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Posted Feb 16, 2023, 5:47 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 3,601
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This is, just . . . whoa. Apologies in advance for the wall of text . . . but it's worth reading in its entirety.
https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/...rport-emerald-island-bastrop-austin.html
Airport marketing flipbook > https://online.fliphtml5.com/vudvo/kwdn/#p=1
Quote:
$10B AIRPORT ENVISIONED
'Big dreamer' developer pursues that plan plus Vegas-like resort near Tesla factory
By Justin Sayers and Paul Thompson – Austin Business Journal
Feb 16, 2023
For more than a decade, thousands of acres along a wooded stretch of the Colorado River east of Austin have been eyed for a project that could bring thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue to Bastrop County — but thus far have remained untouched.
It's here where a developer once announced plans to create a private airport and business campus. The site has since become a magnet for development rumors that have spread through this tight-knit community and beyond. Some have wondered whether they involve billionaire Elon Musk, who's expanding his own business empire a few miles away.
Work on the project, now named Greenport Airport, has ramped up in recent months, Austin Business Journal has learned. Marketing material posted online sketch a plan for a 5,000-acre "World Trade Center Austin," with a mixed-use industrial campus and technology park surrounding the private airport.
But that's just one part of a larger wave of growth envisioned by Austin-based developer Carpenter & Associates Inc. for the eastern half of the Austin metro. A few miles west of Greenport, on the other side of Webberville, a resort city has been proposed with multiple hotels, an indoor ski resort and more. An online brochure declares it will be a mix of Las Vegas, Disney World and Venice, Italy.
Together, the two projects represent nearly $19 billion in possible development. For comparison, that would be more than what Samsung has said it will spend on facilities and equipment for its new, cutting-edge semiconductor fabrication plant in Taylor. And it would be more than 16 times what Tesla said it would initially spend on its electric vehicle factory east of Austin.
There's no guarantee that investment will materialize and many questions remain. Chief among them: After years of false starts on the airport, what makes things different this time? And can a big-dreaming developer really pull off the project of a lifetime, then turn around and do it again?
Map: ABJ pieced together this view of the roughly 3,000 acres Carpenter & Associates and shell companies tied to it have amassed in Travis and Bastrop counties. The development firm has proposed a resort city west of Weberville and the Greenport Airport to the east.
Airport makes progress
The man who has spent decades working on the plans, Jim Carpenter, declined to be interviewed, instead issuing limited information through a media representative, who noted that there is no timeframe for when the projects could be finished. Government records, interviews and public documents have aided ABJ for more than a year in piecing together what might be planned.
What's clear is that over the past few months, work on the project once known as the Central Texas Airport is making measurable progress. If it's anything close to what's promised, Greenport Airport could become a $10 billion mixed-use aviation and technology park, transforming Bastrop County.
People close to the project have minimized Musk's role. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX last year shot down speculation that he was working on an airport, despite headlines suggesting the contrary: "Tesla is 5 mins from Austin International airport," he tweeted in August. "Would be silly to build another private airport, however, the existing commercial airport needs another runway, as Austin is growing fast!"
Over the last few years, entities tied to the project have amassed nearly 3,000 acres, either through purchases or agreements to purchase land on option, according to Bastrop County property records. The project is pitched as being 5,000 acres, and those who live nearby have said that additional deals are under discussion.
The Greenport developers recently secured Federal Aviation Administration approval to build an 8,500-foot runway and have partnered with a fixed-base operator to provide aviation services. Public filings indicate construction has started on more than 1 million square feet of office and data center space.
T.R. Reid, who is handling press and communications for the Greenport project, confirmed that infrastructure work has begun on the airport. And a solar energy company has committed to building large-scale battery storage on site.
The developers have also teamed with partners that include the Autonomy Institute, an advanced technology research organization.
"Visionary developers like Jim are far and few in between. Their dreams are so much bigger than the world at times," said Jeff DeCoux, founder and chairman of the Autonomy Institute. "But what takes place is still going to be impactful and highly impressive for the community. I just know that great things are going to happen. It may not be the multitude that he dreams about, but it takes dreamers like him just to pull projects like that off."
The 47-page online marketing materials promise an airport that could take on some of the private flights from nearby Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The facility would have concierge services, emergency services and more. Millions of square feet of hangar, office and research and development space are possible. The brochures also outlined a grandiose financial impact: 40,000 permanent jobs possible, $36 billion of gross product generated, $710 million in net tax receipts and $300 million for local governments.
"There's been, not just recently but for years, a tremendous under-capacity for general aviation in Central Texas and our intentions for the airport portion of Greenport remain as determined and ambitious as ever," Reid said. "At this point we're not characterizing specific timing for the physical development of that project but we're absolutely pressing ahead."
Anyone who plans to build an airport is required to notify the FAA. The federal agency then inspects the site and conducts an airspace study to determine whether it’s safe from an aviation standpoint. Anything else — including zoning, permitting and other land use matters — fall under the jurisdiction of local, county and state governments. The Greenport would face less regulatory scrutiny because it's in an unincorporated area of Bastrop County.
This isn't the first time Carpenter's team has applied to construct a runway. Back in February 2018, Central Texas Airport Holdings filed a proposal to build an 8,502-foot concrete runway to serve jet traffic. But it later abandoned those plans.
The company later rebranded as Greenport International Airport, and representatives from the FAA said that in October it received and approved the same proposal from years prior.
"The FAA evaluated the overall airspace for this proposed runway and determined it would not adversely affect the safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace," FAA spokeswoman Brittany Trotter said Feb. 8.
Developers have also secured a fixed-based operator for the site. Ocean Aviation, which boasts of its work in the Hamptons in New York, confirmed it is the FBO for the Greenport project but referred additional questions to the developer.
A Jan. 26 filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation notes that four evaporative buildings, one warehouse and one office building totaling more than 1.1 million square feet are being built. The $10 million project was listed as starting in October 2022 and is scheduled to be completed in November 2023.
Who will occupy that space is unclear, but the TDLR filing listed Kevin Hsu as tenant and provided a phone number for Ocean Group Trading Corp. in San Gabriel, California, a wholesale company not connected with Ocean Aviation. Hsu's LinkedIn profile mentions he is the founder of both Ocean Group Trading and Ocean Blockchain Data Centers, the latter of which is included in the marketing materials. He declined to comment when reached by ABJ.
Available Power, a Colorado-based renewable energy provider, announced last year it would develop a 100-megawatt/200 megawatt-hour battery energy storage system to support the airport.
The company said it's leasing land on the airport campus to develop a lithium-ion, front-of-the-meter storage system that can provide energy both locally and to the state grid. The company claims the project is in advanced development and is in the interconnection queue for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Executives are targeting mid-2024 for commercial deployment.
Available Power President Benjamin Gregory said in an email that his company is gearing up to launch an auction to buy equity in the project and is on track to achieve a notice to proceed in the second quarter of this year. He said that they have more than 1 gigawatt of projects planned in the ERCOT region.
Then there's the involvement of the Autonomy Institute. DeCoux said he was connected to the project about two years ago. His group was helping some Department of Defense organizations find a place to do advanced air mobility testing. That led him to Carpenter.
DeCoux said the Greenport site checked a lot of boxes. It had the available space to develop new technologies, was close to a big city and the developer behind it was all-in.
"Greenport is going to be successful because he's embracing many, many more ideas and interests that the commercial industry has, whether it be the innovation sector, the energy being brought in, the data centers, and his interest even in some of the other companies that are looking at doing manufacturing and other advanced services," DeCoux said of Carpenter.
DeCoux, who said his organization aims to help companies and cities embrace emerging technologies, said in the history of technological advancements, cities or regions often take a leading role, from car manufacturing in Detroit to the tech boom in Silicon Valley. He thinks Greenport — and Central Texas as a whole — can be “ground zero” for automation.
If these plans sound familiar, you're not dreaming. In 2010, work appeared imminent on a private airport and campus for "green" technology near FM 1704 and FM 966. Carpenter secured an incentives deal from Bastrop County in the form of property tax rebates. Four green-tech companies were reportedly signed as tenants. The project, however, faced heavy backlash from some, who complained about its environmental impact and a lack of public input.
Then everything went quiet — at least publicly.
Signs of renewed progress recently began to emerge. Some neighbors have spotted crews coming on the property. Emails sent in 2021 to Bastrop County public officials, obtained by ABJ through a public records request, indicated the project was alive.
Bastrop County Commissioner Mel Hamner, who noted that the airport plans have been around so long they predate his six-year tenure, said the county recently met with Carpenter's team and an unidentified airport tenant. The development team has secured the necessary permitting and is moving on to next steps, he said. The incentives agreement with Bastrop County has expired and developers have not yet asked for an updated one, both Hamner and Reid confirmed.
"He's a big dreamer and he's going to finally bring one home," Hamner said of Carpenter, adding that a non-disclosure agreement prevented him from providing further details.
Las Vegas coming to Austin?
Carpenter & Associates has teamed with Nanban Chola Land Holdings LLC — a Plano-based company that boasts of having a $5 billion hedge fund — on Greenport and other projects. They are currently pitching investors, securing additional land and having high-level discussions regarding a rapidly changing area east of downtown Austin, ABJ has learned.
The biggest among those potential projects is an $8.7 billion resort "mini-city" called Emerald Island. It's planned between the Greenport and the Tesla factory, on about 1,050 acres Carpenter owns in Travis County.
What is planned could eventually match the largesse of Greenport. A 27-page marketing brochure, touting "Las Vegas comes to Austin," lists the potential involvement of resort casino operators Caesars Entertainment Inc. and MGM Resorts Inc. A lobbyist that represents Caesars said it did not have any active casino projects in Travis County, while a representative for MGM declined to comment.
Emerald Island, for which a trademark application was filed in April 2021, is touted as a potential mixed-use development with resort hotels, entertainment, retail, restaurants, office and multifamily living. The ambitious plans call for a 500-room wave hotel with an observation wheel, a 50-acre lagoon, seven resort hotels, more than 3,000 hotel rooms and much more on about 1,000 acres in eastern Travis County.
Reid on Feb. 14 said the marketing brochure should be relatively current and represents an "accurate general approximation" of plans at the site.
A representative from Crystal Lagoon, which is working on a project in Leander, said any lagoon in Emerald Island was not using its technology "for the moment" and referred questions to Carpenter.
Meanwhile, representatives from Virginia-based Alpine-X — the company that last year revealed its aim to bring an indoor ski resort to Austin, but revealed few details — said they have had "high-level" discussions regarding potential development at Emerald Island.
"We have not yet committed to developing an Alpine-X resort there, and are continuing to evaluate and consider other potential locations in the Austin area as well," said Nina Pfizer, a spokeswoman for the project.
The marketing material also lists potential Boring Company tunnels at Emerald Island. In August 2021, Carpenter and DeCoux reached out to representatives from Bastrop County and claimed they were working with Musk’s tunneling company to connect both sites as part of a larger proposed tunnel system.
Carpenter suggested the tunnels could also connect to the Tesla factory, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and downtown Austin.
"Jeff DeCoux has been involved in some of these Tesla and Boring Company meetings as the means to transport up to 50,000 passengers PER HOUR safely underground to avoid surface infrastructure deficiencies, traffic, accidents, weather, etc," Carpenter wrote in the emails.
Reid declined to comment on this aspect of the project but DeCoux said they had initial discussions with Boring Co. about utility tunnels, adding he didn't believe anything was finalized and did not think it would lead to tunnels connecting all the locations.
Representatives from Boring Co. did not respond to an email seeking comment. However, the Austin American-Statesman reported that the company has floated the idea of building tunnels east of downtown. The company has long touted potential projects in big cities across America, but so far only has one operational tunnel system beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The dalliance with Boring Co. is emblematic of the whole Emerald Island proposal — a fantastical, sweeping vision that seems almost too good to be true.
Other companies that have been involved in the past tried to distance themselves from the plans. The executive summary for the Greenport project lists Gensler as a partner in airport design, land planning and architecture. Reached Feb. 13, a representative for Gensler said the firm "did some master planning on the project a few years ago, but we’re no longer involved." CBRE has posted marketing material online for the Greenport but, when reached last year, said that information was out of date and directed questions to Carpenter's team.
Carpenter’s Emerald Island is within the borders of SH130 Municipal Management District No. 1, a political entity established by the Texas Legislature in 2019 to help fund services and improvements to the area. The district is seeking consent from the city of Austin to issue bonds and assess taxes in order to secure that financing, according to a 2021 city memo.
That effort has been years in the making, according to Austin senior city planner Andrei Lubomudrov, who noted that consent has neither been provided nor denied.
But he added that there was one sticking point when the application was originally discussed that the city didn’t know how to handle.
"Our number one concern that we had from their initial application was the district’s ability to non-contiguously annex territory," Lubomudrov said.
'It is inevitably going to happen'
Tommy Warren has a front-row seat for all of this. In 2005, he bought land next to Carpenter for what would become film studio Spiderwood Studios 969.
When he bought the property, the area around him was all farmland. Now he can see manufacturing facilities for Musk's Boring Co. and SpaceX, along with housing subdivisions. He finds solace when he rides his electric bike to the back of his property to relax in nature.
"I'm pretty sure that still exists," he said.
He's known Carpenter for years and said he's had concerns about his ideas in the past. Warren said Carpenter is the kind of guy that dreams of big things that don't necessarily come to fruition. But now, even he's convinced "this is kind of a breakthrough."
"Once you get so far along on a project, it is inevitably going to happen," Warren said. "It may slow down, the investors might change. But especially for a person who is on it from the start, this is real. We'll see what happens."
Carpenter's listed partner in the developments, Nanban Chola, is also somewhat of an enigma. On its website, the company claims it is working on two massive projects: Georgetown Oasis, a $1.2 billion, 403-acre master-planned community north of Austin, and Solana Industrial Park, a $300 million, 3.2 million-square-foot development in nearby Jarrell. A representative from the city of Jarrell said plans are still in the early stages. A representative from the city of Georgetown said "a project of that name is not on our radar."
ABJ could not find any properties owned by Nanban Chola in Williamson County, although it's still possible it owns land under LLCs with different names. The company did not respond to emails seeking comment.
If built, these large-scale projects would fill a need in the region, according to some. While big facilities and employment centers have popped up east of ABIA in recent years — from the Circuit of The Americas race track to the Tesla gigafactory to logistics centers near the airport — Southeast Austin needs more amenities and housing.
Marketplace Real Estate Group principals Doug Launius and Karl Koebel, who are not involved with the Carpenter projects but have been acquiring properties across Southeast Austin for more than a decade, said they would "love to see" the airport project come to fruition.
"We've followed Greenport for a number of years and remain excited about the potential of the project and its impact on Southeast Austin," Launius said. "If this project happens, it's a huge game-changer — without a question."
Koebel added: "SH 130 continues to drive a lot of employment. It's time to build the housing. The more the density they can build on Emerald Island, the better."
It's that "persistent attraction and demand for all things Central Texas" that's changed over the last decade, according to Reid and the rest of the Carpenter team. That's what makes it more likely to come to fruition.
"We think there is every need and opportunity for both of these projects given that appeal and demand," Reid said.
For those skeptical given the slow of trickle of details, he said the work that has started should speak for itself.
"The ambitions of the project overall have grown," Reid said. "With the need only greater, so too are our ambitions and intentions. ... While the ambitions are significant, we think they are absolutely realistic."
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