Hutto’s northeast edge could soon trade pastureland for production floors, as developers pitched city leaders on a roughly $125 million light-industrial complex that would span about 69 acres and deliver roughly 800,000 square feet of space. The proposal, previewed at the Hutto City Council’s May 7 meeting, calls for annexing an 18-acre parcel on Ed Schmidt Boulevard and folding it into a larger tract that already sits partly inside city limits.
The project, described to the council as the Opus Development, would blend two neighboring properties into one industrial campus and is projected to bring significant taxable value to the city. As reported by Community Impact, the development team told the council they are already in active lease negotiations and hope to move quickly through the entitlement process this year.
How the parcels fit together
The larger portion of the site was annexed into Hutto in 2023 and carries an “employment center” designation under the city’s comprehensive plan. Council records from that year show the city bringing a roughly 50.85-acre Stillwater tract along the Ed Schmidt corridor into the city, a piece the developer now wants to stitch together with an 18-acre parcel that currently sits just outside Hutto limits, per Hutto City Council records.
Roads, water, and timing
City staff and the developer told council that by combining the two properties, the team can run a new collector road entirely within private land. That approach, they said, could bring the road online roughly a decade sooner and spare Hutto the headache of buying extra right-of-way. The city engineer outlined two workable wastewater options to serve the site, and the council voted unanimously to direct staff to keep negotiating a development agreement, utility extensions, and subdivision plans. Those details were included in the developer’s presentation to the council, according to Community Impact.
Why Hutto is drawing industrial interest
Hutto has been drawing a steady stream of industrial and data center proposals as developers chase proximity to the massive Samsung chip campus in nearby Taylor and the growing network of suppliers around it. The broader shift toward manufacturing and data infrastructure north of Austin has fueled a wave of new projects and rezoning requests in recent months, a trend tracked by The Real Deal and other outlets.
For now, the Opus team and city staff will be huddling over the fine print: annexation terms, utility engineering, and subdivision plats, all of which must be settled before any dirt work can start. If a development agreement comes together, the construction timeline will hinge on utility upgrades, road building, and final zoning decisions.
