The Mueller Development at the old Robert Mueller Municipal Airport (aka “Mueller”) is a stunning example of urban fill – taking an old, weedy lot (a GIGANTIC one) and turning it into something an area needs – fantastic housing, compelling amenities, and excellent proximity to the best that Austin has to offer. This area falls under the category of “New Urbanism”, which is an approach to land planning that reduces traffic and eliminates sprawl – why should thousands of people drive in from far away to work in the heart of Austin when they can live AND work in close proximity?
(If you want to see what is for sale in this area, please see FindRealAustin’s Mueller Development Area Home Search Page. If you only see homes in the surrounding areas, it indicates no current homes available for re-sale. Please give me a call (Alison Shuman, 512.484.4758) to talk about your options).
If you just want to see the photos, you will find them on the pages that follow this one – scroll to the bottom of this post to see the arrows to the following pages which are chock-full of photographs of homes, street scenes and open spaces. Because I care about you, though, I’m throwing in a few teaser pix here.
The Mueller Development is situated between I-35 on the East, 51st Street on the North, Manor Road on the Southeast and Airport Boulevard on the Southwest. The official website for the development offers a terrific map of the planned development area which shows the mix of retail, detached housing, town homes, parks and commercial areas.
Dell Children’s Medical Center, as well a a significant concentration of Central Texas Pediatric Specialists are located at the north western edge of the development, right off of Barbara Jordan Boulevard. One gorgeous new building houses ‘Specially for Children, which offers services from Pediatric Neurologists, Nephrologists, Immunologists, Rheumatologists, Oncologists, Geneticists, Endocrinologists and Gastroenterologists. The concentration of some of Austin’s best pediatric practitioners means that families with very sick children can find many of the services they need in one location, instead of driving (or riding a bus) all over town.
The redevelopment of Mueller into a mixed-use urban village has been spectacular to watch over the last few years. The 711-acre Mueller site is intended to become home to approximately 10,000 people (in almost 4600 homes including single-family, condos and apartments), 10,000 permanent employees, 10,000 construction jobs, and more than 1,100 homes. The homes were supposed to be “affordable” but that term doesn’t currently apply to the housing available in the area – in December of 2009, the low-end of the Mueller market was around $350,000. In addition to extensive housing and commercial uses, the redevelopment plan calls for approximately 140 acres of public open space, some of which is in parks with fantastic amenities (a swimming pool, fountains, playscapes) and some of which is in small parks with grassy knolls and freshly-planted trees.
If you want to read all about the Mueller Redevelopment, please visit the project’s website! If you want to see a bazillion cool photos, keep reading here!
Now, on to the good stuff – the photographs! My (very patient) husband and (not so patient) children followed me around in the car for 2 hours on a chilly day in December of 2009. I took over 250 photographs of the area, and have weeded them down to the best ones that (to me) seem to represent the general feel of the area.
Please note: I do not have any homes listed for sale in this area (which means I am not representing any sellers of Mueller properties, nor any of the developers). The photos you will see are of homes in the area, not necessarily homes for sale in the area. If you want to purchase a home in the Mueller Development area, you may engage me as your Buyer’s Representative (at no cost to you), to find you a home that is available for re-sale. If you want to talk in more detail about what this means, please call me (Alison) on my cell phone at (512) 585-4758, or send me a note via FindRealAustin.com’s on-line contact form.
My kids were enthralled with the playscapes in one of the parks. I had to beg, whine and cajole them to get back in the car so that we could finish photographing the area. The playscapes were best-of-class, and quite frankly, the best I’ve seen anywhere. I have FIVE kids so I have seen a LOT of playscapes! These were just plain cool – great colors, fun to play in and on, and really hard to leave. We dubbed one little yellow spinning chair the “barfomatic” – small, easy-spinning and compelling until one has spun too much and then it’s sickening, but in a good sort of way. They all wanted a turn, and then quickly, they all wanted OUT! HAH!
After you leave the park and head towards to main housing areas, what you may notice is the absolutely STUNNING variety of homes. This is not a 6-floorplan/3-elevations subdivision! Some are reminiscent of old Austin’s quaint cottages (Travis Heights, Hyde Park) and some are examples of cutting-edge modern architecture – lean, green and gorgeous. As I wandered around taking photos, I noticed how many of the homes reminded me of the Willow Glen area in San Jose, where homeowners have been aggressively renovating smaller cottages into very style-forward new cottages on a larger scale. Others look like rows houses in old urban area across the country and up into Canada. Some of the homes are HUGE, and the architectural styles play off turn-of-the-last-century styles, Mission, and mid-century.
The exterior of these Austin homes range from 4-sided masonry (limestone, brick) to siding and stylings that looks like homes sprinkled across New England. The elevations of the homes are very varied, with lots of details, details details. Even the smaller homes have extensive detailing inside and out, including some with copper siding, metal roofs and a mix of brick, hardie board, metal and stone. Most have porches. Garages are all at the back, accessed via alleys. All of the homes sit close to the street and to the sidewalks, on small lots, to emphasize the walkability of the area. The colors are glorious – greens, golds, reds, blues. Not a single home is “boring” – all have something compelling about them, whether it is the porch, the heavy front doors, or the intriguing roof lines.
Are you ready for more pictures? Let’s start with pictures of the “small” houses, which have a distinctive cottage and old-mission feel to many of them:
One thing worth mentioning – very few, if any, of these homes are on “interior streets”. The streets are wide, with parking on both sides, and yellow lines down the middle. Most houses had cars parked in front, even with alley access for the homeowners to reach their garages.
Those were the “street scenes”, these are the “alley pix”:
Now that we’ve seen some of the smaller houses, and have a general idea of the size of the lots, and the closeness of the houses to the street, let’s look at some of the mid-size houses. Before we do that, however, let me say that I am very intrigued by the concept of “small” houses. Once upon a time, Americans raised families in houses of 1500 square feet, or smaller. In 1995 Taunton Press published a book on Small Houses that captivated my attention. I can’t wait for the wave of books and magazines aimed at the “small footprint” crowd! We have older subdivisions all across the country full of what we now think of as “small” houses. Perhaps these are actually big enough? Do we really need so much stuff? But, I digress . . . let’s look at some of the mid-size houses and see how the interesting elevations, materials and architectue add essential character:
After the “mid-size” houses, we get to indulge in the really big ones. These are the ones that have an unbelievable amount of “green” material and design built in. “Green” may be a bit of a misnomer here, since building anything bigger than a family really needs could be considered wasteful. We can regard this conflict this way: a family that wants a BIG house is going to buy a big house, one way or the other. The freedom to do this is the American Way! Buying a green one, albeit a big one, is still less stressing on the environment than a comparably-sized non-green home, both during the original construction, as well as in regards to the on-going impact of energy usage (which is measurably reduced by the additional insulation, higher SEER ratings on the A/C, etc.). These homes are GORGEOUS! Just GORGEOUS! And for many residents, the shorter commute means more time for family and friends, or for walking around the neighborhood, or on the trails. Which of these big homes is YOUR favorite?
For those that want something a little bit smaller, and even more energy efficient (due to shared walls, which has an insulating effect), Mueller offers a lot of townhomes:
Even though an extensive amount of housing has already been built, the Mueller Development area has a lot of open, undeveloped space. This space is mostly weedy lots (aka “nature areas” in Texas-speak), between the edges of the new homes and the edges of adjacent areas, some of which is residential and some of which is commercial. It might look barren now, but I know I am intrigued with what may be built in these areas.
If you liked this page, and want to see more in-depth photographic journeys through Austin’s residential neighborhoods, please send me a note on FindRealAustin.com’s on-line contact form. If you want to buy a home in this area, please give me (Alison) at call at (512) 585-4758 to start your own journey of finding your way HOME to Mueller.
