Hill Country Studios Secures Zoning Approvals To Keep Massive Project On Schedule

A quarter-billion-dollar film studio planned south of Austin has secured key approvals that should keep the first pieces on track to open next year. 

Hill Country Group LLC on Aug. 1 received a second and final  approval from San Marcos City Council to annex and zone pieces of what's earmarked to be the $267 million Hill Country Studios project on 209 acres at 6202 W. Centerpoint Road, in the La Cima masterplanned community.

Hill Country Studios has been highly anticipated, and at times controversial, since Austin Business Journal first revealed details about the film studio last summer. It would be a major development in San Marcos, a city of about 70,000 some 30 miles south of Austin, known for its beautiful river and Texas State University.

Previously outlined plans for Hill Country Studios  call for the studio to rise on 75 acres of a 209-acre plot in three phases. Phase 1A would include seven production stages, two workshops and a welcome center, while phase 1B would include 250,000 square feet of office space. Phase 2 would include five additional stages, two workshops and support space.

Overall, the project is set to include 12 sound  stages across 310,000 square feet, two back lots totaling 5 acres of outdoor production space, 310,000 square feet of modular offices and four workshops. Twenty-five acres will be reserved for vendor and commercial space. Buildout could total 820,000 square feet - about the size of a regional mall.

The capital investment is expected to be around $267 million while full-time employment is estimated to be at least 44 with an average salary of $100,000. Additionally, the studio's proponents estimated it would average around 1,200 contract workers when projects are filmed on location, with an average salary of $80,000. Hill Country Group has also committed to participate in an internship program for students.

Both San Marcos and Hays County have approved incentives for the project in the form of property in tax rebates.

At the city level, the incentives would start with a 90% property tax rebate once the studio is fully built and decrease to a 20% rebate by the end of the deal. That five-year deal was estimated to total $3.7 million in property tax rebates over the course of the agreement, while the city would retain $11.5 million over a decade. The city is expected to collect $2.1 million in property taxes before the incentives become active in 2025.

Critics of Hill Country Studios have expressed some concerns about the project, primarily potential negative effects to the adjacent Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. Council members decided last year the economic benefits and promised environmental protections from the developer, compared with the other projects possible on the land, made it a good fit for the fast-growing city between San Antonio and Austin.

Those benefits were reiterated during recent Council meetings to annex and rezone the majority of the property, which is owned by Hill Country Group.

"There's been a lot of questions about when this project is going to move forward", City Councilman   Mark Gleason said during a July meeting. "I'm glad to see this moving forward and again welcome to the community and looking forward to what this is going to bring to the community. - potential opportunities."

Hill Country Studios "is going to be something different" for San Marcos, Mayor Jane Hughson added during the same meeting. "Something different for many other people to participate, work and etcetera."

The project will come at a critical time for the film industry in Texas. The legislature this year appropriated $200 million in incentives for TV, movies, commercials and video games in the next biennium, although it stopped short of revamping the tax rebate program, as some in the film industry desired.

During the lead-up to the legislation, Hill Country Studios Chief Operations Officer Kevin Bar said it had been lobbying for increased incentives and would support whatever bill had "the best chance of being approved." He said increased incentives would be a great "great step in the right direction" to compete with other states and build a thriving film industry.

"To do that, you need that incentive", Bar said. "It's noted and it's always going to come in play when you have that L.A. versus Georgia versus New Mexico or Louisiana, New York-they all compete, and they all have competitive budgets to see what show can kind of get you the most bang for your buck."

But he had also noted that the folks behind Hill Country Studios we're "in it for the long haul"

This article originally appeared in The Austin Business Journal. To read the full article, click here.