New Urbanist Community Mueller Austin Announces Upcoming Multifamily Project

By DeeinAustin™

I received an email alert October 31st from Tate Austin Hahn PR firm. They're going to announce another phase of multi-family apartments at Mueller Austin today.

I serve on the City Advisory Commission for the Mueller Austin Redevelopment in East Central Austin. The 711-acre mixed-use development incorporates the principles of New Urbanism, which we blogged about earlier this week.

Simmons Vedder & Co. will build the second multi-family community at Mueller just north of the recently-announced Mosaic project that is currently under construction. Since affordability is a key issue in Austin, the unnamed new community will have 10% of the rental units reserved for families making 60% or less Austin's median family income.

LET'S NAME THE NEW APARTMENT COMPLEX

Construction is scheduled to begin next summer with completion slated for 2010, so that's a great time to name the apartments something "retro". Here's some ideas to get us started:

• The Waterloo Retreat. The City of Austin was originally named Waterloo, so it fits.
• Bob-Ladybird-Richardson Complex. This is for our political heroes, Bob Bullock, Philanthropist Ladybird Johnson and Governor Ann Richardson.
• Stevie Ray-Charles-Nelson Villa. This one is for the music lovers. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ray Charles and Willie Nelson's careers were supported and/or started by the Austin music scene.
• Matthew-Bullock-Armstrong Chateaux. This is for the stars who live in Austin. Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock and Lance Armstrong.

In all seriousness, I'm excited that Austin is embracing New Urbanism principles. Even better, so are nearby cities such as Leander, Hutto, San Marcos, and Georgetown. We're going to blog about some great, forward-thinking New Urbanist communities in these cities in upcoming weeks during the Friday Spotlight.

Read our earlier article about New Urbanism communities on the Gulf Coast.   

The inset photo an artist rendering of the unnamed Simmons Vedder multi-family project at Mueller, courtesy Tate Austin Hahn PR. Click it to view in a larger window.