A new development has arrived in far East Austin, bringing with it much-needed amenities, affordable housing, and community enrichment.
Easton Park is the first urban, master-planned community in Southeast Austin. The development, accessible via the intersection of McKinney Falls Parkway and William Cannon Drive, is helmed by Canadian firm Brookfield Residential.
Easton Park's first subdivision, Bryant Park, is now open; homes hit the market in January, and almost all of the 170 units have been sold. The remaining sections, including the in-progress Knob Hill and Union Park, will roll out over the next few years with a mix of traditional single-family homes and high-density units, a portion of which will be designated as affordable housing.
"Something like 10 percent of the units will be affordable to folks making 80 percent of the median family income, for rent and to own," says Logan Kimble, senior development manager of Brookfield. "We are going to do our absolute best to scatter it throughout the community and the design will be such that nobody will be able to tell which is affordable housing and what is not."
The price range is $150,000-$600,000 for the affordable and more luxurious offerings. "We have a spot for every buyer in every price point," says Kimble.
The end goal of Easton Park is to create an infrastructure on which residents can build a community. When complete, it will boast 1,500 acres — twice the size of the Mueller development in Central Austin.
"I hope that [Easton Park] transforms the way people think about homeownership," he says. "We're going to build some really nice amenities that we hope drag people out their house and bring people back to parks and put them back outside."
Communal areas of Easton Park include grills, playgrounds, picnic seating, yard games, ball courts, hammocks, and a future amenity center complete with fitness center and pool. The sentiment extends to the Southeast Austin community too. At least 360 acres of the development's park land will be available to the public. Brookfield hopes to bring in a large grocery store and other businesses the surrounding neighborhood is craving.
Brookfield owns enough commercially zoned property along U.S. Route 183 that Kimble says they could build something akin to The Domain. And to make Easton Park more accessible for all of Austin, the firm is working with government officials to eventually extend Slaughter Lane and William Cannon Road to U.S. Route 183.
Eventually is the keyword. A project of this scale takes time to complete — 15-20 years, Kimble estimates — but once Easton Park is entirely built, there will be around 8,000 residential units housing 15,000-20,000 people.
Right now, the team is focused on continuing construction on the next sections, including the top-notch amenity center. Additionally, Del Valle will begin building a new elementary school in the area.
Easton Park will have a mix of traditional single-family homes and high-density units.
