Lakeway and may be subject to changes over time.

Sam Chapman is a guest blogger on Eric’s Austin real estate blog. Sam specializes in Lakeway homes and Lake Travis real estate as well as working with buyers who are moving to Texas from other parts of the country.