Development of the Driftwood Golf & Ranch Club by Discovery Land Co. will bring homes and a Tom Fazio-designed golf course, which is scheduled to open in 2020, to the Texas Hill Country. The development will also have a strong wellness component to it, through recreation activities and fitness facilities, as well as an Outdoor Pursuits Program that will include hunting, fishing, hiking and biking.
Amid continued growth in the Texas Hill Country, construction is poised to start on a $250 million luxury residential community and private club that would bring more than 300 houses, a golf course and other development to 800 acres near the popular Salt Lick BBQ restaurant in Driftwood, Texas, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
As reported previously by C&RB, Discovery Land Co. LLC plans to build the Driftwood Golf & Ranch Club in the Driftwood area, about 25 miles southwest of Austin in northern Hays County, the American-Statesman reported.
The Driftwood project is expected to take about 10 years to complete, although most of the amenities will be in place much sooner, the American-Statesman reported. The estimated cost for the entire project is more than $250 million, Discovery Land Co. executives said.
The Driftwood development will be anchored by an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Tom Fazio, the American-Statesman reported. It will be the 14th course designed for Discovery Land by Fazio, who also has designed courses at the famed Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, and at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina.
“We are very excited about the project and our goal is to make Driftwood the top golf experience in Texas,” Fazio said in a statement. “The land is rich in character, studded with lots of live oaks, and provides long-distance Hill Country views. Add a sensitive design approach that will create fun and challenges for all golf levels, and Driftwood will be unlike any course in Texas.”
Construction on the golf course is due to begin in January, with an anticipated opening in the second quarter of 2020, the American-Statesman reported.
The residential component calls for about 170 custom home sites, plus 140 single-family homes designed by Discovery Land Co.’s architecture and design teams, the American-Statesman reported. Construction on the first homes is expected to begin in March or April.
Driftwood is an unincorporated area and is in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city of Dripping Springs. The Driftwood Golf & Ranch Club home sites are among about 8,600 residential lots in various stages of development in the Dripping Springs area, said Jason Lutz, planning director for the city, the American-Statesman reported.
Discovery Land purchased 300 acres for the Driftwood Golf & Ranch Club from Salt Lick BBQ restaurant owner Scott Roberts in February, Don Bosse, the project vice president for Driftwood Golf & Ranch Club, told the American-Statesman.
In a 2016 interview with the American-Statesman, Roberts detailed his plans for a mixed-use project on that land, where he envisioned 85 to 100 home sites in a sustainable, ecologically minded project with more than 200 acres set aside for open space. Robert’s development team at that time included Bosse, a local land planner who joined Discovery Land Co. last April.
Discovery Land Co. executives said they will continue to work alongside Roberts as he pursues the development of his commercial parcels adjacent to Discovery Land’s Driftwood community, the American-Statesman reported.
Bosse said Discovery Land Co. purchased the golf acreage for its project, 492 acres, from Dan Brown in July, the American-Statesman reported. The golf parcel will have 228 acres of open space, Bosse added, and the land purchased from Roberts will have 215 acres of open space.
Discovery Land executives said their Driftwood project will have “spectacular views of the Hill Country and Onion Creek, and members and guests will pass through the historic Salt Lick BBQ restaurant and vineyards, as they approach the main entrance of the community,” the American-Statesman reported.
The community will also have a children’s camp, year-round sports and wellness activities, a tennis and pickleball center, and fields for baseball, softball, football, soccer, lacrosse and other sports, the American-Statesman reported. And Discovery Land’s “Outdoor Pursuits Program” will offer instruction in outdoor activities including hunting, fishing, hiking, biking and musical entertainment. A recording studio and a small amphitheater for outdoor performances also are planned.
“My fondest memories include the challenge and experience of sharing outdoor pursuits activities at various Discovery properties with my own three sons,” Mike Meldman, chairman and CEO of Discovery Land Co., said in a statement. “We also have the opportunity to embrace the area’s rich musical culture, and I am very excited about the interaction between members, their families and the vibrant music scene.”
Like the company’s other resort and residential communities, the Driftwood project will have a focus on sustainability and stewardship, company executives told the American-Statesman. With Austin being in a critical groundwater area, the Driftwood project will reuse treated water on the golf course, reducing the need to discharge into streams and creeks.
The city of Dripping Springs will provide water and wastewater to the development, Ginger Faught, deputy city administrator, said in an e-mail to the American-Statesman. The developer is agreeing to construct, at its expense, a 15 million-gallon treated effluent storage pond, Faught added.
“This will help the city accomplish many of the requirements in the settlement agreements related to the city’s pending wastewater discharge permit,” Faught said.
Asked what safeguards or monitoring would be in place to ensure that effluent, fertilizer and pesticides stay out of the Edwards Aquifer and Onion Creek, Faught replied, “The city’s wastewater permit has required treatment levels, and the city will be responsible to complying with those requirements.”
In a statement to the American-Statesman via e-mail, Dripping Springs’ Mayor Pro Tem, Bill Foulds, said Roberts and the Discovery Land Co. team approached the city early on about the proposed development and the use of the city’s treated effluent for irrigation.
“The irrigation of the golf course component of this project could have easily been accomplished through the use of ground water or potable water,” Foulds said. “Mr. Roberts knew the issues the city was facing with future expansion of our wastewater treatment plant and immediately saw a ‘win-win’ for all parties involved.”
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