Local real estate firm Turner Behringer unveiled its proposal for a housing-heavy development at the 105-acre former site of Floyd Casey Stadium at Tuesday’s Waco City Council meeting.
The city requested for bids for the project in August 2019, seeking different kinds of housing at different price points, plenty of trails and sidewalks connecting the area with the rest of Waco. Deputy City Manager Bradley Ford said the presentation was originally slated for a March city council meeting where the council approved a resolution that allowed Waco City Manager Wiley Stem III to begin negotiating a development agreement.
“But as you might recall, we were in the midst of the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, and thought it best to not have folks in the room,” Ford said.
Economic Development Program Manager Kent George introduced the presentation by Sarah Roberts, founding principal at KSR Advantage. Roberts said the development will contain roughly 300 households, and the mix of different kinds of units is meant to be flexible.
“Our vision is that this redevelopment will have a generational impact, this project is unique… In Waco, more than 560 single-family permits were pulled for new construction of single-family homes just last year in Waco, yet it was reported that less than 20 of those homes were sold in Waco ISD over the same time period,” Roberts said. “We hope to bridge that gap.”
Roberts described Turner Behringer’s plans for the site as a mixed density, mixed income neighborhood with 7,200 feet of trails and 10 acres of open space.
“We’ve incorporated innovative, walkable housing designs and specifically including pockets of cottages, connected brownstones, zero-lot townhomes as well as landmark homes gathered across shared, open space,” she said.
Roberts said the commercial development along Valley Mills Drive is geared toward serving the people who will live there and will be designed to be pedestrian-friendly. Overall, the plan designates 74,000 square feet of the site as a commercial and office “village center,” but Roberts said the first phase of development would likely only cover 30,000 square feet.
“Our conceptual plan is designed around connection,” Roberts said.
Roberts said the trail would also run along Waco Creek and the Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex, as well as connect to the city’s future plans for Mary Avenue.
“The conceptual plans also lay the groundwork for those trails to make future off-site connections to 29th Street, to the South Waco Rec Center and up 32nd Street to the Mary Avenue trail,” Roberts said. “It could have potential linkages long-term to the Mary Avenue pedestrian bridge and the East Waco riverwalk.”
The development would also include space for offices along Dutton Avenue. Community facilities and gathering spaces would fill the 7.31 acres of the site located in the city of Beverly Hills. The proposal also includes space for an inclusive park near the track and field complex, something parks and recreation officials brought up as a priority last year. Roberts said the park would be similar to the Play for All Park in Round Rock.
Councilman Hector Sabido, whose district includes the site, said he grew up across the street from the stadium that once stood at the site, and the project is near and dear to his heart.
“I’m very excited to see that we can show the people something we are planning to do, I’m very excited that what I had envisioned for this area, you have embodied it and put it on paper,” Sabido said.
George said he will schedule a project kickoff meeting within the next few weeks. Sabido requested that the University Neighborhood Association and the nearby Kendrick Neighborhood Association are included in the process of getting the word out.
Floyd Casey Stadium hosted Baylor University football games through the end of the 2013 season.
—WACOTRIB