2023 ANNUAL COMMUNITY GUIDE
MAYORS’ REMARKS
“WE NEED DEFINITELY MORE COMMERCIAL AND MORE INDUSTRIAL; WE DON’T WANT TO BE A BEDROOM COMMUNITY, WHICH WE’VE ALWAYS BEEN IN DANGER OF BECOMING. WE NEED TO DIVERSIFY THAT TAX BASE.” CHRISTINE DELISLE, LEANDER MAYOR
“WE’RE BRINGING A BALANCED APPROACH TO WHAT THE FUTURE COMMUNITY LOOKS LIKE. THAT’S A COMBINATION OF MORE COMMERCIAL BUT ALSO SOME HIGHERDENSITY RESIDENTIAL THAT SUPPORTS THAT COMMERCIAL.” JIM PENNIMAN MORIN, CEDAR PARK MAYOR
an outdoor pool and beach. Valued at $1 billion, the mixed-use develop- ment will also have a hotel and con- ference center component. Construction on the multifam- ily portion on Crystal Village began in June 2021. Conrmed businesses include QuikTrip, Southside Market & Barbeque, Culver’s and Sprouts Farmers Market. Though these developments have residential components, they are mostly commercial and will positively aect the local economy, ocials said. “We’re looking at what’s really becoming Leander’s turn for things. … I think we’re going to see the return on those commercial developments increase quite a bit in the next several years,” DeLisle said. Building out Cedar Park Although Leander still has a lot of land to be developed, its neighbor Cedar Park does not. While Cedar Park has no formal ordi- nance limiting residential growth, o- cials have been looking at development through a commercial lens. Council Member Mel Kirkland said the city has been building subdivisions for the last 15-20 years. Still, the city can accommodate all of the planned developments and redevelopments to come due to long-term planning. Kirkland said his hope is for Cedar
jurisdiction are now at about 104,000 people. Copple said the city still has 400-500 acres of land reserved for resi- dential development. “People live in Cedar Park because they want to be a part of our com- munity—a full-service community that’s got a place for everybody,” Penniman-Morin said. “All we’re doing is making sure the city grows in a way to facilitate that.” Meanwhile, Leander is preparing for a substantial population increase in the coming years. By 2028, the city said its population of 82,000 is pro- jected to reach 120,000. Kat Howell, a long-term Leander res- ident and town historian, said with all of the growth Leander is expecting, the infrastructure should match up with it. “There is going to be more growth whether we want it or not. We’re not a small town anymore,” she said. DeLisle said Leander will blos- som in the next ve to seven years. By then, water capacity will be increased, and commercial develop- ment will have caught up. “I do believe sincerely that we’re in the best position we’ve ever been now to take that next step into the commer- cial and retail arenas,” Beverlin said.
Park to become a hub for western Williamson County. “Not every resident wants the same thing, so we need to have a vari- ety of dierent services across our community,” he said. Cedar Park City Council has approved ve anticipated commercial developments with four of them more than 50 acres in size. The Bell District, billed as Cedar Park’s new central gathering space, will include high-density residential units with retail, restaurants and other com- mercial uses, according to the city. Work on infrastructure for The Bell District began in 2022, with the rst vertical construction—including that of the new public library—begin- ning in 2023. While the project is slated to take about 15 years to fully complete, con- struction on Bell Park and the rst res- idential building are also set to begin in late 2023, according to the project’s developers, RedLeaf Properties. As part of an upcoming super-re- gional destination center, NFM, a home store previously known as Nebraska Furniture Mart, will anchor a 117-acre project located near the H¨E¨B Center. In addition to the retailer, the develop- ment will include a 250-room hotel, a 30,000-square-foot convention center and additional commercial space. Highly anticipated by city ocials
and residents, Indigo Ridge has also been approved in Cedar Park. The development will be anchored by the headquarters for the United States Ten- nis Association Texas. “[Indigo Ridge’s developers] have been continuing to work, and they’ve bought more land, and they expanded that footprint, and so we’re kind of waiting for them to come back with their concrete plan,” Penniman-Morin said at the 2022 State of the City on Dec. 14. Baseball scouting company Perfect Game is also bringing its headquar- ters to Cedar Park. Another business relocating its headquarters to Cedar Park is home shopping network Shop LC. NFM and Shop LC are each expected to bring roughly 700 jobs to the city. “Cedar Park just has a great reputa- tion. ... When we say we’re in Cedar Park, that has a lot of meaning for that talent,” Shop LC Director of Logistics Dave Loucks said. Planning for the population Over the next few years, Cedar Park is expected to see steady population growth, while Leander’s population is projected to boom. Cedar Park’s build-out population is approximately 128,000 people, Assis- tant City Manager Chris Copple said, and the city and its extraterritorial
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CEDAR PARK LEANDER EDITION • JANUARY 2023
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