Villa Muse: A New Dawn for the Austin Creative Industry?

The Villa Muse plan goes something like this:

- $1.5 billion, 681-acre mixed-use development including residential, retail and commercial
spaces, located near Webberville, 15 minutes due east of Austin and 15 minutes from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
- The residential community will be open for sale to the public. It will be supplemented by recreational areas, a public park, retail shops...even a K-12 school.
- The community will be centered around the $125 million, 200-acre “Villa Muse Studios,” which will include a variety of soundstages (including the largest one in North America), scoring labs and recording studios, all designed by some of the biggest talent in the industry.
- The project also includes an amphitheater for concerts boasting a 70,000-plus capacity.

It’s estimated that people will be living at Villa Muse by 2010, and that the entire project will be completed within seven years. Construction on “Phase One” of the project – Villa Muse Studios itself – could begin as quickly as June, with a scheduled completion date of some time in late 2008. So far, funding for Phase One has been secured, though the source of that funding is currently being kept confidential.

An aerial view of the Villa Muse construction plan. Notice the large space set aside for the amphitheater in the top left corner. This venue will compete directly with Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in San Antonio and The Woodlands Amphitheater in Houston for large roadshows. Villa Muse Studios (in pinkish-purple) form a buffer between the amphitheater and the residential zone.

The press release describing the Villa Muse project in detail came out earlier this week, soon after House Bill 1634 passed in the Texas House last Thursday by a nearly unanimous vote (the only Representatives that voted against it were Reps. Aycock and Talton). This bill – written by Rep. Dawnna Dukes from Austin – creates a state-funded incentive program for the film and television industries. With upwards of $20 million in state dollars set aside for this plan, Rep. Dukes seeks to attract film and TV producers to Texas who were otherwise taking their business elsewhere (to clarify, none of these state funds will be going toward the Villa Muse project). A similar version of this bill is now before the Senate for final legislative approval.

Thanks to recent collaboration between progressive policymakers like Rep. Dukes and the local entertainment industry, the idea of one man - veteran Austin music producer and sound engineer Jay Aaron Podolnick - is now taking shape. Back in the early 70s, Podolnick built the first 24-track recording studio in Austin, a phenomenon that many natives say helped spark the Austin music industry as we know it today. Soon afterward, some say about 10 years ago, Podolnick came up with the idea for a central production complex in Austin where creatives from various disciplines could "cross-pollinate" their ideas. Now, with Villa Muse, it seems that Podolnick's unique vision has become a tangible project with strong potential for the Austin creative community.

And the odds of success seem good. Podolnick has assembled an all-star team of studio engineers, construction designers and financial planners who’ve been brought in to create what is hoped to be the most advanced multi-purpose media production complex in the world. And what’s more, says Podolnick, the facilities and services available at Villa Muse Studios will be offered at a “competitive price.”

What do you think, Austin? Do you think this plan will really attract the attention of the creative industry? Is it the right way to move Austin’s creative industry forward? How will Villa Muse affect the Austin community? Is this “smart development” for our future?

*Graphics courtesy of Villa Muse.