La Frontera is a mixed-use development in Round Rock, Texas. It consists of retail, residential and office properties. The name "La Frontera" means "the border" or "frontier" in Spanish,[1] referring to the development's location on the border of Travis and Williamson counties.
The 330-acre project combines offices and company headquarters, more than 1,000,000 square feet (90,000 m2) of retail including La Frontera Village,[2] three apartment complexes[3] and specialized retail, banking and a medical rehabilitation hospital. The project also includes Williamson County's only full-service hotel,[4] the Austin North Marriott which provides space for large conferences, meetings and banquets - a first for the county and an important component of Round Rock's and Williamson County's economic development efforts.[citation needed] The center is also home to the 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m2) corporate headquarters of Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (TGSL).[5]
The developers included stringent design guidelines, architectural controls, landscape requirements, and other codes and restrictions. Primary internal roadways were built and dedicated to the City of Round Rock as public roads (versus using private roads as is typical) prior to individual sites being developed or sold.[6] Significant portions of land were given to the Texas Department of Transportation for construction of the tolled portion of State Highway 45.
A unique combined "bundled utility" concept was installed by TXU (now Energy Future Holdings). The installation was one of the first instances of "bundled utilities" in Texas: gas, electric, data, cable and telecom.[7]
Phase II within La Frontera was purchased in 2007 by the Simmons-Vedder Company of Houston and Austin and is planned for up to 2,000,000 square feet (200,000 m2) of office development.[13] Emerson Process Management purchased the first two office buildings, called Frontera Vista I and II, in July 2011, moving their world headquarters to Round Rock and occupying 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) of office space with approximately 875 jobs,[14] and a projected 10,000 room nights in area hotels.[15]
Phase III was purchased by Cousins Properties[16] of Atlanta in 1998 for future development.
Austin development partners Don Martin and William S. "Bill" Smalling (1952-2009)[17] along with William V. "Bill" Boecker were the developers of La Frontera.[18] Fort Worth real estate financier Ed Bass provided the equity financing with Boecker of Fort Worth representing Bass on the development team.[19] The land was originally a cattle ranch and was purchased by Martin and Smalling from Austinite Tom Kouri (1924-2007),[20] who raised cattle on the land and was an astute real estate investor, and for whom Kouri Avenue in the development was named in his honor."[21]
The project groundbreaking was in 1998 and all land within the development was entirely sold out by 2008.[21]
The portion of the land where La Frontera now sits was the site of the primary filming of the 1974 cult movie classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre which was filmed in July and August 1973 in a dilapidated farm house on the La Frontera property (located on what was originally Quick Hill Road). Twenty-five years later, in 1998, the house was cut into seven pieces and moved to Kingsland, Texas, reassembled, and meticulously restored as a restaurant for the Antlers Hotel and historic railway district.[23] In Kingsland it is sometimes known as the Texas Chainsaw House.[24] The house was a "pattern book" house, ordered from a catalog and assembled on site from a package of materials brought by wagon from a local lumber company. Research indicates it was likely built between 1908 and 1910. A second "twin" house was later discovered at La Frontera and was moved to Georgetown, Texas.[25] by Martin and Smalling and restored as part of San Gabriel Village development, overlooking the South San Gabriel River.[26]
