A local homebuilder is eyeing projects in Austin rather than Dallas-Fort Worth.
Landsea Homes Corporation relocated its headquarters to North Texas in March, but instead of building residential communities in Dallas, the national homebuilder has directed its development efforts toward projects near Austin and around Central Texas.
Dallas-based Landsea Homes Corp. announced Friday that it had purchased more than 80 single-family home lots in the Lariat master-planned community in Liberty Hill, about 35 miles northwest of downtown Austin.
“It’s an exciting time for the company and Texas division as we expand both our presence and our portfolio with the acquisition of these new homesites in the greater Austin metro area,” said Vince Ruffino, Texas division president at Landsea Homes, in the press release. “We look forward to providing our exceptional, high-quality, High-Performance homes at Lariat in the very near future.”
As part of Landsea’s new community project in Liberty Hills, the firm will build a total of 84 single-family homes with five different floor plans ranging from 1,500 to 2,200 square feet. Home builds will feature single-story and two-story layouts.
Community amenities will include a pavilion, a pool, pocket parks, a playground, a 7-mile trail system, and a stocked fishing pond, among others. Pricing will be announced at a later date.
With the greater Austin area considered one of the fastest-growing markets in the country, Landsea Homes is making sure to capitalize on the region’s current and future growth potential.
Landsea’s other projects include a 38-unit homesite in the Avery Centre master-planned community in Round Rock, about 20 miles north of downtown Austin, and an 880-unit, ground-up community in Kyle, called the Freedom at Anthem, which is located about 25 miles south of downtown Austin.
“Today’s announcement further demonstrates our commitment to this region as we remain bullish about the Texas housing market,” Ruffino said in the news release, adding that the company’s current strategic focus would be continuing to build “best-in-class homes” in the state’s “most desirable cities.”
Despite Landsea picking the most desirable cities for residential development, DFW doesn’t appear to be one of the firm’s in-demand markets.
In a previous interview with The Dallas Express, Louis Darrouzet, CEO of the Metroplex Civic & Business Association, explained that if local officials want the North Texas region to grow and prosper, the City must resolve issues centering around slow development times and permit approvals.
Even though the City of Dallas has plenty of room to keep growing, Darrouzet suggested that companies that relocate to DFW are not necessarily given the assurances that their organization’s future growth will be supported and expedited through local government processes.
“Right now, the City is getting in its own way,” he told The Dallas Express.
“Development is stonewalled by City Council and other city officials who are more concerned about control. When the City plays politics and pushes an outside agenda such as — Do X if you want Y – growth gets stalled, projects fall through, and developers go elsewhere,” said Darrouzet.
