Three years ago, Greg Weaver left Austin, where he had overseen the beginnings of the transformation of the city's former airport into a new community of homes, stores and businesses.

Weaver moved to Denver as president of Catellus Development Corp., the master developer for the Mueller project.

Now Weaver is back in Austin, to oversee the largest redevelopment project in the city and one of the most active projects nationwide for Catellus.

Despite a slower real estate market, in Austin and nationally, homes still are selling at Mueller, apartments still are renting, and new retail leases are being signed, Weaver said.

The project is doing very well relative to the overall market, Weaver said. It's bucking the trend right now.

Weaver said four new leases, including a barbecue restaurant and self-serve yogurt shop, have been signed in the past four weeks. That brings the occupancy rate to nearly 98 percent at the 381,500 square feet of retail space at Mueller's western edge.

And within the next 60 days, Weaver expects to announce a new housing component that will include market-rate homes as well as housing affordable for families making 80 percent or less of the area's median household income.

Mueller has 507 homes, most of which are occupied, with another 77 under construction, Weaver said.

More than 600 people now live at Mueller's homes and at the Mosaic at Mueller apartment complex.

The 441 apartments, which opened this year, are a little more than 50 percent leased, said John Cutrer, a partner with the developer, Simmons Vedder in Houston.

We're very pleased with the leasing, and we're thrilled to be part of the Mueller development, Cutrer said.

Market-rate rents at Mosaic range from $960 a month for a one-bedroom unit to $2,525 a month for a three-bedroom unit, Cutrer said. Rents at the 44 units reserved for affordable housing units start at $746 a month, he said.

With the downturn, Catellus has downsized locally and nationally. Some upcoming departures will leave the Austin office with about half the 12-person staff it had during its peak.

Matt Whelan, a senior vice president at Catellus who had been overseeing Mueller, will leave after September, according to real estate sources. Weaver declined to comment.

When Weaver left Austin in 2006, no homes had been built at Mueller, and no stores had opened. He now works in an office that overlooks a 30-acre park with a lake and trails, with the growing residential neighborhoods beyond.

He also will oversee a smaller Catellus project, Teterboro Landing, in New Jersey.

Weaver said he is glad to be back in Austin, along with his wife, Jessica, and their two children.

I love Austin, Weaver said. We missed it the day we left it, and being back here is great for us.