A sprawling development at Dietz-Elkhorn Road that includes a new H-E-B, retail and housing could mean more business for the area but also more traffic woes for nearby Fair Oaks Ranch.
Officials recently broke ground on Lemon Creek Ranch, which is within San Antonio’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.
H-E-B stores in the area already exist in Boerne and Leon Springs. This third outlet will sit on 13.6 acres of the 117-acre development.
During his recent State of the City address, Fair Oaks Ranch Mayor Greg Maxton said city officials and staffers are considering an expansion of Dietz-Elkhorn Road to handle increased traffic flow at Lemon Creek.
“One of the biggest concerns of many is how we keep the uniqueness of Fair Oaks Ranch. We have seen a lot of development outside of our city,” he said, noting numerous apartment complexes, neighborhoods and commercial developments cropping up.
The H-E-B project, to be designed by a firm in Oklahoma, is expected to cost just over $28.5 million with 110,377 square feet dedicated to the grocery store and 9,000 square feet allocated to a new fuel station and car wash, according to information filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
In addition to the grocery store and gas station, the Lemon Creek Development master plan shows 600 to 700 residential units, split between garden multifamily lots, apartments and townhomes; a 120-room hotel; at least three parking garages; about 471,000 square feet of office space across four large-scale buildings and nine smaller buildings clustered together; and several restaurants.
In all, the development – which is set to loop Dietz-Elkhorn to Old Fredericksburg Road and to Interstate 10 – is expected to house roughly 850,000 square feet of office, retail and restaurant space across the expansive buildout.
While the new grocery store is expected to relieve some of the burden on the Boerne H-E-B, which sees cars backed up out of the parking lot, it also has created some traffic concerns for Fair Oaks Ranch leaders including Maxton.
To help fund construction of the project, the San Antonio City Council approved the creation of a Public Improvement District granting the developers the right to impose property, sales and hotel-occupancy taxes and reserving the district the right to issue bonds or debt to improve public facilities or promote economic developments.
Amajor factor in the developer’s petition to the San Antonio council to approve the special district was the maintenance of roads, improvement of sewer and park infrastructure and the introduction of a new connector road between Old Fredericksburg and the interstate.
The Lemon Creek development agreement with San Antonio shows the newly formed special district intends to charge $1 per $100 of property valuation, a salestax rate not to exceed 2% and a 9% hotel-occupancy tax.
In return, San Antonio will receive $175 for each residential unit built within five years of the development’s first plat application, which is estimated to yield a $109,550 return on investment for the Alamo City.
In addition, the city agreed not to annex the property, leaving the development in San Antonio’s ETJ up to 20 years.
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