What’s actually opened in Bastrop
Operating today: Chuy’s, Texas Roadhouse, Crust Pizza Co., Scooter’s Coffee, The Toasted Yolk Cafe, McDonald’s, Jersey Mike’s and Einstein Bros. Bagels at Sendero; Bastrop’s renovated H-E-B plus!; and The Colony’s new Treehouse amenity center.
Future appreciation and timelines aren’t guaranteed; buy the home for how you’ll live in it today.
Open and operating today
- Sendero (Hwy 71 & FM 969): Chuy’s (May 18), Texas Roadhouse (Jul 27), Crust Pizza Co. (Aug 12), Scooter’s Coffee and The Toasted Yolk Cafe (Aug 24), and McDonald’s (Aug 27), alongside Jersey Mike’s and Einstein Bros. Bagels. August →
- H-E-B plus! on Hasler Blvd: the roughly $30 million renovation debuted in June 2026, including True Texas BBQ. June →
- The Treehouse at The Colony: the new Colony’s third amenity center is open as of September 2026. September →
- SH 71: the Ross Road and Kellam Road overpasses are already grade-separated; Tucker Hill Lane is under construction. March →
Bastrop growth timeline
What was announced, what moved forward, and what actually opened around Bastrop and The Colony in 2026. January through August are retrospective recaps written in September 2026, organized by the month the news happened.
Want the bigger picture? Read the full Bastrop growth corridor guide.
January 2026: Bastrop Entered the Year With Real Investment Already Underway
The story at the start of 2026 was not that Bastrop might grow someday. The story was that employers, infrastructure and capital were already moving east.
What changed in January
SpaceX continued expanding its Bastrop footprint. In January, Community Impact reported another roughly $20 million upgrade tied to its Bastrop operations. That followed the State of Texas’ earlier support for a much larger Starlink-related manufacturing and semiconductor expansion expected to represent more than $280 million in capital investment and more than 400 jobs.
Why it matters: This is the kind of growth signal I pay attention to: physical facilities, manufacturing, hiring and repeat investment. It is different from a conceptual master plan that may or may not be built.
The new-home perspective
For buyers looking at The Colony, the important distinction is that the community itself is already established. Roads, utilities, builders, residents and amenities are not waiting on a future entitlement. The surrounding Bastrop economy is what continues to mature around it.
The Colony does not need the future in order to exist. The future is adding more around something that is already here.
What I was watching next
Going into February, I was watching for something much more everyday than another large employer announcement: whether retail and restaurants would begin following all those rooftops.
Source: Community Impact — SpaceX plans $20M Bastrop upgrade
February 2026: Retail Started Following the Rooftops
By February, the growth story was becoming easier to see in daily life: more restaurants, more national brands and more reasons to stay in Bastrop for everyday needs.
What changed in February
LongHorn Steakhouse opened in Bastrop on February 16 at Burleson Crossing East. At the same time, Sendero’s restaurant pipeline was getting clearer, with concepts such as Crust Pizza Co. and The Toasted Yolk Cafe moving toward Bastrop locations.
This was a small but important shift. For years, one of the standard objections to moving farther east was, “There just isn’t as much out there yet.” February started giving a different answer.
Why it matters for The Colony
When national and regional operators commit to a growing corridor, they are responding to household growth that is already happening. The Colony benefits because each new restaurant, grocery option and service makes the location feel less “far out” and more complete.
People usually arrive before convenience does. February was another sign that convenience was starting to catch up.
What I was watching next
I wanted to see whether the infrastructure would begin catching up at the same pace—especially along SH 71, where congestion and signalized intersections have long shaped the Bastrop-to-Austin drive.
Source: Community Impact — Bastrop/Cedar Creek dining coverage
March 2026: SH 71’s Long-Term Traffic Story Became More Visible
March was about infrastructure: the work that can make Bastrop feel closer to the airport, SH 130 and the rest of the Austin highway network over time.
What changed in March
Construction activity at SH 71 and Tucker Hill Lane became a major local story. TxDOT is building an overpass over the existing signalized intersection, along with one-way frontage roads. The $58.5 million project is expected to continue through 2028, weather permitting.
The larger SH 71 East strategy matters even more than one intersection. TxDOT has already completed overpasses at Ross Road and Kellam Road, removing signals from the SH 71 mainlanes there. Pope Bend Road is planned for another overpass, and FM 1209 is planned for grade separation later.
The bigger idea: fewer stops on the corridor
The long-term direction is to replace major signalized intersections with grade-separated overpasses so SH 71 through-traffic can move without stopping at those locations. That creates a more direct connection between Bastrop, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and SH 130.
I would not promise a specific future drive time. What matters is the direction of travel: less stop-and-go on the main corridor and better regional connectivity.
Growth brings traffic first. Infrastructure is what turns that growth into a more functional place to live.
Why it matters for The Colony
The Colony is already here. Buyers are not waiting for a road network, utilities or a master plan to be approved inside the community. Improvements outside the community—especially along SH 71—can make an established Bastrop location easier to connect with the rest of Central Texas.
Source: TxDOT — SH 71 East Corridor
April 2026: Bastrop Started Looking More Like a Complete City, Not Just a Growth Market
April’s story was the widening mix of restaurants, entertainment and commercial development around the same corridor where new-home communities were already growing.
What changed in April
Sendero’s pipeline became much more visible, with multiple dining concepts announced for the mixed-use project along SH 71. The bigger point was not any one restaurant. It was the concentration of new businesses choosing the same west-Bastrop corridor.
At the same time, other projects were broadening the area’s identity beyond housing and retail, including the large 204 Texas film-studio development moving forward in Bastrop County.
Why it matters for The Colony
A mature community is more than rooftops. It needs places to eat, shop, work, gather and spend time. Every new category that arrives around Bastrop helps reduce the number of reasons residents feel they have to drive back toward Austin.
The story is shifting from “Bastrop has homes” to “Bastrop is building a fuller everyday lifestyle around those homes.”
What I was watching next
The key question was whether the announced restaurants and mixed-use projects would begin opening quickly enough for residents to feel the difference in 2026—not years later.
Source: Community Impact — Bastrop/Cedar Creek dining coverage
May 2026: The SH 71 Retail Boom Became Hard to Miss
By May, roughly 500 acres of mixed-use development were planned or underway along a short stretch of the Bastrop corridor, and the “retail follows rooftops” story was turning physical.
What changed in May
Bastrop EDC highlighted a major concentration of development along SH 71, including Sendero, Burleson Crossing East and Bastrop West. Together, the projects represented roughly 500 acres of mixed-use growth within a relatively compact stretch of the market.
Chuy’s opened at Sendero, giving residents one more example of an announcement becoming an operating business. McDonald’s was also moving through construction at its second Bastrop location on the west side.
Why it matters for The Colony
For a new-home buyer, this is more useful than a headline saying Bastrop is “fast growing.” The meaningful question is whether the surrounding area becomes easier to live in. More restaurants, stores and services shorten errands and make the community feel more established.
The strongest growth story is not a promise that something may come. It is watching the things people asked for actually open.
What I was watching next
The next step was everyday convenience at a larger scale: grocery investment, more Sendero openings and the continued build-out of the west-Bastrop commercial corridor.
Sources:
June 2026: Bastrop’s Everyday Convenience Took Another Step Forward
June was less about one giant announcement and more about the things residents feel every week: grocery investment, new food options and a denser cluster of services along SH 71.
What changed in June
Bastrop’s H-E-B Plus debuted the results of a roughly $30 million renovation, reinforcing the amount of retail reinvestment already occurring in the market. Around Sendero, businesses such as Einstein Bros. Bagels and Jersey Mike’s Subs were part of the growing lineup of operating or newly opening concepts.
That matters because established retailers do not expand simply because a map says population may grow. They respond to current households, spending and future demand.
The new-home perspective
For The Colony, these openings improve the daily-life equation. A master-planned community can have strong internal amenities, but the surrounding city still matters. Grocery stores, restaurants, medical services and retail make the broader location easier to choose.
The future starts to feel real when it changes your Saturday errands—not just a development map.
What I was watching next
I was watching whether the second half of summer would bring a wave of actual openings at Sendero—and whether large technology infrastructure projects in Cedar Creek would move from announcements toward construction.
July 2026: The Story Shifted From “Coming Soon” to “Now Open”
By July, some of the biggest quality-of-life announcements from earlier in the year were turning into actual businesses residents could use.
What changed in July
Texas Roadhouse opened July 27 in Bastrop, adding another major restaurant to the west-Bastrop growth corridor. Other Sendero businesses were also opening or preparing to open through the summer.
At the same time, the Cedar Creek data-center story became more concrete as CoreWeave was identified in reporting tied to the first major EdgeConneX building. I view that as a capital-investment signal more than a direct housing-demand story.
Why it matters for The Colony
The value of tracking growth monthly is that we can separate ideas from execution. A restaurant opening, a road project under construction or an employer occupying a facility is more meaningful than another rendering.
“Coming soon” matters. “Now open” matters more.
What I was watching next
August was set up to be the most visible month yet for Sendero, with several businesses nearing their opening dates at nearly the same time.
Sources:
August 2026: Sendero Came Alive
August was the month when several of the names buyers had been hearing about stopped being “future retail” and became places you could actually visit.
What changed in August
Sendero saw a rapid sequence of openings. Crust Pizza Co. opened in August. Scooter’s Coffee opened August 24. The Toasted Yolk Cafe opened August 24 as well. And McDonald’s opened its second Bastrop location at Sendero on August 27.
Those openings joined other businesses that had already begun operating in the corridor, including Chuy’s, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Jersey Mike’s and Texas Roadhouse.
Why it matters for The Colony
This is exactly why I like tracking the market over time. At the beginning of the year, several of these businesses were renderings, leases or construction sites. By late summer, residents were using them.
A growth story becomes believable when yesterday’s “coming soon” signs become today’s normal routine.
What I was watching next
Going into September, I was watching two things: whether The Colony’s next major amenity would open, and how the SH 71 corridor would continue changing as overpass work progressed.
Sources:
September 2026: The Treehouse Is Open—and More of the Future Is Now Here
September is a good month to stop and compare January’s promises with what is actually operating today.
The Treehouse at The Colony is officially open
This is the kind of update that matters most to me as a new-home salesperson: an amenity that buyers saw on plans is now something residents can actually use.
The Treehouse adds another gathering and recreation space to an amenity network that is already established inside The Colony. It reinforces a point I think is important when comparing growth areas: The Colony is not waiting to become a community. It already is one.
There is a difference between buying into a future entitlement and buying into an established community while the future keeps being added around it.
Sendero is no longer just a plan
By September, Chuy’s, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Jersey Mike’s, Texas Roadhouse, Crust Pizza Co., Scooter’s Coffee, The Toasted Yolk Cafe and McDonald’s are operating in the west-Bastrop corridor. McDonald’s opened its second Bastrop location at Sendero on August 27.
Target has also been publicly discussed in connection with Sendero. Until Target itself issues a formal opening announcement, I treat that as a reported/planned project rather than an open amenity.
SH 71 keeps moving toward a more free-flowing corridor
TxDOT’s SH 71 East program is continuing the long-term transition away from signalized mainlane intersections. Ross Road and Kellam Road are already grade-separated. Tucker Hill Lane is under construction, with Pope Bend Road and FM 1209 planned for future overpasses.
The important benefit for Bastrop is not a promise of a specific commute time. It is the gradual creation of a corridor where through-traffic can move with fewer stops between Bastrop, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and SH 130.
The northbound connection matters too
SH 95 connects Bastrop north through Elgin and Taylor toward Temple. That matters more today because Taylor is becoming a major advanced-manufacturing employment center anchored by Samsung’s semiconductor investment.
For The Colony, that broadens the future location story. Bastrop is not only connected west toward Austin. It also sits within reach of a north-south growth corridor that includes Elgin, Taylor and the larger Central Texas manufacturing ecosystem.
What came true this year?
- Restaurant announcements became open businesses.
- SH 71 overpass work moved from planning into active construction.
- Major employers continued investing east of Austin.
- The Colony added another operating amenity with the Treehouse opening.
That is the story I want this blog to keep documenting: not just what gets announced, but what actually shows up.
Sources:
October 2026: Fall at The Colony, SH 71 Progress and New Spots in Town
October was about steady progress: more added at The Colony, a full fall calendar and clear updates on all three SH 71 projects.
What changed in October
At The Colony, outdoor grills are being installed on the Treehouse patio, and Phase 1 of the Trading Post food truck site is under construction next to Lake House Park, with a developer target of Q1 2027. Residents had a fishing tournament, a fall garage sale, Boo’s & Brews and Pumpkin Palooza on the October calendar.
On SH 71, Tucker Hill Lane bridge and frontage-road work continued (completion expected fall 2028). Pope Bend Road finished its pre-bid steps, with bids scheduled to open Jan. 6, 2027. FM 1209 is in final design, with bids expected in 2030.
Around town, Lupita’s Kitchen opened a second location in Cedar Creek, Kung Fu Tea is hiring ahead of a November opening at Burleson Crossing East, and the city proposed rules to bring more customer-facing businesses to downtown storefronts.
What I’m watching next
The Trading Post timeline, the Pope Bend bid opening, the downtown rules at P&Z (Oct. 29) and City Council (Nov. 3 and 17), and the Old Iron Bridge ribbon cutting on Dec. 4.
Sources:
The decision test
If future appreciation were completely unknown, would the home, payment, location and lifestyle still make sense today? If yes, future growth can be upside. If no, the purchase may be leaning too heavily on a prediction.
For any specific growth claim that matters to your decision, verify it from the responsible public agency, company or project owner before treating it as part of the purchase case.