DEVELOPMENT
First retail, residential buildings underway at Wolf Lakes Village
BY GRANT CRAWFORD
multifamily and townhome project, Rise510 by local development com- pany Novak Brothers. The village is also the location of a new Ascension Seton Health Center, which is set to open this summer, oering a range of specialty and out-
WOLF RANCH PKWY.
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A project decades in the making, the Wolf Lakes Village master-planned development in Georgetown is considered a “legacy project” to last more than 100 years and is designed to mirror ancient villages across Europe, Wolf Lakes LP
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The European-style design of Wolf Lakes Village is meant to one day serve around 5,000 residents. (Rendering courtesy Wolf Lakes Village) A SELFSUFFICIENT COMMUNITY Developers of Wolf Lakes Village in Georgetown have designed the property to include retail, dining and housing options, attracting businesses and organizations like H-E-B and Ascension Seton to establish locations there.
patient health ser- vices. In between the two properties, Wolf Lakes Drive— adorned with a fountain encircled by Roman-like colonnades—leads trac into the heart of the development. The
“WE’RE TRYING TO CREATE A SELFSUFFICIENT VILLAGE A TOWN WITHIN A TOWN SO THAT IT’S WALKABLE AND YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED." DONALD MCLACHLAN, WOLF LAKES LP VICE PRESIDENT
President Iva Wolf McLachlan and Vice President Donald McLachlan said. Now, noticeable progress has been made on the all-in- one community, located at the northwest corner of
164 total acres
2,500 housing units
85 acres of undeveloped land
5,000 residential capacity
I-35 and Hwy. 29, where 164 acres of multifamily housing, retail, medical services and corporate campuses are being developed. The site is home to the newly opened Wolf Lakes Village HEB and is designed to meet all the needs of its future residents. “We’re trying to create a self-su- cient village—a town within a town—so that it’s walkable and you have every- thing you need,” Donald McLachlan said. “You don’t have to get in your car and go anywhere.” The Wolf Lakes developers have completed 60% of the infrastructure for the community, the nal build-out of which aims to have 2,500 units of multifamily and townhome housing. Currently under construction, the property will have a 336-unit com- plex known as Varenna Lakeside, developed by Hines. Next door is the location of a 301-unit, garden-style
sidewalks feature black lamp posts to match the ones found in downtown Georgetown. Benches, palo verde and live oak trees, and rose bushes dot the surroundings. The McLachlans designed for double the landscape than what was required by the city. It’s part of the couple’s vision to bring a European-inuenced village and community to life. They worked with design consultant Je Blackard to plot out the property, including plans to potentially build an outdoor amphitheater and wedding chapel. “Where is your example this vil- lage concept is going to work? Thou- sands of years all over the world,” Iva Wolf McLachlan said. “In America, zoning laws prevented this over the years. It used to be you could only have retail over here, residential over here. Then we realized we’ve divided our communities instead of
Con rmed tenants:
60,000 square feet Ascension Seton Health Center Phase 1
121,000 square feet Wolf Lakes Village H-E-B
SOURCE: WOLF LAKES VILLAGECOMMUNITY IMPACT
bringing them together. So this is the idea: one big community.” Roughly 85 acres of Wolf Lakes Village is undeveloped. The McLach- lans said they are waiting for the right developer to complete their vision. “We’re not going to compromise,” Iva Wolf McLachlan said. “We’re in it for the long haul. If we just wanted a cookie-cutter development, we could have done this many times over and been done with it.” The Wolf Lakes Village duo intend to nd a developer willing to construct
and manage the remaining land, adding retail stores, restaurants and hotels, while reserving around 14 acres for a corporate user. It’s a requirement that the developers meet a threshold for commercial property before more housing is introduced to the site. “For my whole childhood growing up—from birth to high school—George- town was a town of 5,000 people,” Iva Wolf McLachlan said. “It’s kind of extraordinary to me that we’re creat- ing a village that can accommodate 5,000 people.”
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GEORGETOWN EDITION • JULY 2023
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