JV Forges Ahead on $1.5B Mixed-Use

AUSTIN-After years of speculation, the $1.5-billion, mixed-use Villa Muse has a specific timeline and game plan. The first phase will consist of the 200-acre, $125-million Villa Muse Studios, which are anticipated to be completed by the end of 2008 in eastern Travis County.

Villa Muse Studios, the centerpiece of the 681-acre residential, retail and commercial project, will consist of a 50,000-sf soundstage, recording studios, a scoring stage and a 70,000-seat amphitheater. The goal of the studios and surrounding community in Texas 130 corridor is to create a professional and residential campus to attract creative companies for film, television, radio and videogame media and provide residential and commercial space for their employees. Specifics for the other commercial components are still in the planning phases.

Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, vice president of strategic development for Austin-based Villa Muse Inc., says the build-out for the entire project is 10 to 12 years. "The studios themselves are on much more of a condensed timeline," he explains. "The studios are the centerpiece." Villa Muse is partnering with Carpenter & Associates Inc. of Austin, having secured the land and first phase financing.

Alvarado-Dykstra says the plan started out a decade ago with a smaller studio complex, complete with music and film components. But he tells GlobeSt.com that it was decided to enlarge the project and include residential and commercial elements to compete more favorably with other film and creative industry companies domestically and internationally.

"We recognized the reality that creative professionals working in these industries don't have the traditional separation between work and life," Alvarado-Dyskstra adds. "Their work is their life. That's why this is a place where creative professionals and talent and students can have the resources to live and work in an environment like this."

Villa Muse founder and CEO Jay Aaron Podolnick has borrowed pieces from similar developments in Toronto, Louisiana and New Mexico as well as from Disney's Celebration development in Florida. But, Villa Muse is larger. "We studied and took what we liked and are combining things," Alvarado-Dykstra says.

The Villa Muse team includes are Robert Neve, chief technology officer; Tom Copeland, senior vice president of film studio operations; Bob Walters, senior vice president of recording studio operations; and Hiten Patel, financial consultant. Project designers are Steve Durr with Steve Durr Designs in Nashville; Studio Bau:ton in Santa Monica, CA; Sam Toyoshima, Acoustics Design Office, a division of JVC Audio Engineering Research Center and local firm, Land Design Studio. Architects and general contractors for the remaining development have not been selected.