About The Site
San Marcos, Hays County, is a rapidly growing city located on Interstate 35 between Austin and San Antonio. While close enough to Austin to be considered a bedroom community, San Marcos has a diversified economic base that is the catalyst for the area's strong population growth. San Marcos' current economic base is composed of several educational institutions, a tourist and visitor industry, and a diversified manufacturing industry. Texas State University, a major contributor to the economy, provides cultural diversity to the community. This young community's lifestyle blends well with the area's extensive recreational amenities and the beauty of the surrounding hill country. The scenic beauty, recreational opportunities, and mild climate create an exceptional quality of life, making San Marcos a very desirable place to live and work, as evidenced by the rapid growth in population over the last several years. Hays County has been recognized as one of the fastest growing counties in Texas. San Marcos' current population is 44,769 with an additional Texas State University student population of approximately 26,000. The population has steadily increased as people from other parts of the state and country have been drawn to job opportunities developing in the Austin/San Antonio growth corridor. This figure does not reflect the many residents who reside in hill country subdivisions just outside the city limits.
The 30-plus acres of land is adjacent to the Tanger Outlet Mall and the Prime Outlet Mall that are separated by a major artery, Centerpoint Road, on which the site has 827 feet of frontage. The malls front on Interstate 35. Combined, the Prime and Tanger Outlet Malls are the third largest tourist attractions in Texas. On average there are between 25,000 and 30,000 visitors to the malls every day. The San Marcos outlet malls regularly rank higher than the Capitol and SeaWorld in San Antonio as tourist destinations in annual state-sponsored surveys. The malls have 237 stores on 27 acres and sales tax revenue from the malls make up nearly half the City of San Marcos' annual general fund budget. North of the site at the next major intersection, McCarty Lane and Interstate 35, the city has entered into a master service agreement with hotelier John Q. Hammons to operate a $40 million, 275-room Embassy Suites Hotel that was completed in 2008. The city also built next to the hotel an 80,000 square foot conference center for $20 million and is reimbursed 30 percent of debt payments each year by Hammons to lease the facility.
Advantages of this site
Acquisition of rights for city water and wastewater to the site has been accomplished. The tract has been annexed into the city with commercial zoning. The land was originally platted into five lots and then re-platted into six lots. Construction is complete on the six-lot subdivision. All sites have water and wastewater lines to each tract and the detention facility is designed to service the entire 30 acres. Five of the sites have been sold, all to hotel developers. The largest lot is currently being re-platted and subdivided into five lots.
San Marcos, because of environmental and physical restraints, is encouraging development toward the southeast quadrant of the city. Several tracts in this area have no access to utilities. The site has utilities, good exposure, located on a major artery, and adjacent to an outlet mall hosting over 10 million visitors per year.
Environmental consultants performed an environmental constraints analysis for the entire 30-acre tract. Conclusions of the study found that:
- No endangered species were previously recorded on the property and endangered species habitat does not exist on the property.
- No potential jurisdictional waters exist on the property.
- No recharge features were observed on the property and the property does not lie within the recharge, transition, or contributing zone of the Edwards Aquifer.
- No archaeological (or historical) sites were observed during field survey or background information review.
Thus no impacts to natural or cultural resources are anticipated as a result of development of the site.
Detention facility—the detention facility is designed to serve the entire 30-acre tract so that purchasers of the individual lots will not have the expense of installing their own detention facilities.
Utilities—water and wastewater lines are or will be installed for easy access adjacent to each lot. Electrical and phone lines currently exist on the property. The tract has no gas service.
Traffic
25,000-30,000 average visitors per day to the Outlet Malls.
I-35 North of Site: 71,000 per day, I-35 South of the Site: 68,000 per day.
Centerpoint Road west bound: 8,562 per day, Centerpoint Road east bound: 7,299 per day