Development Group Buys 656 Acres for $135M Resort

The land, with one mile of river frontage, abuts a 1,100-acre, state-affiliated, nature park in what Texans fondly call the Lost Pines, a meeting place for four eco-systems setting towering pine trees beside prickly cactus. John Scovell, Woodbine's president and CEO, tells GlobeSt.com that the as-yet-unnamed resort will be completed by midyear 2006. A construction start will be announced in the coming months after the principals and lenders put finishing touches to the financial package.

The resort will be owned by a Woodbine-assembled partnership that includes Cook Inlet Region Inc. (CIRI) of Anchorage; Oklahoma Publishing Co., owned by Oklahoma City's Gaylord family; and Chicago-based Hyatt Corp. CIRI, Hyatt and Woodbine are longtime teammates, but it's a first-time partnership with the publishing company, owner of the Broadmoor Hotel and Spa in Colorado Springs.

The ecologically and environmentally sensitive resort will be set on 405 acres of the 656 acquired from the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), a Texas conservation and reclamation district that also owns the abutting McKinney Roughs Nature Park. The balance of the resort's land will be put into "a preservation bank" for future development, Scovell says. A near-term use could be to add to the proposed 18-hole golf course or consider developing timeshare properties to complement the "eco-resort," being laid out in two- and three-story buildings in a positioning to protect as many trees as possible of a Bastrop County site just 13 miles east of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

LCRA agreed to sell the land in 2000, but time was needed to work out utility line extensions, plan the connector road between US Highway 71 and the resort's interior and structure access and use agreements for guests and nature park patrons alike. "We have gone to great lengths in working with Woodbine to ensure that the natural character of McKinney Roughs and the river at this location will continue to be protected," Joseph J. Beal, LCRA's general manager and CEO, says in a press release.

Scovell says he and the Woodbine team first saw the land six years ago, but it's been an uphill battle with long negotiations and the worst hospitality slump in a decade due to 9-11. But, the "magical site," he says, "is some place special ... and that gave us the passion to overcome these hurdles." He believes the resort, within driving distance of all Texas metros, will end up a destination getaway for residents who now throng to places like Colorado and Wyoming for nature vacations.

The 500-room resort will be managed by Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and include a full-service spa, more than 50,000 sf of indoor event space, water features that include a man-made river pool, equestrian trails and the hotelier's trademark services such as Camp Hyatt for kids and Regency Club.

The design team includes Hill Glazier Architects Inc. of Palo Alto, CA; Vivian/Nichols Associates of Dallas for the interiors; golf course designer, Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates of Toledo; TBG Partners of Austin, landscape architect; and Hyatt Development Corp. for technical assistance and development services.