Big business heading to Hutto over next 3 years
News 8 Austin - May 27, 2008
With the birth of State Highway 130 came new life for the town of Hutto.
Plans for a major new development called the Crossings of Carmel Creek will forever change Hutto's landscape.
The 500 acres straddling SH 130 to the south of State Highway 79 in Hutto is good land no matter how you look at it.
Developers have plans to make it look like a mecca of retail, restaurant, residences and even contain an amphitheater that will seat 750 people.
"This project is really going to put Hutto on the map," Hutto Community Development Director Matthew Lewis said. "This scale, this new urbanist style development. It's going to be a wonderful project, to come live work and play."
The Crossings of Carmel Creek Web site calls the development "a vibrant mixed use development embracing a new urbanist return to neighborhood conveniences."
The Crossings will also provide more local jobs.
Right now, 89 percent of Hutto residents drive to Round Rock or Austin to work.
"We want people to stay and eat lunch, have meetings and work in Hutto where they live," Lewis said.
And that, in turn, will give an extra boost to the city's sales tax revenue.
"It's going to be massive. The sales tax dollars for Hutto are going to be like nothing we've ever seen," Lewis said.
And before long, this corner of town will look nothing like what residents have grown used to seeing.
The developers already submitted part of their site plans Friday.
Construction is expected to begin in the next six months.
The first couple phases of the Crossings of Carmel Creek will be completed by 2011.