Groundbreaking for the 660-home Cornerstone Subdivision took place last Wednesday morning with city and county officials and representatives from Ranch Road Development, the real estate development firm that bought the property.
Many in Rockdale don’t understand why this huge neighborhood is planned. Through interviews with both Scott Miller of Ranch Road Development and Rockdale City Manager Barbara Holly, The Reporter hopes to provide some answers.
According to Holly, “Irrespective of anything happening around us, [whatever will happen at the former Alcoa property now owned by SLR] Rockdale needs housing. Ranch Road Development has 15 current successful projects in the Central Texas area and decided to enter our market because of surrounding economic conditions and because of how cooperative and aggressive we were to new development and the financing techniques needed to make it feasible for our market.”
And she is right about that. Out of 135 real estate listings for our 76567 zip code, 84 of them are for undeveloped lots or land.
According to Miller, “We believe there is a real need for new housing in Rockdale beyond the population growth generated from those future employers. Cornerstone represents the first opportunity in a long time for folks living in and around Rockdale to move into a new home in a master-planned community.”
“We have seen success with D.R. Horton in other areas that have similar fundamentals as Rockdale, such as employment growth, solid schools, sense of community and good local services such as shopping and restaurants,” he added.
This new home development in Rockdale will be the 10th one in which Ranch Road Development has worked with D.R. Horton Homebuilders.
“They have extensive expertise entering new markets and their marketing and homebuilding abilities are top notch,” Miller said.
When asked if one of the reasons for coming to Rockdale was that Taylor won’t have enough housing for all of the Samsung employees, Miller said, “That’s a part of it for sure. In addition, we believe Rockdale will offer more of a small-town feel than Taylor, which could be appealing for some home buyers.”
The Cornerstone Subdivision will include single-family homes as well as low-maintenance town homes. Ranch Road Development has also blocked off land for use as a f uture elementary school, and there will be several parks and walking trails included.
The projected completion date for the project is 2027 but there will be homes ready for move- in long before that, Miller said.
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