DEVELOPMENT
Nearly 4K housing units coming to Lake Travis area
New development Thomas Ranch spans both Travis and Burnet counties and will oer thousands of new homes and new amenities for area residents.
Arts center
Farm
Golf course
Hotel
Marina
School
2,200 acres 40 miles of hiking and biking trails 3,500 new housing units 400 units in private residential community 250,000 square feet of downtown district 1 boutique resort hotel 1 new golf course
Private community
BY TAYLOR CRIPE
Thomas Ranch, a 2,200-acre residential devel- opment planned for the Spicewood area, has been approved for a preliminary plat by Burnet County. The 4,000-unit development comprises 545 acres on the Burnet County side of the Spicewood region, while the rest of the future development is in Travis County. During the Burnet County Commissioners Court meeting Feb. 14, the commissioners unani- mously approved the preliminary plat, according to a press release from Thomas Ranch owners Arete Collective. A preliminary plat details a map of a proposed subdivision and allows infrastructure to be con- structed, according to Travis County. Thomas Ranch was originally approved for development in 2017 and will be one of the largest residential developments in the area with about 3,900 homes, apartments, restaurants, a hotel, marketplace shops and more, according to initial plans approved by Travis County. The project is estimated to take up to two decades to complete and will have a population of 6,000-10,000 people. Rebecca Buchan, CEO and co-founder of Arete Collective said she is grateful to Burnet County for being partners in the journey to bring new and innovative housing options to the Greater Austin area. “This plat approval is a milestone moment, demonstrating Arete Collective’s ability to make progress on a project that we acquired in January of 2022,” she said. “We are committed to bringing a global expertise to collaborations with local leadership and business partners to benet the local economy and community.” Joe Rentfro, the managing director for Arete Collective, said credit for the development also has to go to Ralph Thomas, from whom Arete Collective
LAKE TRAVIS
Residential neighborhoods
29
BURNET COUNTY
183
35
281
TRAVIS COUNTY
71
290
71
290
Downtown district
N
SOURCE: ARETE COLLECTIVECOMMUNITY IMPACT
304
bought the property in January 2022. Thomas purchased 17 dierent parcels of land over 25 years to accumulate the 2,200 acres the ranch sits on, Rentfro said. “The great part was we didn’t just buy 2,200 acres of real estate,” Rentfro said. “We were able to come in and buy a property that had been carefully thought of and developed [for] some land planning.” Several residents have voiced concern about the new development. Mike Sample, a Spicewood resident who lives o Travis Lakeside Drive, said the new golf course that will be part of the Thomas Ranch Development is right across from his house. Sample said the most critical concern for him
and other residents is where the water is going to come from for the new development and where the wastewater from the golf course is going to go. “They did not elaborate on whether new wells would be drilled or whether existing wells would be upgraded,” he said. Sample said there were also concerns about trac as a trac impact analysis was not available. Rentfro said the plan for the development is to also have over 40 miles of total trail networks throughout the 2,200 acres. In terms of next steps, Rentfro said community members can expect to see some construction on the development’s planned golf course in the third quarter of 2023. 281 130 46
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LAKE TRAVIS WESTLAKE EDITION • APRIL 2023
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