A California-based volume homebuilder has scooped up the lion’s share of lots in Kyle’s Anthem Texas master-planned community, with plans to bring more than 900 single family homes to the community.
It marks the arrival of Landsea Homes Corp.(Nasdaq: LSEA) in the Austin metro. Once the purchase is finalized, Landsea Homes will own 60% of the lots in the community. Greg Balen, Texas division president for Landsea Homes, said the company plans to develop some and sell others, although details are scant this early in the process.
Balen said the company expects all of the houses to be detached, market-rate homes. He said they will have a wide range of floor plans and price points, with the smallest offerings being around 1,600 square feet and the largest reaching more than 4,000 square feet.
Landsea Homes has tapped local civil engineer Atwell LLC as its first big consultant on the project. An in-house sales team will eventually bring the homes to market.
Anthem Texas, located along FM 150 just west of I-35, is a 422-acre master planned community, which, all told, will have around 1,500 homes. It will also be home to an elementary school — within Hays Consolidated Independent School District — as well as an amenity center and a small amount of commercial space.
The community is being developed by Kyle 150 LP. Gehan Homes, Perry Homes and Scott Felder Homes have signed on as builders for the community’s first phase, building on homesites ranging from 50 to 60 feet wide.
Kyle saw its population rise by about 63% from 2010 to 2020, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Hays County, where Kyle sits, was the fastest growing Texas county over that span.
Growth in the South Austin suburb is in large part due to its prime location along the Austin-San Antonio corridor. But experts say what used to be a town where some residents settled in by default — unable or unwilling to pay higher housing prices in the bigger cities — has become an economic powerhouse in its own right.
Last month, Kyle City Council approved a 318-acre mixed use development proposal from Rastegar Property Company LLC, which would bring significant housing and park space to the community. Just a week later, the Plum Creek Industrial Center opened its doors, promising to support about 1,000 new jobs. This summer, Kyle City Council approved a new Costco location in the city, and meeting attendees literally erupted in applause.
This expansion of big-box retail and industrial space marks an important shift for the city. It’s positioning itself among other Austin-area suburbs as a viable place for big business to invest.
While business booms in the suburb, housing prices have remained relatively affordable. According to Redfin, the median home price in Kyle was $350,500 in October. That was slightly lower than the Hays County median of $399,750 reported by the Austin Board of Realtors.
Landsea Homes — which has built throughout the United States, including in Arizona, Florida, California and the Northeast — plans to pursue other opportunities in Central Texas, Balen said. Landsea has built in communities farther south of Kyle including New Braunfels, Boerne and Bulverde.
“We hope with this big acquisition, it puts us on the radar with a big splash and that we’re very serious about building in this market,” he said.
Rendering of a Landsea Homes build in the New Braunfels master-planned community of Vintage Oaks.
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