Rooftops could start appearing next year on the long-delayed Flatrock Springs development in Marble Falls, where plans call for more than 2,000 residences, along with commercial and retail space.

Developers are seeking approval from the city to rezone more than 1,030 acres at the northwest corner of Texas 71 and U.S. 281 as a planned development district. With that approval, the land would be developed over several years to include 1,317 single-family homes, 358 townhomes and condos and 392 apartment units.

There will also be some 700,000 square feet of retail, commercial and office space, along with a nine-hole golf course, developers said.

The project was announced four years ago, but the recession and ongoing economic downturn caused managing developer SouthStar Development Partners Inc. to re-evaluate the process, said Thad Rutherford , SouthStar's vice president of project management.

Although the recession didn't affect SouthStar directly, it affected homebuilders and commercial developers, Rutherford said.

We used that time to re-evaluate, he said. We didn't necessarily see it as a negative.

The relaunched Flatrock Springs will be a true mixed-use community, ranging from $90,000 townhomes to 2-acre ranchettes for $600,000, Rutherford said. He declined to put a dollar amount on the current value of the project, which was reported in 2006 to be about $850 million.

Previous plans also called for a Scott & White hospital, the Lake of the Hills Regional Medical Center, near Flatrock Springs. But the hospital terminated an offer earlier this year to acquire 22 nearby acres. Scott & White is now talking to landowners near the intersection of Texas 71 and U.S. 281 about possible sites, city leaders said.

Road construction at Flatrock Springs could begin in the next four months, Rutherford said. Meanwhile, homes and commercial development could start to appear by 2011, he said.

We're ready to go, he said.

Rutherford says he expects the development to draw people from a variety of areas, including Austin and San Antonio residents who might go into work a couple days a week. Marble Falls, Llano and Burnet residents could also be interested, he said. The Flatrock development, which has been annexed by Marble Falls, will change a lot of the dynamics and the look of our community, said City Manager Ralph Hendricks.

The effect on Marble Falls, a city of about 7,200, would be significant, Hendricks said. Already a regional hub, the city grows to about 20,000 people during the day, he said. About 26,000 people live within 10 miles of the city, and the population in that area is expected to grow by almost 12 percent in the next five years.

In addition to people who work in Austin, other new Flatrock residents could be weekend or vacation homebuyers, similar to those in nearby Horseshoe Bay, Hendricks said.

Since 2000, Marble Falls has grown by almost 45 percent. To be proactive in managing its growth, the city has adopted a comprehensive growth plan, with which Flatrock fits nicely, Hendricks said.

Flatrock's developers also say they want to add civic components to the project. To that end, SouthStar has given 3 acres to Marble Falls for fire station or emergency services facilities, and it's working with Burnet County to create a small-event convention space, as well as a potential library, Rutherford said.

There's also been talk of a trolley system to shuttle people from Marble Falls' historical downtown area to Flatrock, he said.

The relauching of Flatrock is another sign that development is picking up in the wake of the recession. SouthStar's Skywater Over Horseshoe Bay development restarted last year and is going smoothly, Rutherford said. Its Summit Rock golf course is 70 percent complete, and there is interest from new lot buyers. The 1,618-acre project overlooking Lake LBJ was the first major new residential development in the region to relaunch during the recession.

It's a different world we live in, but activity is increasing, Rutherford said. It never came to a halt like other places in the country, which is a positive thing.