Southlake approves townhouses

After a year of debate, the City of Southlake, Texas, approved the development of 115 townhouses in Southlake Town Square, a new urban town center outside of Fort Worth. The project has been highly touted for its architecture, successful retail businesses, and civic buildings. It has lacked any residential component to complete the neighborhood. Despite the popularity of the development, the townhouse proposal was controversial because almost all of the residential units in the area are expensive single family houses. These townhouses — designed as brownstones — will not be cheap. They were estimated to sell for $300,000 to $500,000. But the housing type was viewed by some as “out of character” with the community. The suburban community does not have a lot of experience with town centers or the housing types appropriate to them. In the months prior to approving the townhouses, city council approved zoning changes designed to prohibit townhouses elsewhere in the city. Yet Stebbins was able to convince officials that the proposal was popular with residents.