By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News
Construction is expected to start in mid May on Tacara Steiner Ranch, a 246-unit apartment complex at 4306 Quinlan Park Road North owned and developed by Casey Development.
After already three years in the works, the project is expected to offer its first units in a year and to be fully complete by mid to late 2016.
“We are excited to be in the neighborhood and look forward to getting started next month. We love the market,” said Darren Casey, founder and CEO of Casey Development Ltd.
Tyler Sibley, development analyst with Casey Development, agrees.
“Market demand is strong as seen by the performance of the competing assets. We are building in Steiner Ranch because we believe in our site and know it will be a great addition to the community,” Sibley said.
Tacara details
The project will be built on the terraced back of the hill on the 60-acre site that is facing Lake Travis. The property lies between the Canyon Glen neighborhood and Quinlan Crossing. Next to the site is 32 acres recently purchased by Hill Country Bible Church.
Plans call for 10 buildings and a clubhouse with a total of 246 units and 234,822 rentable square feet. The average unit size will be 955-square-feet and rent for roughly $1.40/per rentable square foot, Sibley said.
Tacara will have a sign monument off of Quinlan Park Road and its main entrance through Quinlan Crossing.
Most of the site will be green space and include just over 7 acres of impervious coverage.
Getting ready to build on any site is a long process and any challenges Casey Development met, were addressed.
“We will face normal construction issues that the industry as a whole has to deal with as well as working through items with WCID 17 in efforts to make certain they are pleased with how the project is being designed and constructed,” Sibley said.
The developers have been in discussions with the City of Austin about “all of the congestion pressures.”
“We have no control over it. The residents of Steiner Ranch and Four Points will have to continue to gripe about it until there are changes,” Sibley said.
“We want to be transparent with the community,” he said.
Market demand
Casey said that specifically in Steiner Ranch, market research shows demand.
Sibley said there is “strong demand” for the type of apartment they are offering: Class A, luxury with a high barrier to entry and “supreme and dramatic views.”
“I think that the market has spoken on that. There is very clearly a significant amount of demand out there and not enough supply currently,” Sibley said.
Sibley expects that by the time Tacara’s units are ready, that the other new apartment units being built in the area, like Aria Steiner Ranch, will be absorbed.
Aria Steiner Ranch is a new apartment complex under construction that will have 302 units and 18 apartment buildings onsite at 4800 Steiner Ranch Blvd. The first tenants were scheduled to move in in February.
“These projects will work out well as supply continues to phase out and be absorbed fairly quickly,” Sibley said.
For Tacara, potential tenant groups are expected to be younger families just having kids or getting married, and young professionals who live and work in the area.
Casey Development
Headquartered in San Antonio, Casey Development recently purchased the former Clear Channel Communications/iHeart Media Corporate headquarters in the heart of San Antonio.
Over the years, Casey Development has been involved in roughly $150 million worth of development projects including four or five multi-unit sites in San Marcos, San Antonio and Austin. The company also has Tacara West in San Antonio.
“We build in high barrier to entry, suburban sites located close to retail and amenities in affluent areas,” Casey said.
Casey Development has additional projects in Rockport, Tex., Aspen, Colo. and places in California, and has a broad array of assets including industrial and office sites and multipurpose sites including retail and strip centers.
“Certainly we want the community to be behind this (Tacara Steiner Ranch) project as well, and we think this is a positive for the community and that we’re heading in the right direction,” Sibley said.