Abilene’s housing crunch is getting a 312-unit response — but not a small one: Martin Inderman Development has landed a $66 million construction loan for The Lariat at Abilene as OpenAI’s Stargate campus continues to pull workers and pressure the city’s rental supply. The money is aimed at adding homes just as the West Texas city is trying to catch up with a demand surge that arrived much faster than its apartment pipeline.
The loan, provided by Dwight Capital through HUD's 221(d)(4) program, works out to about $212,000 per planned apartment. The Real Deal reported today that the project is being built by Martin Inderman Development on a 13-acre site and is designed to add 312 residences to a city of roughly 130,000 people. Local rental rates rose 42% year over year, according to that report, with median rent reaching $1,700 in February.
Three Hundred Twelve Units Head To South Abilene
State registration records describe The Lariat as a multifamily project with multiple three-story buildings and a separate clubhouse with fitness and community rooms. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation lists Martin Inderman Development as the owner and confirms the project’s Abilene location. That is a sizable addition, though it remains one development in a market that has been short on homes for years.
Plans call for 13 garden-style buildings with 186 one-bedroom and 126 two-bedroom apartments, plus garages and a clubhouse. Amenities include a pool, fitness center, pickleball court, grilling and dining areas, smart-home features and EV charging, according to Connect CRE. The project is being pitched as a luxury rental community, which should help the overall inventory count but does not by itself guarantee relief for Abilene residents at the bottom of the income ladder.
Stargate Has Turned Housing Into A Local Bottleneck
The housing demand is not hypothetical. Texas Standard reported in February that the 4-million-square-foot Stargate data center had brought roughly 6,000 workers to a city of just over 100,000, sending rents higher and intensifying affordability problems. Hoodline’s earlier Abilene coverage likewise described a market strained by incoming workers, full motels and RV parks, and a shortage of ordinary rental options.
Abilene’s own housing planning documents show why the new apartments matter even beyond the Stargate boom. The City of Abilene’s draft housing plan says there are about 5,215 households earning below 30% of area median income but only 2,278 rental homes affordable to that group, and it identifies new rental housing as a top need. That gap predates OpenAI’s arrival, meaning the data center is acting more like an accelerant than the original cause of the shortage.
The Big Question Is What Happens After Construction
OpenAI has described Abilene as its flagship Stargate site and says the campus is part of a much broader U.S. buildout, according to an April update from OpenAI. That suggests the city may need more than one apartment project, especially if the construction workforce keeps expanding or if some workers settle permanently rather than leaving when the campus is built.
For now, The Lariat is a concrete bet that private development can catch up with an AI-fueled population surge. Whether 312 new doors meaningfully cool rents will depend on delivery, pricing and the arrival of additional housing — three variables Abilene residents are unlikely to treat as abstract real estate math.
