Rockdale's 'slow burn' growth accelerates as first subdivision in 40 years moves forward

Rockdale officials are starting to see the first signs of slow-burning growth for the city of 5,588 people for the first time since the height of the Alcoa Corp. aluminum plant decades ago.

ROCKDALE, Texas (Austin Business Journal) -- The effect of the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. factory rising in Taylor has been felt all over the Austin metro, from Bastrop to Buda to Cedar Park. Another city about 30 miles east in Milam County can be added to that list.

Rockdale officials are starting to see the first signs of slow-burning growth for the city of 5,588 people for the first time since the height of the Alcoa Corp. aluminum plant decades ago. That growth is trickling out, buoyed by big projects such as Dallas-based developer Xebec Holdings LLC's plan to turn the former plant into a massive industrial project, including a natural gas power plant.

Homebuilders are also taking interest in the city for the first time since the 1980s. Bastrop-based Ranch Road Development LLC years ago purchased the city's former industrial park site, and construction is well underway on a 166-acre master-planned community called Cornerstone that developers and city officials alike said will breathe new life into the Milam County city.

Arlington-based D.R. Horton Inc., the development's sole homebuilder, recently closed on the first batch of lots and has pulled roughly a dozen building permits as it starts to go vertical. The first batch of houses could hit the market early next month, sources said. Cornerstone will have 670 homes, plus pocket parks, hike-and-bike trails and a designated school site. The first phase of homes are on 40- and 50-foot lots and are priced between $233,000 and the low-$300,000s.

Read more about the development at our media partners Austin Business Journal.