Master developer Catellus has officially announced the builders for the next phase of housing starts in the Mueller Austin development. I talked previously about the garden home plans on tweener lots, and here are some more thoughts on the housing style at Austin’s old airport.
David Weekley have been selected as the builder of the 49 Garden Homes, ranging in size from 1000 -1800 sqft. The price points were not included in the official press release, so the best we have to go in is the information from the developer update – $200,000 to $300,000 for market rate homes, with half being in the affordable program. [edit: prices start at $237,990 for the market rate homes]
There are currently two garden courts at Mueller – builders Saldana and The Muskin Company built one row of detached homes in each. At the time of writing, there is one of the 5 star green (Austin Energy Green Building Program) Muskin Homes in the second garden court available on the resale market in the mid $300s.
David Weekley have certainly been a popular builder at the airport redevelopment project so far. They have sold all of their available yard homes (they still have one on Zach Scott that operates as their model home and project office), and have only a few row homes available. They also have experience with the affordable program, having built row homes and yard homes for that program too. So they are in a good spot for the garden home builds in my opinion.
These homes in six floorplans, like all in Mueller, are designed for the development – they haven’t been built anywhere else. With that in mind, it pays to have the best third party building inspector possible to double check their work when buying. That’s not to say I haven’t been completely satisfied with my David Weekley home at Mueller. I’ve found their after sales warranty program to be excellent in dealing with any issues that arose, and I’ve done precious little maintenance so far.
In the press release, Jimmy Rado of David Weekley hits it on the head when he says that this is a very popular spot – there aren’t too many choices for new construction in this price point so close to Downtown Austin. The only comparable green development that springs to mind is SOL Austin.
Personally, I’m excited to see the neighborhood grow and to add a new mix of housing into our community. When things start selling in the next few months, interested buyers would do well to have their financial ducks in a row to be able to take advantage of the opportunity.
Garreth Wilcock is a full time Realtor and full time resident of Mueller Austin. Get in touch if you want to get the scoop on the new Garden Homes due for move in early 2011 – 512 694 8873.