By BRAD ROLLINS
Managing Editor

Laying the groundwork to ask for a public investment in a new bridge spanning the Blanco River, a developer announced plans this week for a residential subdivision on a tract of land between Interstate 35 and Post Road in north San Marcos.

To be built on what formerly was a piece of the Ingram Ranch, the Riverway project will feature higher-end housing in a masterplanned mixed-use development, Kirk Wilson of Carrollton-based T. Wilson and Associates told San Marcos City Council members at their regular meeting this week. Wilson, a former Denton County judge, said the developers intend to preserve the riverside tract’s natural beauty as a chief draw for potential homeowners.

“What we want to do is really informed by the landscape,” Wilson said. The river “is an incredible feature and we went into this looking at it as a park and how could we make a neighborhood in a park setting.”

The housing, Wilson said, will be priced to appeal to doctors, engineers and other professionals moving to the area as the corridor sprouts medical and technology businesses. Up the interstate in Kyle, construction is underway on Seton Family of Hospital’s $450 million medical complex.

The conceptual plan he presented did not say how many housing units — a combination of single-family homes and town houses — would be included. Illustrations used in his presentation show open space in a recently re-constituted floodplain along side the river and nodes of residential streets clustered around parks and plazas.

But accessing the property will require construction of a major arterial street connecting the interstate and Post Road and a street and pedestrian bridge where that road would cross the river. Wilson said developers will likely seek creation of a tax increment reinvestment zone to pay for the bridge. He did not say how much it will cost.