High Street Residential Starts Construction on Multi-Phase Community Outside Austin

High Street Residential (HSR), the residential subsidiary of Trammell Crow Company, and JV partner CBRE Investment Management, on behalf of a fund it manages, began construction on The Merle on Howard, a three-phase residential community spread across 60 acres in Pflugerville, Texas. Phase one, which spans 17 acres, will include 444 units, including 15 garden-style apartment buildings and five townhome buildings. The community is slated to welcome its first residents in the fall of 2025.

Residents of The Merle on Howard will enjoy an expansive amenity collection – to be delivered along with the first phase of apartments – that will include11,000-square-foot resident clubhouse with a dedicated work-from-home space, an expansive fitness center, and a golf simulator lounge. The resort-style pool will feature a pool house, ample lounge seating and poolside cabanas. Residents’ pets will have access to a 9,000-square-foot dog park with a splash pad, along with pet wash stations. EV charging stations will be distributed throughout the community and 141 private garages will be available for rent.

As part of the first phase of construction, HSR will also complete master infrastructure work across the full site, including building a six-acre outdoor amenity park for the entire Merle on Howard community to enjoy. The amenity park will include pickleball courts, basketball courts, a playscape and jogging trails. The remaining undeveloped land will allow for construction of up to 956 additional units across two future phases. At full completion, the Merle on Howard will include an estimated total of 1,400 residential units.

“Austin’s Northeast submarket has recently undergone a significant transformation by attracting some of the world’s largest and most innovative employers,” said Marie Archibald, a Vice President with HSR’s Austin office. “These large, high-paying employers, coupled with the area’s affordability and easy access to the Parmer Corridor, the Domain and SH-130 have earned Pflugerville a spot on the map as a top destination for new households in the Austin metro.”

The project site is situated in the heart of Austin’s booming Northeast submarket, approximately three miles from I-35, three miles from SH-130, and just over seven miles from Austin’s ‘Second Downtown,’ the Domain. It is less than a mile from the historic Dessau Dance Hall, where famous artists like Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Merle Haggard and many others once played, giving inspiration to the project’s name, The Merle on Howard.

“We’re proud to partner with High Street Residential on this development, as well-located and amenitized residential assets are a high-conviction investment theme for us. We believe that our investor-operator model, coupled with HSR’s development expertise, will ensure that this project provides affordable, quality housing to meet the demand in this growing market, as well as enhance outcomes for our investors,” said Larissa Belova, Portfolio Manager for CBRE Investment Management.

Additional project partners include Meeks Partners as the project architect, Artis as the landscape architect, Provident General Contractors as the general contractor, HR Green as the civil engineer, Raymond Engineering as the MEP engineer, Integrity Structural, and Levy Dykema as the interior designer.