The REIT has projects under way in Austin and San Antonio and one in the planning stages for a 10-acre parcel in Round Rock, just 20 miles north of the state capital. Earlier this year, United Dominion had started selling off older suburban communities nationwide and curtailing developments in those types of markets in favor of high-tech centers, such as the Austin region. The economically strong high-tech markets are bursting with what the REIT depicts as "echo boomers" and immigrants, two of the fastest-growing groups of renters.

United Dominion plans to build a high-density, four-story complex in Round Rock. The development plan and design won't be ready until January, Dan Baber, United Dominion's Western Division project manager, tells GlobeSt.com. Construction isn't expected to begin until fall 2001 and will take an estimated 18 months to complete. "That's the soonest we could get it going ... and get it through the city process," he says. The project, which carries an estimated $28-million construction price tag, will boast a high-end finish-out, with possibly wood and ceramic flooring.

Meanwhile, United Dominion's construction division is prepping to turn over a 4,296-sf clubhouse to the REIT's leasing entity for Red Stone Ranch, located in the Cedar Park suburb in the northwest Austin submarket. Baber says the clubhouse will be handed over at the beginning of December, a move that will launch leasing. The first units will be ready for occupancy in February for the 324-apartment community positioned on slightly more than 18 acres at 1600 Lakeline Blvd. The 18-building project, which is costing $16.6 million to co0nstruct, will be completed in summer 2001, Baber says.