September 28, 2006

8,000 homes planned near Manor

By : Shonda Novak, American-Statesman Staff

A Fort Worth company has purchased 2,200 acres of wooded land south of Manor, where it intends to develop a $2 billion master-planned community with more than 8,000 homes, townhomes and condominiums, plus hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail and office space.

Whisper Valley Ranch is slated for a part of northeastern Travis County where growth is headed, developer Taurus of Texas Holdings LP says.

"We think it's the next significant growth area in the Central Texas region," said Douglas Gilliland, president of Taurus of Texas.

The company is a subsidiary of Boston-based Taurus Investment Holdings, which owns more than 10 million square feet of real estate worldwide.

Taurus recently bought the land from an investment group that included local developer Jim Carpenter.

The property is near the 10-lane Texas 130 toll road, which is scheduled to be completed in mid-2007, and major employers including Dell Inc., Samsung Austin Semiconductor LP and Applied Materials Inc.

The land also borders the Travis County Northeast Regional Park , where the county recently finished $15 million worth of improvements.

Most of the land - 1,965 acres - is on the east side of Texas 130; another 241 acres is to the west.

The terrain includes rolling hills and oak, pecan and hickory trees.

The homes will be built in the next seven to 10 years, Gilliland said. The first homes could be under way by mid-2007 and ready for residents by late 2007 or early 2008.

More than 7,000 homes are slated for the larger tract on the east side of Texas 130 and south of Blake-Manor Road . The houses are expected to range from the $150,000s to $500,000, Gilliland said.

He said that Taurus is not yet ready to announce builders but that they will range from small custom builders to large production builders.

An additional 1,200 to 1,500 townhomes and condominiums could be built west of Texas 130, where most of Whisper Valley Ranch's 300,000 to 400,000 square feet of shops and offices would be built in later phases, three to four years from now.

The development would include 11 soccer fields, nine baseball fields and stocked fishing lakes. Gilliland said nearly 600 acres would be left as open space or developed with walking and jogging trails.

He said the development would have green building features, including energy-efficient homes and lakes to help with natural drainage.

Taurus has sought to enter the Austin market for some time because its economy "has been one of the best business environments in the nation," Gilliland said, citing a solid base of high-tech companies and a healthy influx of newcomers.

"We think Austin has reached a certain level of diversification that gives it a great level of long-term stability," Gilliland said.

"It's a very innovative, environmentally sensitive market where a high-quality product will do very well. So we think our presence will be a good fit in this marketplace."

Charles Heimsath, a local real estate consultant, has said that living east of Interstate 35 has become more desirable in recent years.

"It's really probably the closest, most affordable location for suburban housing in the region right now.

"The major driver is affordability and proximity to jobs in the center of the city."

snovak@statesman.com; 445-3856

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