Wolf Lakes Village set for 2019 start

Initial plans for a mixed-use, master-planned 164-acre development called Wolf Lakes Village were approved by the Georgetown City Council at its meeting last night. The project includes office, retail, entertainment, hotels, and 2,400 housing units totaling 5.3 million square feet of development phased over several years.

The town center concept for Wolf Lakes Village features a walkable neighborhood with an amphitheater, open-air pavilion, plaza square, pocket parks, playgrounds, trails, and lakes. The project at the northwest corner of Interstate 35 and University Avenue in Georgetown is projected to begin construction next year. (Rendering credit: Wolf Lakes, LP)

Wolf Lakes Village is designed to include a regional employment center with more than 725,000 square feet of corporate office space that would be home to 4,500 employees. This type of development with office space will create a higher tax value than traditional retail development. The developer estimates the complete development to be valued at $1.7 billion by 2050, versus $460 million if developed as a traditional shopping center.

The dense, multi-use development planned for Wolf Lakes will have a variety of public infrastructure needs, including roads, drainage, utilities, structured parking, park development, and trails. A tax increment reinvestment zone for the Wolf Lakes development area—the fifth such zone in Georgetown—will be used to help fund this public infrastructure. The reinvestment zone sets a base year after which new property tax generated by increased values in the Wolf Lakes development will help to reimburse public infrastructure constructed by the developer. The new property tax value created within Wolf Lakes project itself funds the public infrastructure, not any property tax revenue from outside the Wolf Lakes reinvestment zone. The City of Georgetown will participate in the reinvestment zone at 70 percent of new valuation with a cap of $100 million in reimbursement over 30 years. Williamson County will participate at 50 percent of new valuation with a cap of $30 million over 20 years. Reimbursements can begin after 150,000 square feet of commercial development has been permitted.

Public improvements planned for Wolf Lakes Village include enhancements to nearby roads such as the I-35 and University Avenue intersection as well as other off-site improvements. The City of Georgetown is working with developers, Williamson County, and Texas Department of Transportation to proactively plan capital improvements to improve traffic flow in conjunction with development in the area.