A Dallas entrepreneur says he plans to build what he’s calling an environmentally friendly development on 1,400 acres in the Texas Hill Country, with an aim toward preserving much of the land for future generations.
The development, called Mirasol Springs, is being proposed by Dallas billionaire Steve Winn. It is planned for land along Hamilton Pool Road, where it meets the Pedernales River. The property straddles Travis and Hays counties.
Plans call for 55 lots for custom homes, a 70-room boutique hotel by Auberge Resorts Collection and a field station for biodiversity research to be operated by the University of Texas.
Construction on the project is expected to begin in the summer of 2022. If all goes as planned, the development could open in the summer of 2024.
The development has raised concerns among some environmentalists, who say they have questions about water availability, increased traffic and light pollution in a part of the Hill Country that, at least so far, has seen relatively limited development.
Winn said he and his family are committed to being good stewards of the land. Winn said they plan to develop the property in “a limited and responsible way,” with the goal of creating a low-density development whose hallmarks will be conservation, sustainability and ecology. Only 40% of the land will be developed, Winn said.
Winn said his team “has spent years understanding the unique sensitivities of the Hill Country and how to honor the natural beauty of this land through conservation, land restoration, low density development, research, and education.”
Winn is the founder and CEO of RealPage, a rental management software platform for landlords. He has a net worth of $1.9 billion, according to Forbes. He is a graduate of the University of Texas and has a master’s degree from Stanford University.
Mirasol Capital LLC is the financial partner for Mirasol Springs. Developers have not disclosed any cost estimates for the project or other financial details.
Mirasol Capital is the private equity and venture arm of the Winn Family Office, with a primary focus on real estate and technology-related investments. Mirasol Capital owns the Mirasol Springs land, having acquired it in 2018.
Hart Howerton, an architecture and design firm based in New York and San Francisco, will be the designer and developer for the property. Much of the firm’s work focuses on large scale, environmentally sensitive, conservation-based land holdings.
Pricing for the residential lots is not final yet. The homes will have to adhere to design requirements and conservation measures guided by the project’s architectural committee.
‘Not possible to stop development’
Although growth is sweeping the Texas Hill Country, the area where Mirasol is proposed, west of RR 12, is still mainly rural, dotted with ranches, conservation land and low-density subdivisions. Its rural character is in contrast to the higher-density subdivisions with hundreds of rooftops that are east of RR 12.
Winn’s development is planned for an area that lies “in the heart of the Hill Country,” where families go to take photos while blanketed in its bluebonnets each spring, said David Armbrust, an Austin-based real estate lawyer.
Armbrust is working with Mirasol Springs’ development team to obtain the required permits and approvals from Travis and Hays counties to make the project a reality.
Of the 1,400 acres, 1,234 acres are in Hays County and 166 are in Travis County.
Winn is considering seeking a conservation development agreement in Hays County, which would require that at least 50% of the land remain as open space, Armbrust said.
“The primary issues in both counties will generally be traffic and water availability, but the developer believes both can be addressed and has been working hard on both,” Armbrust said.
The Hill Country is drawing more people — and new and proposed developments — that are far from welcomed by all. But more rooftops are inevitable, Armbrust said.
“It is not possible to stop development in the Hill Country,” Armbrust wrote in an email. “It is one of the most scenic parts of Texas with its beautiful natural resources, and people want to live and work there. People wanting to move there is like water wanting to flow downhill.”
Armbrust said Mirasol Springs “has the potential to be a template for how development should occur, if development is inevitable.”
“The conservation aspects which result in a light touch on the land, combined with a focus on sustainability, represent a different approach to development,” Armbrust said. “It is not just rooftops and cul-de-sacs.”
Mirasol Springs would also be home to the second Auberge hotel in Texas.
The first — the Commodore Perry Estate in Austin — opened in the spring of 2020 off Red River Street in Austin. Auberge Resorts operates hotels, resorts, residences and private clubs in markets around the world.
At Mirasol Springs, the added element of the UT research facility focused on biodiversity and sustainability “is a significant added benefit for the future of the entire area,” Armbrust said.
The field station would have research and teaching labs, cabins for faculty and students, and create dedicated land for biodiversity research.
The University of Texas Biodiversity Center currently has two field laboratories within an hour of campus in the Brackenridge Field Laboratory on Lake Austin Boulevard in Austin and the Stengl Lost Pines Biological Field Station in Smithville.
David Hillis, professor of integrative biology and director of UT’s Biodiversity Center, oversees UT’s field stations.
The proposed new field station would help expand UT’s biological field station network, setting the stage for long-term studies and data collection on biodiversity, water resources and land management throughout the state, Hillis said. It also would afford the opportunity for long term studies of the biology of the geographically and ecologically significant Edwards Plateau, he said.
Questions about water supply, traffic
Katherine Romans is executive director of the Hill Country Alliance. The regional nonprofit organization works to protect land and water resources across 17 counties in the Hill Country.
Those counties include three of the nation’s fastest-growing: Hays, Comal and Kendall, she said.
Romans said counties in Texas have “very limited authority” — in terms of planning and land management tools —to shape or influence development within their boundaries.
Without knowing full details of the Mirasol project, Romans said: “It certainly would be our hope that they would tread lightly on the land and recognize this very sensitive and pristine part of the Hill Country.”
Romans said the development “certainly will have an impact” on two nearby parks: Hamilton Pool Preserve and Reimers Ranch.
“Reimers has a new astronomical observatory, and our hope would be that they would minimize the negative implications of increased lighting on night sky views,” she said.
The likelihood of increased traffic also is a concern, she said, as Hamilton Pool Road is a rural road. “Already there are issues when it’s peak season for Hamilton Pool,” she said of the the popular natural swimming hole.
Romans also noted that the section of the Pedernales River in the area where Mirasol Springs is planned flows into Lake Travis, contributing to the drinking water supply in the Austin region.
Studies have shown the Pedernales River contributes roughly 24% of the inflow into Lake Travis in an average year, with half of that water coming from the section of the river that is east of Johnson City, Romans said.
She said her group would “welcome the opportunity” to work with Mirasol’s developers to limit the project’s impact on the area’s “already overextended water supply.”
Rick Scadden, president of the seven-member board of the Southwestern Travis County Groundwater Conservation District, said he would encourage the developers “to conserve water and consider all options, including rainwater capture and reuse.”
Mirasol’s developers say they are working on a water plan that will include a combination of surface water from the Pedernales River, groundwater, rainwater harvesting and reclaimed water. The plan, developers said, will take into account “conservation measures and the existing ecosystems.”
Read the article at the Austin American Statesman.
