The Muny Deal Would Save 18 Holes. The Fine Print Is About Lake Austin Boulevard.
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
"Today we've been able to announce that we have come up with a good, clear path," Mayor Kirk Watson told reporters on Oct. 14, as Community Impact reported. He was talking about Lions Municipal Golf Course, the 141-acre course at 2901 Enfield Road that West Austin has been trying to secure for more than 50 years.
The path he described runs through more than the golf course. The City of Austin and the University of Texas plan to hand Muny to the city by amending the 1989 Brackenridge Development Agreement. That same agreement controls what UT may build on its land on both sides of Lake Austin Boulevard. Saving the fairways and writing the rules for the next generation of buildings along the boulevard are now one vote.
According to the City of Austin's announcement, the amended agreement would set out a process for five things: conveying Muny to the city, updating UT's lease at Mueller, exchanging city rights-of-way, creating a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, and drafting a regulating plan that the city and UT both agree on.
The city manager's Oct. 14 memo states the aim plainly. The agreement would "preserve Muny as open public green space for the people of Austin and prepare the remaining 190 acres of University-owned land for the benefit of the University community."
Anonymous donors are what make the deal possible. Community Impact reported that the 155-acre property holding Muny and the West Austin Youth Association campus is appraised at more than $680 million. The city currently pays UT just under $500,000 a year to lease the course. Neither the donors nor the size of their gift has been made public. The plan would also transfer the WAYA campus to the nonprofit, and the Austin American-Statesman put that parcel at 13 acres.
Watson called the result green space kept "really at no cost to the taxpayer." The financing piece is still unwritten. The TIRZ would set aside part of the future tax growth on the redeveloped land to pay for new infrastructure there.
The city's public summary gives a single height figure: 65 feet "when viewed from Lake Austin Boulevard." The staff backup prepared for the commissions goes into more detail, and the detail matters to anyone who lives north of the boulevard or looks across it toward the lake.
| Standard | Proposed limit |
|---|---|
| Total development area | 190.26 acres |
| Floor area ratio, whole area | 0.6:1 |
| Floor area ratio, any single site | Up to 5:1 unless Council approves more through rezoning |
| Height, contiguous to or north of Lake Austin Blvd | 65 feet |
| Height, south of the boulevard and not contiguous to it | Up to 105 feet |
| Impervious cover | 75% overall, up to 85% per site, transferable between sites |
| Building coverage | 75% per site |
| Setback from Lady Bird Lake | 200 feet |
The backup opens its height section by saying no building may be taller than 65 feet "when measured from LAB," then spells out two cases. Buildings contiguous to the boulevard or north of it top out at 65 feet. Buildings south of the boulevard that do not touch it, closer to the river, may reach 105 feet. Both limits allow for the city's standard height-limit exception. Compatibility requirements apply north of the boulevard, on the side that borders established residential streets.
The overall FAR has a built-in squeeze. Setbacks from the river, a tributary and the boulevard reduce how much of the 190 acres can actually be built on, so individual sites can go above 0.6:1. The backup also notes that sites developed later may get less floor area, or none, once earlier projects have used up the total. In practice, whichever parcels move first will set much of the boulevard's future shape.
Parts of the Brackenridge tract already hold apartment complexes, the Lower Colorado River Authority headquarters, the Lake Austin H-E-B, Mozart's Coffee Roasters and Hula Hut, as Community Impact laid out. The city's Brackenridge Tract page also lists UT's Brackenridge Field Laboratory.
The Houston Chronicle estimated that 40 to 50 acres are already commercially developed, including Hula Hut, Mozart's, H-E-B and CVS, and that UT could develop roughly 150 of the remaining acres for retail and housing. That is a reporter's estimate. The city has not published a parcel-by-parcel schedule.
Community Impact reported that UT has not settled on any development plans. The Brackenridge Apartments would stay for the near future and could be relocated and rebuilt once redevelopment begins. The city memo notes that UT holds ground leases with many of the businesses in the area, but its list of agreement changes names only one lease, the Mueller lease. Nothing published so far says what happens to the leases behind the restaurants and shops people use every week on Lake Austin Boulevard.
The property has been held together this long because of what Muny is. The course opened in 1924, the city took over its lease in 1937, and in 1950 it became the first public golf course in the South to integrate. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a civil rights landmark. The city calls it the most used public course in Austin, with more than 75,000 rounds a year.
All of that has operated on a short leash. The city memo says Austin has run Muny under a month-to-month lease with UT since 2019. The Save Historic Muny District, the state-created body Watson sponsored as a senator, has been extended more than once. The most recent extension, HB 2421 by state Rep. Donna Howard, moved its dissolution date to May 31, 2027.
The Muny Conservancy has been raising money for this moment since 2019. Its September Imagine Muny 5 gala passed its $1 million goal, according to Golfweek. If preservation is secured, the Conservancy says it plans to restore the course with Coore & Crenshaw and build a teaching center honoring Muny's integration history. It has not published a start date or budget. Co-chair Ben Crenshaw, quoted by Community Impact, put it this way:
"To see a path forward that could preserve all 18 holes for future generations is deeply moving. But this is not the time to let up."
In the meantime, the course is open for play. Per the city's Lions Municipal page, weekday online tee times open at 9 a.m. seven days ahead, and weekend online booking opens the Monday before at 8 p.m. Online booking requires an account. For weekday tee times, phone reservations begin 30 minutes before the first tee time at (512) 978-6869. For weekend times, the pro shop starts answering phones the Tuesday before. Under the city fee schedule effective Oct. 1, 2025, a regular round costs $35 Monday through Thursday, $41 on Friday and $44 on weekends and holidays. Nine holes are $28 any day. Fees can change, so check the city page before you go.
Supporters are many and organized. Save Historic Muny District chair Ken Tiemann urged the City Council and the UT System Board of Regents to approve the agreement. In January 2024, the West Austin Neighborhood Group called for preserving all 141 acres and all 18 holes as historic public golf course and open green space.
Most of the open questions are about the development half of the deal. Mackenzie Kelly's Oct. 16 newsletter supports saving Muny but lists unresolved items: TIRZ boundaries and duration, the Mueller lease changes, the right-of-way exchanges, possible public costs, and the reverter terms that would govern the golf course. The Austin Politics Newsletter questions using central-city land for golf, the possible utility surcharge, and the TIRZ's redirection of future tax growth. It also quotes a housing advocate who contrasts the 65-foot cap in West Austin with calls for more density in East Austin.
Supporters and critics are looking at the same document. The Council takes up the agreement in November, and the UT Regents still have to act. The regulating plan and the TIRZ come back for Council consideration in spring 2027, and nothing released so far gives a date for decisions on the existing storefront leases.
The Environmental Commission's Oct. 21 agenda included the Brackenridge amendment. The remaining steps:
The regulating plan is the next document to read. Under the timeline the city has released, it comes after the Council vote and covers the land between the 18th green and the H-E-B parking lot.
Abby Alwan has spent years in Tarrytown and West Austin, and she follows what gets built along Lake Austin Boulevard as closely as what sells on the streets nearby. If you'd like to talk about what the Brackenridge plan could mean for your corner of the neighborhood as the 2027 details arrive, The Alwan Group is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.
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