A San Antonio real estate broker is preparing to build a Mustang Island residential community that will exceed $100 million.
The 137-acre project, dubbed Tortuga Dunes, is immediately north of city-owned park land on the north bank of Packery Channel.
Austin-based Forestar Real Estate Group will start construction within three weeks on 142 houses, 97 condominiums and 37,000 square feet of retail space featuring architecture of the Caribbean and West Indies.
Infrastructure and amenities for the first phase of the project are expected to be completed by spring 2008. The first phase includes completion of about two-thirds of the total project.
The development, at State Highway 361 and Zahn Road, will have 1,000 feet of beach frontage.
Charlie Kuper, broker associate for Kuper Sotheby International Realty in San Antonio, said home lots range in price from the mid-$200,000s to mid-$700,000s and the house structures will range from the mid-$600,000s to $1.7 million. Lot buyers can choose to build their own houses, as long as the house conforms to the theme and standards of the development, he said.
Resident amenities in the gated community will include a swimming pool and boardwalks, tropical trees, breezeways, wooden awning-style shutters, gabled towers, balconies and pedestrian gates. Residents also will have shaded wrap-around porches and private courtyards. About 70 acres will be preserved for wetlands conservation and environmental education.
"It's raising the profile of Corpus Christi and the assets the city has are going to be put on the map," said Cissy Beasley, sales director with Kuper Sotheby International. "We already have reservations on half of the waterfront lots that we will offer."
Beasley and Kuper are banking on customers from San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and other parts of the nation who want second homes. Kuper pointed to a study in October from Architectural Digest magazine that found 49 percent of subscribers who already own three or more homes would acquire an additional home within two years.
"There are young, affluent consumers in the market for second homes and 44 percent under the age of 45 indicated they may acquire a second home in the near future," Kuper said. "Of those interviewed, 75 percent want to have oceanfront or waterfront homes."
Kuper also said the prices are significantly less than for similar developments in Florida and California.
"Mustang Island offers some of the last reasonably priced oceanfront property in the U.S., and it happens to be convenient to Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Laredo and Monterrey," he said.
Members of the Padre Island Business Association said Tortuga Dunes is the kind of planned development they hoped would be drawn to the area once the dredging of Packery Channel was completed. The channel, completed in October 2006, provides a direct boat route to the Gulf of Mexico and was predicted to be the catalyst for explosive development on the islands.
"Ten years ago everyone knew the island would see an increase in development, but we didn't want it to be haphazard development," said John Trice, a former Padre Island Business Association board member who is president of Frost Bank's island branch. "Tortuga Dunes exemplifies the high-quality, planned developing we hoped for."
Trice and Kim Erwin, president of the Padre Island Business Association, said developments such as Tortuga Dunes bring additional tax dollars to the area.
A sales office has not been built, but Beasley said those interested can go to www.TortugaDunes.com for information.
By: Elvia Aguilar
Caller.com
Click Here To Check out the Siteplan and Renderings of this New Development.
Packery Shipping Channel Just Re-opened In Janary 2007 Paving The Way For This New Development
MUSTANG ISLAND - Packery Channel is officially open to boaters, fisherman and anyone else who wants to use it after a dedication ceremony.
The $30 million project is something that's been discussed since the 1970s. The channel stretches about 18,000 feet and will connect the south end of Corpus Christi Bay and the Laguna Madre with the Gulf of Mexico. Construction took a little over three years, and was delayed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Packery Channel is a historical natural pass that separated Padre and Mustang Islands. The channel was closed in 1912 after the dredging of the original Corpus Christi Ship Channel. The dredging of Packery Channel has helped to provide additional storm protection to the seawall by restoring the beach, and is enhancing the environmental habitat, by allowing free water exchange.
Whether you like to surf, take the boat out for a spin or try to hook the big one. The $30 million Packery Channel project has something for everyone. People both young and old seem to approve.
"It's good for fishing and for boats. If my cousins ever come back here, I bet we could fish here," John Harney.
"It's good for the community, fishing, surfing, boating of course. People may look at it from the outside, as far as tourism is concerned, and look at it and say, 'you know what, this is a really nice place'," said Michael Lugo.
Some people will use the area for a nice walk, but others see this as an area which could drive the economy.
"I think the economic development it's going to bring in is the best part of it. We've all been waiting for it for a long time and the shops are waiting and everyone will be coming out here when these things are open," said Patty Longley.
"Revenue, bring in more people, more visitors, it'll be nice to see condos and shopping center. We're residents of Padre Island. It'll be nice to see new construction and new additions out here," said project supporter Blain Carman.
The dedication ceremony had its share of political overtones with both sides of the proposed beach driving ban on part of island weighing in - showing there's still disagreement about how the island should develop around Packery.
"The public/private partnership I think are certainly legitimate and I expect the community with the elected leadership we've got is going to do what is best for the community," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R)-Texas.
The jetties promise to be very crowded. They were already crowded with people fishing.
Online Reporter: Shaun Hegarty