By LESLEE BASSMAN, Four Points News

Blink once and the Grandview Hills area landscape has expanded with a new shopping center. Blink twice and there’s a new housing subdivision set to break ground Sept. 1.

With retail and commercial projects in queue and more expected, the Four Points area neighborhood is undergoing vast development, including its newest residential community: The Heights at Vista Parke.

According to Ash Creek Homes president Jenna Edge, the developer will break ground at The Heights on Tuesday at 12001 Vista Parke Dr., clearing the way for 70 townhomes in 14 fourplex and sixplex buildings on the project’s seven-acre tract. 

“We fell in love with the piece of land,” Edge said of the treed property surrounded by the Balcones Canyonland Preserve. “Vista Parke Drive itself is a very quiet street.”

She said the Four Points area was optimal for the project since it is located so close to shops, restaurants and jobs.

“We felt townhomes would do really well here just because there isn’t this product in the five miles surrounding it,” Edge said. 

Originally, Ash Creek was set to break ground on the development in March but that action was postponed due to the timing of the Golden-Cheeked Warbler’s nesting season which occurs between spring and September, Edge said. The endangered bird is federally protected and resides in the Balcones Canyonland Preserve surrounding the property.

“As a company, we’re ready to roll into Vista Parke,” Edge said.

Construction of the buildings are set to begin in October, Edge said, with the first unit anticipated to close in May.

The units will consist of two or two-and-a-half bedrooms with two bathrooms, sized from 1,500-square-feet to 1,800-square-feet, and starting from the low-$300,000s. 

With that beginning purchase price, Edge said the company is hoping to attract first-time home buyers, “giving them the opportunity to stay in this West Austin/Northwest Austin area.”

“Instead of paying for rent for an apartment off of (RM) 620, they can start investing in a home of their own,” she added.

The complex will include an amenity center, park, nature trail and dog park. Hill Country views will be abundant from the homesites.

Early in the neighborhood’s development, company representatives met with two existing Wilson Parke Road homeowners associations to discuss the project and received their support for the community during the tract’s zoning process, she said. 

Due to its small size and traffic count, a traffic impact analysis wasn’t required for the project, Edge said. However, a traffic light was recently installed at the intersection of Vista Parke Drive and RM 620 in addition to the existing signal at Wilson Parke Drive and RM 620. 

Although the project was planned well before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, Edge said the Austin new home market “is on fire right now,” with many jobs still opening in Austin, especially given the development of the local tech corridor and East Austin area. 

“As far as new home building and construction, our industry has not slowed down,” she said. “From a timing perspective, it’s really exciting and it’s really great to be a part of this time in history.”

Possible construction delays as a result of the coronavirus remain unknown, and the company is proceeding “day by day as far as supplies go,” Edge said. However, with only one unit left for sale in Lakeway’s new Honey Creek development, she said the company hasn’t experienced much of a disruption in its supply chain and doesn’t anticipate a slow-down. 

The community is zoned to Leander Independent School District’s Grandview Hills Elementary, Four Points Middle and Vandegrift High schools.

Ash Creek is now conducting its “VIP Program” which, for a refundable deposit, allows sales information — such as standard unit features — to be released by the developer to those prospective buyers on the list before that information is available to the public, Edge said. Priority unit selection and sales will be open to the VIP list before it is available to the public, with sales anticipated to begin in late-January or early-February, she said.

Four Points News’ Leslee Bassman is working on updates on the new Center at Four Points shopping center and Travis County’s purchase of 94 acres in Grandview to be featured soon.