Deeply affordable housing headed to State Highway 130 corridor
Deeply affordable housing is headed to the northern reaches of the State Highway 130 corridor.
Minnesota-based LS Black Development will develop the project that is expected to bring 252 badly-needed affordable apartments to the metro, according to an August announcement. In recent years, homebuyers’ purchasing power across the metro has been drastically reduced as Austin struggles with rising interest rates, an influx of people and a dearth of available supply.
LS Black Development did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Preserve at Mustang Creek, as the project is known, will consist entirely of apartments priced for households that make 30% to 60% of the area median income.
More people have been headed to the suburbs in recent years as affordability issues in Austin mount. In Travis County, 30% of the area median income for a three-person household was $31,550 in June, according to the City of Austin Housing Department, and 60% was $63,120.
The Preserve at Mustang Creek will rise on about nine acres in Round Rock at 1401 County Road 118. Apartments will range from one- to four-bedroom floor plans, and the development will feature a large solar carport that will offset 90% to 100% of common electricity use.
The project costs $88 million, according to the announcement.
Public financial partners include Capitol Area Housing Finance Corp. and the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Private financial partners include Red Stone Tax Exempt Funding and WNC & Associates.
An exact date for the start of construction is unknown but will occur “soon,” according to the announcement. The Preserve at Mustang Creek’s expected opening is in late 2024.
Merriman Anderson Architects, Cadence McShane Construction and Westwood Professional Services are working on the project.
The development will be the first in Texas from LS Black Development. The developer formed in 2020 with the purpose of building, acquiring and owning affordable and workforce housing.
The Preserve at Mustang Creek’s announcement comes as Austin is as unaffordable as it’s ever been.
An study published in August from the Austin Board of Realtors found households earning 80% or less of the area MFI faced an “alarming” undersupply of affordable homes for sale.
“At the heart of our housing crisis lies the acute shortage of homes in our community, particularly for lower-income buyers,” Emily Chenevert, ABOR CEO, wrote in the report.
As an example, the median starting salary for an Austin Independent School District teacher in the spring was around $55,000, according to ABOR’s report. A household with two AISD teachers would earn an estimated $110,000, which is within the 81% to 120% area MFI range. At that income level, homes in the range of $235,876 to $370,210 would be considered affordable, though Travis County has an undersupply of 8,497 homes in that range, according to the report. The discrepancy is much larger in the city of Austin, with an undersupply of 33,529 homes in the same price range.