Posts Tagged ‘ austin custom homes ’

State of the Art Movie Theater Coming to Four Points

A new luxury theater will be coming soon to The Trails at 620 in the Four Points area.  The development will also provide retail space, a 2 mile running trail, and a play scape.  They don’t plan to have the cookie cutter look to their storefronts they want them to resemble an “Austin” flavor.

The Trails at 620, located across RR 620 from Concordia University and east of the Grandview Hills neighborhood, broke ground Feb. 12 and will be developed in two phases.

The development was originally planned to break ground in summer 2010, but getting a special permit from the City of Austin to have more than one entrance facing RR 620 took 14 months.

Under construction

Phase 1 is 90 percent leased, with a movie theater, national restaurant chains Whataburger, Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Schlotzsky’s and locally owned Flores Mexican Restaurant, which serves Tex-Mex food. Flores Mexican Restaurant’s Four Points location is currently north of the shopping center at 7900 N. RR 620.

Paving of the first phase of The Trails at 620 begins in August and vertical building will begin Sept. 1, weather permitting. Businesses in Phase 1 are expected to begin opening in early 2012 and continue throughout the year.

Dinner and a show

On June 20, the developers announced Galaxy Theatre, an upscale traditional cinema and luxury dinner theater, would be the anchor business for Phase 1, with a 1,500-seat theater within 11 auditoriums on the southwest side of the development. Four of the auditoriums are dubbed Director’s Choice, featuring premium dine-in theaters, which include reserved seating, plush recliners and in-theater food and beverage services. The other seven screens will be general admission. Patrons can also order off an extensive wine, beer and cocktail list in Director’s Choice auditoriums.

“We plan to make Galaxy Theatre at the Trails the first choice in movie entertainment in the Austin area,” Speaks said.

Moviegoers can anticipate watching films at Galaxy as soon as June 2012.

Traffic and competition

While the RR 2222/RR 620 intersection is already bogged down with traffic, the developers do not believe they will be adding to it.

“The traffic in this area is congested to say the least,” Sloan said. “Going north on [RR] 620 is time-consuming and not the most convenient for area residents to go out to eat, to shop or to go to movies. We feel like this will be a good location for a large population.”

Instead of increasing traffic, Speaks believes the development will absorb traffic.

“We think we’re going to pull traffic off the road,” Speaks said. “Because instead of everyone having to drive to Lakeline [Mall] to shop or eat, we’ll pull them off five miles sooner.”

Speaks said a Randalls under construction in Steiner Ranch on RR 620, south of RR 2222, has not affected their building plans. There is also a nearby H-E-B at the RR 620 and RR 2222 intersection.

“The Randalls is strictly a Steiner development,” Speaks said. “And we’re actually a development on [RR] 620 that’s going to pull from a different area.”

Because the Galaxy Theatre in The Trails at 620 will be one of the only theaters serving the West Austin area, Sloan believes people will drive farther to visit the shopping center.

The nearest theater is about four miles away at Regal Lakeline Mall with 1890 Ranch Cinemark in Cedar Park about 10 miles away. However, there are no theaters in Austin to the south or west of the planned Trails at 620, and the closest to the east is about a 10-mile drive to the Arboretum area.

“A theater, just by the nature of it, we feel will be more of a regional draw, because there’s not a theater like it offering the large screen, the dinner theater combinations and reserved seating,” Sloan said.

Phase 2

Edge Realty Partners is preleasing for Phase 2, which will begin construction in late fall at the earliest. Sloan said the development will be more traditional retail with a combination of local and chain stores.

Some of the timing, she said, depends on signing an anchor tenant for the project, most likely a grocery store.

“We would love to have a specialty grocer, pet services, office services and some clothing stores,” Sloan said.

Phase 2 is anticipated to open about a year to a year-and-a-half after Phase 1.

Preserving the land

Of the original 169 acres, about 100 of those were given to Travis County for preservation and about nine more acres were sold to the county for additional preserve, leaving about 60 acres for development.

Because the area is in a sensitive environment, with endangered species in the nearby Canyonlands Preserve, construction must be planned carefully.

“We can’t start Phase 2 until after September because of environmental issues with nesting birds,” Sloan said. “We’ve tried to design [The Trails at 620] to save a maximum number of oak trees and take advantage of the natural terrain.”

The article provided from -www.communityimpact.com

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2011
08/16
CATEGORY
August 2011
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The Environmental Benefit of Brick

Homeowners for the first time are being educated about the eco benefit of using brick.   The need for more sustainable homes has opened the door for the latest options in clay brick.  Green benefits of using clay brick can help homeowners save on major household costs.

Clay brick is naturally organic with virtually no waste, brick helps lower energy costs and upkeep through a maintenance-free exterior that offers superior durability, moisture control, termite resistance, proven stability and enduring beauty.  Some brick companies are often incorporating recycled content, brick options including exterior, interior and landscaping features increase sustainability while meeting the highest green building criteria.

The latest options for greater sustainability and savings through brick include:

·         Buying local: like farm to table, brick is made from local resources that reduce the use of fossil fuels; at least two brick plants are located within 500 miles of 49 of the country’s top 50 metropolitan areas

·         Brick exteriors for energy efficiency/savings on fuel bills: brick’s exceptional thermal mass allows it to absorb and store heat to release at a later time, reducing the load on the home’s heating and cooling system

·         Interior brick walls as part of passive solar design/energy harvesting: frequently used in net-zero energy homes, brick walls soak up excess solar energy during the day to retain heat and naturally regulate interior temperatures; integrating structural brick walls and flooring throughout the home

·         Using salvaged brick: a growing trend among builders, brick is one of the few materials that building codes actually allow to be reused in a building application and keeps materials out of landfill

·         Brick landscaping that integrates into natural surroundings: brick patios, archways, garden walls, fountains, pathways, planters and driveways add durable value with low maintenance; light colored pavers can reflect a significant amount of solar energy, reducing the heat island effect

·         Brick paver for efficient water management/drainage: permeable brick walkways and pathways help reduce storm water runoff, puddles and filter pollutants/eliminate contaminates

·         Low-emitting materials: using brick throughout the house that do not require paint or coatings

·         No maintenance: no power washing, no repainting, brick’s beauty endures without added materials or labor

2011
08/01
CATEGORY
August 2011
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Lohmans Ford Road Improvements

Many residents don’t like the idea of Lohmans Ford Road being improved, nor do they support the building of SH 35 SW.  The residents spoke out in a public hearing with much disdain over the proposed improvements which are to appear on the ballot this November.

The hearing was held by the Travis County Commissioners Court on July 26th to discuss the final project list.  A part of the list may be considered for a part of the bond referendum.  Commissioner Karen Huber noted that SH 45 SW was not among the projects being considered.  To help determine the need and scope of a possible referendum the court appointed a citizens bond advisory committee.

County Judge Samuel Biscoe said the court would decide whether to have a referendum Aug. 9.

In a report last week, the committee endorsed having a referendum and presented 36 projects totaling $205,649,433, including inflation and issuance costs, for the court’s consideration. If approved by voters, the projects would be paid for with bonds.

Twenty-six residents spoke during public comment. Several asked the court not to include Lohmans Ford Road improvements in the referendum.

The original project was to straighten 2.75 miles of Lohmans Ford and add paved shoulders and intersection alterations. The committee later reduced the scope to $500,000 for preliminary engineering costs for a four-lane divided arterial from Boggy Ford Road to Ivean Pearson Road, according to the committee’s final report.

At the hearing, several residents said the road improvements were unwarranted due to a lack of safety concerns. They stated that the project was a poor use of taxpayer funds and would take away the public’s access to a scenic point, among other arguments.

Resident Don Killough estimated that he has driven on the road 2,500 times in the last seven years. He noted that many people stop to enjoy the view.

“If Lohmans Road was moved, the view would be from a private lot. The public would no longer have access to it,” he said. “It would be several hundred feet back. Why would you do that?”

He added that if he felt the road was unsafe, he would be the first to support it.

Cleo Schneider said safety was an issue on Lohmans Ford and encouraged anyone interested in safety to review the emergency service district records.

Others advocated for SH 45 SW, a long-proposed road that would connect SH 45 to FM 1626. Residents argued that the road would alleviate traffic on Brodie Lane.

Resident Vikki Goodwin said that Southwest Austin residents had been promised traffic relief on Brodie Lane in the 1990s. She said there are two schools and a pool along the road, as well as commuter traffic.

Residents also voiced support for parks projects such as the Arkansas Bend/Dick Pearson project and the Onion Creek greenway improvements.

2011
07/27
CATEGORY
July 2011
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Masters Touch Custom Homes

Masters Touch Custom Homes has been invited to build in the Parade of Homes 2010 at Rough Hollows on Lake Travis. Their home sits on one of the best view lots in the Bluffs section at Rough Hollows. The views are expansive of Lake Travis and the lush tree scape of the Canyon. The MTCH home will be 4000 sq ft heated and cooled and will display many technologies such as spray foam insulation, Heat and Glow cyclone fireplaces, 4 star City of Austin Green and Energy functions, interior waterfalls that cascade down the staircase. The architecture style will be French Old World. They will have a formal but yet Old World Feel. There will be a copper range hood, a stone dome ceiling with a Oculous opening. Please come visit our Home in the Lakeway Area Fall of 2010.