Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The Town of Lakeway on Lake Travis

Lakeway is the name of a scenic lakeside community in western Travis County, and it is a wonderful place to live. Lakeway is a reasonably new city, and the city was formed around the original Lakeway Inn, a 48 room hotel built in July of 1962. Honored guests at the grand opening celebration were Lady Bird Johnson and former Governor John Connally, and the hotel opened in July of 1963..

Lakeway has a total area of 6.1 miles, and in the 2000 census the population of Lakeway was reported to be 8002 residents. At the time of the census, there were 3,124 households and 2,496 families, and the population density was considered to be 1379 people per square mile. The city is largely White, with 96% of residents reporting Caucasian ancestry, and along with a 4 % Hispanic population, there are a few other ethnicities as well. The elevation of Lakeway is roughly 823 feet, and the average household size in the community is 2.52 people. The median household income in the small city is about $86,000, so Lakeway is a reasonably affluent community as well.

Students in Lakeway attend Lake Travis School district schools, including an elementary school, middle school, and high school. There were 3,501 housing units during the census of 2000, and Lakeway is sixteen miles west of Austin. The area of Lakeway includes 0.3 square miles of water, which are the waters of Lake Travis.

There are numerous luxury homes in Lakeway, as well as moderately priced homes and other housing options. Since its construction in the 1960s, Lakeway Inn has expanded to become a world-class resort, and now includes the Lakeway Resort and Spa and the World of Tennis. 71% of the families in Lakeway include married couples, and around 34% have children under the age of eighteen living at home. At one point, Lakeway was considered a home for snowbirds, or people who primarily lived there in the mild weathered-months, but now it is a year-round home for many, with award winning schools, restaurants, lodging and many other attractions.

Lake Travis itself is over 25 miles long, and offers boating, fishing, skiing, jet skiing, swimming, and many other water-related activities, and most of the homes have lake access or lake, or beautiful hill country views. There are also many other nice resorts, plus bed and breakfast inns and R.V. parks, marinas, campgrounds, and inexpensive motels and cabins for visitors. There are also two golf courses, Live Oak and Yaupon, and both are members of Clubcorps and run by the company as well. There is a small airport in the area too, and the small city is accessible via highway 71 West and Ranch Road 620 from southern Travis County, and Highway 183 to 1431, then to R.R. 620, from northern Travis County, along with another option, Ranch Road 2222 to 620 from northwest Austin.

There is an art gallery, a fire department and police department in Lakeway, and numerous shopping plazas and boutiques, as well as snack shops, convenience stores and the like. The city government is the mayor-council form of administration, and there is a city hall, library, and chamber of commerce in Lakeway. Since Lakeway has many winding roads, trees, and foliage, deer are very abundant in the community, and drivers must use caution when traveling at night to avoid accidents with the deer and other small forms of wildlife.

All and all, Lakeway is a great place to visit or to raise a family or retire, and all of the amenities of a big city can be found, along with the peace and tranquility of rural life, and since choices of habitation and lodging are so plentiful, the town is a great place to consider when coming to Austin!

Ki helps buyers interested in Austin real estate his website has a free search of the Austin MLS http://www.escapesomewhere.com/realestate_searchthemls.html along with updates on his Austin real estate blog http://www.escapesomewhere.com/austinblog/

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