"We foresee quite a few retail and restaurant-type businesses coming along as part of the Comanche Trace development," says Mindy Wendele, Kerrville's business program director. Wendele told GlobeSt.com there are already some negotiations under way for development on the golf community's periphery, which would offer retail space for "every want, need and desire" of the Comanche Trace golfers and property owners. "There are pieces of property that have remained vacant for a long time that are all selling now," Wendele says.

The 1,232-acre Comanche Trace development, once a horse ranch, now boasts a golf course designed by PGA tour competitor and Austin native Tom Kite. The Club at Comanche Trace includes a 15-acre practice golf facility and a clubhouse overlooking the 18th hole. HMB Partners of Denver, owner and developer of the project, also has incorporated components for multifamily townhomes, single-family estates and garden homes. The development is bounded by the Guadalupe River where a pavilion and sports center for swimming and tennis will be built. HMB is in the process of selling home sites at Comanche Trace and at least two dwellings are already under construction, Wendele says.

"Kerrville is definitely in a growth mode," says Wendele. "Although we haven't pulled any permits, businesses are inquiring daily." Already feeling the reverberations of the Comanche Trace development, as well as the phenomenal growth in Austin 90 miles to the east and San Antonio, 60 miles south, Kerrville city officials are getting ready to rewrite the city's zoning plan. The city is interviewing consultants to develop a comprehensive master zoning plan, which is expected to be in place by next year, pending city council approval.