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Leander, TX Capital Improvement Project Panel to Speak
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Leander Capital MetroRail Train Station at TOD
On Wednesday, April 21st, 2010, a special panel presentation will take place in Leander, Texas at the ongoing 3rd Wednesday of the month Leander Real Estate Roundtable regarding various Capital Improvement Projects slated for 2010 in Leander. Among the panelists are:
• Mr. Pix Howell, Urban Design Officer for the 2,300 acre, award winning Leander Transit Oriented Development (TOD).
• Mr. Michael O’Neal, developer of the 164+ acre Leander Transit Village, a planned mixed use development in the southwest corner of the TOD.
• Ms. Aida Douglas, Business Development Manager and DBE Officer for Capital Metro.
• Mr. Mario Espinoza, Deputy Executive Director for the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority.
If you are considering Leander, live in Leander or simply want to be in the know about Leander, this is where you need to be.
Leander 2010 Capital Improvement Panel Presentation
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 8:00am to 10:00am
Pat Bryson Hall (City Hall)
201 North Brushy Street
Leander, TX 78641
Williamson County Texas Entrepreneurs Community
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Leander Texas
Wilco Entrepreneurs Community (WEC)
To help grow local businesses, Leander, Texas and other Williamson County communities are having a 12 week entrepreneurial education program. 2 hour classes are being held at Texas State University, Round Rock Higher Education Center. Most faculty are MBA’s and all faculty are involved in consulting, coaching and teaching. Classes include building the ecosystem to support and sustain growth and many other topics to help you build your successful business. The deadline for applying for the program is Friday, April 16th at 5:00pm. Fees can be for classes only or for coaching and classes combined.
There is also a Wilco Angel Network for Investors to improve economic development in Williamson County, Texas. Access to peer reviewed, quality, screened investment opportunities is one membership benefit of the Wilco Angel Network or WAN.
Leander, Texas is a fast growing city of about 30,000 in fast growing Williamson County, Texas just north of Austin, Texas and Cedar Park. Kirk Clennan, the Economic Development Director of Leander, Texas as well as the Leander Chamber of Commerce are involved with this project. Thursday, April 8, 2010, a preliminary WEC meeting was held at the Leander Public Library on Bagdad. Parking in the library parking lot overflowed up and down Bagdad.
Leander’s Train and TOD : What Impact?
Posted by: | CommentsCommuter trains from Leander’s MetroRail Train Station have been running since March 22nd, 2010. The Train comes into Leander at 4:50am or so for the 5:25am run into Austin, Texas. Plans have already been approved for a multi level parking garage surrounded attractively by office space at the Capital MetroRail site. As people rely on the train for transportation to work, Leander is sure to attract those working in Austin who want the Real Estate prices of the burbs. It may be possible for some to live without a car especially as Leander’s mixed use Transit Oriented Development or TOD comes to fruition.
What is a TOD you may ask? A TOD or Transit Oriented Development is a development centered around transportation like Leander’s MetroRail commuter train and Capital Metro Express bus service and Park and Ride. TOD’s are considered sustainable developments since they are designed to be pedestrian rather than automobile centered, are mixed-use and public transportation is present. Mixed use means that there is commercial as well as residential real estate present. In practical terms this means you can run to the store, the dry cleaners, shop for a gift or other items, hear live music, eat and live all in the same place. The TOD is walkable or wheelable for those with ADA type limitations or who prefer to ride a bike.
There are many separate developments in the 2,300 acre Leander TOD already approved by the city and ready to go. So perhaps as the Leander TOD develops; the parking garage, offices and some businesses go vertical, Leander’s real estate market will reach new heighths.
I love looking at statistics, they just tell such a great story. Although while taking statistics when getting my degree, I did not think it was so fun! The year is almost over and it is fun to see what homes set records in what neighborhoods. Texas is a non-disclosure state so I cannot disclose exact figures, or even an address publicly, but wanted to give you an idea of how exceptional the neighborhood of Grand Mesa is. As of today, December 7th, 2009, the highest selling home price in Austin’s MLS system for Leander, Texas for 2009 was in Crystal Fall’s Grand Mesa. As an EcoBroker®, I was happy to see that the home had Low e windows, tankless water heaters, a radient barrier and was called “ultra efficient”. At well over a million dollars this custom home has over 7,500 square feet and was on an acreage lot with a Texas Hill Country view. Grand Mesa is a gated, golf course community with very reasonable prices compared to similar neighborhoods and homes in neighboring Austin, Texas.
Homes in Grand Mesa can be extremely upscale for way less of an asking price than similar Austin homes in comparable areas. Currently, there are 28 homes available in the Austin MLS in Grand Mesa from just over $300,000. up to just less than $900,000. or almost $65.00 a square foot to just over $200. per square foot. These homes have from 3 to 6 bedrooms and were built from 2000 to 2008, they range from over 2,400 square feet to just under 8,000 square feet. I have a lot of information about Leander on my web site BettySellsLeander.com so feel free to peruse the material and then contact me to see or sell a home in Leander, Texas’ beautiful Grand Mesa at Crystal Falls. I will be happy to show you around the neighborhood and the area. As a resident and REALTOR here in Leander, Texas I know much about the City of Leander and the bright future plan for Leander.
Recycling for the Oak Ridge Neighborhood in Leander, Texas
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Oak Ridge is a neighborhood of about 500 homes in growing Leander, Williamson County, Texas. My home is one of them and as an EcoBroker and just concerned citizen, I recycle. My kitchen vegetable scraps get composted in my backyard compost bin. I use this delectable compost to increase the fertility of my yard’s soil. My plants and grass love it. I am a member of TOFGA, the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and my yard is also a National Wildlife Association Certified Wildlife Habitat. So if you need tips on organic gardening, xeriscaping, using native plants and conserving water, contact me. My plastic, metal, glass and aluminum get picked up curbside by our local waste management company- Clawson Disposal, Inc. out of Jarrell, Texas who is the solid waste contractor for the City of Leander. I have an option of allowing Clawson to pick up my newspaper for recycling or taking it, along with other paper to Leander ISD’s Pleasant Hill Elementary School across from Oak Ridge neighborhood to be recycled in their recycling dumpster, pictured above. As you can see they take newspaper, magazines, office & school papers, shopping catalogs and mail. Used batteries can be taken to Lowe’s on Highway 183 at Crystal Falls Parkway for recycling. Ikea on 1431 (Whitestone) at IH 35 (4000 N. IH 35) recycles CFL light bulbs. Large metal can be recycled on 2243 & 183A at Cantwell’s junkyard. The City of Leander Parks and Recrestion Department recycles Christmas Trees each year. Leander, Cedar Park LCP FreeCycle is a great resource for recycling useable but unwanted household goods. FreeCyclers will even come to your home in Oak Ridge to pick up items. FreeCycles goal is to keep good stuff out of the landfills. Lastly, Goodwill in Cedar Park is another great place for unwanted household goods.
A Night Out in Old Town Leander, Texas
Posted by: | CommentsI enjoyed a night out in Old Town Leander, Texas tonight. First I had my Planning and Zoning Meeting at the Leander City Hall or Pat Bryson Municipal Hall as it is called at 201 North Brushy Street, Leander, TX 78641 in Old Town. I enjoy my work volunteering for the City of Leander. One of our Zoning Cases tonight dealt with a bio technology company in Cambridge, Massachusetts called Joule Biotechnologies wanting to do research and development on alternative energy in Leander on part of the TOD land. I find this fascinating and I do sincerely hope they are successful in their quest to produce renewable fuels from sunlight and waste CO2.
After my Leander P & Z meeting I went across the street to the O’Leander Café to enjoy some great live music. I do enjoy helping to support live music from local artists and musicians. Tonight April Hall and Jason Hall were there singing, playing guitar and other instruments. I bought two April Hall CD’s for Christmas. It is such a small, intimate venue that I got to visit with them as well as others there. April and Jason are living in Floresville now and were surprised to hear that I knew where that was. I have been to Promised Land Dairy there in Floresville and toured the dairy farm. I also buy their dairy products locally. I also met a really nice lady from Germany who’s goal is to shake Willie Nelson’s hand. Well I told her where Willie lives (in Spicewood, TX by Lakeway) so maybe that can get her off to the right track on that…I’m always glad to help.
Austin’s North Lake Area Farmer’s Market
Posted by: | CommentsAustin’s North Lake area Farmer’s Market is at 9:00am tomorrow, Saturday, October 3rd at 18700 FM 1431 in Jonestown, TX 78645 on the North shore of beautiful Lake Travis. Called the North Lake Village Market there are organic foods, vendors with with art & jewelry & live music. You can see the lake from the hilltop where the Farmer’s Market is. It’s a beautiful, large setting nestled in live oak trees that is enjoyable for both vendors as well as patrons. This Austin area Farmer’s Market is an ongoing event so visit often, buy local & support your local farmers!
Northwest Austin Suburb of Leander, Texas Hosts Classic Car Cruise-In
Posted by: | CommentsKnow anybody car crazy? The City of Leander, Texas is hosting its 3rd Annual Classic Car Cruise-In on Saturday the 24th day of October, 2009 from 1:00pm to 8:00pm. 42 Central Texas Car Clubs have been invited to attend. There will be many classic and vintage automobiles.
Location: The Classic Car Cruise-in will be held at the Gateway At Leander Shopping Center at the corner of old Highway 183 and Crystal Falls (where the new Kohl’s and Lowe’s are). This event is FREE & open to the public.
Directions: Take 183 Research north from Austin through Cedar Park and into Leander, Texas.
Austin, Texas’s Most Expensive Homes
Posted by: | CommentsThe most expensive homes in Austin, Texas‘s Austin Board of REALTORs Multiple Listing Service System at this time range in price from a low of over $5,000,000. for a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home with over 4,000 square feet to a high of over $13,000,000. for a 10 bedroom, 9 bath over 17,000 square foot home. The oldest home purports to have a build date of 1873. If you want a great home on the lake, overlooking downtown or Lady Bird Lake there are several to choose from. From the waterfront subdivision of The Peninsula in Horseshoe Bay; Applehead Island in Horseshoe Bay; a home in Lago Vista with deep water lake frontage; a gated estate on private peninsula of Lake Travis in Lago Vista; acreage estate on deep water in Spicewood; a gated Wimberley Ranch; a ranch in Dripping Springs with Perdernales River frontage to a building on Congress Avenue in Austin, these homes have a lot to offer for the price.
Let me know your fancy and I’ll find your dream home-
Farms and Ranches in Williamson County, Texas
Posted by: | CommentsI live in Williamson County, Texas and love the farms and ranches over here, north of Austin, Texas. There are many traditional farms that produce feedgrains & other crops, bale hay & raise livestock. Some farms Williamson County farms however, “grow” rocks. What I mean is rock quarries, where they blast and produce native stone for use in patios or in siding your home or in construction of commercial buildings. There are many rock farms around Jarrell & Florence as well as Georgetown. The stone in my patio is from the Florence & Jarrell area. Around Bartlett, Coupland, Granger, Hutto, Jarrell, Jonah, Thorndale, Thrall, Weir, Walburg & Taylor there is a lot of feedgrain & hay production farming as well as cattle ranching & horse farms. Generally speaking, the land west of IH 35 is rockier and less suitable for farming since it is closer to the Edward’s Plateau. That is why my forefathers settled just south of here & east of IH 35 in Travis County in the 1870′s. East of IH 35 there are less rocks and only gentle, rolling hills for the most part. In Williamson County there are some sheer, rock cliffs such as the Blue Hole area along the banks of the San Gabriel River in Georgetown.
It is fun to take a drive out in the country from the big city and see the farms and ranches around Austin, Texas. One might even go to a quarry and purchase some native stone like I did. You can even hand select raw native stone for a particular color or shape you like. Most of the locally quarried stone is the “Austin” limestone, white in color with maybe red or another color washed over it. There are also many organic farms that open for visitors. Go buy some raw milk, raw, local honey from a bee farmer or grass fed, organic beef from a rancher. Of course, you don’t have to go out to the farm or ranch, there are many Farmer’s Markets in Williamson County.
There are many farms and ranches for sale in the Williamson County area ranging from small acreage hobby farms or home sites to 1000 acre or more ranches or farms. You better hurry- with Williamson County being one of the fastest growing counties in the United States, land most likely will not be getting any cheaper and much is being sold to developers & investors. This Native Texan horse rider and farm and ranch lady would love to help! Call or e-mail me, Betty Saenz, for more information about farms and ranches in Williamson County.
