Key takeaways
- Woodfield Development has begun move‑ins at its first Texas multifamily project, the 360‑unit Strait & Nelson community in San Marcos.
- The property is leasing during peak season, with full completion expected by August and a renter base that extends beyond local students from Texas State University.
- The project adds new supply to a San Marcos apartment market recovering from elevated vacancy, as Woodfield also advances another Texas development in Fort Worth.
National multifamily developer Woodfield Development has completed 74 communities since its founding in 2005 but none in Texas — until now.
The first move-ins have begun at Strait & Nelson, a 360-unit multifamily project from Woodfield in San Marcos, a Central Texas college town home to Texas State University and situated about 31 miles south of downtown Austin.
“As an Austin submarket, we felt like there’s good growth opportunity with Texas State there and with it being just south of Austin,” Woodfield Director of Development Justin Cooley told Homes.com News.
Just over 100 of the units have been completed in the complex thus far, with full completion of the project expected sometime in August, Cooley said. He confirmed that move-ins have begun and “leasing traffic has been great,” noting the developer is heading into the strong spring and summer leasing season.
Despite being just 4 miles from Texas State University, Cooley said the target demographic for the residences is more than just college students.
“There’s a pretty wide range — everything from empty nesters, young professionals and students,” Cooley said.
CoStar data notes that the 10-mile population surrounding the development surpassed 126,000 as of 2025. But a report by Israel Linares, senior market analyst for CoStar and Homes.com, notes that the latest multifamily vacancy rate in the San Marcos market was 22%, among the highest in the Austin metropolitan area.
Linares’ report credited an “unprecedented wave of new supply” that “outweighed strong demand,” but he said the market is in recovery from its peak vacancy of 28.6% in 2024.
An April press release from Woodfield notes that floorplans at Strait & Nelson include one-, two- and three-bedroom residences ranging from 719 square feet to 1,387 square feet with quartz countertops, vinyl flooring and contemporary finishes. The development’s website shows monthly rents range from $1,288 to $2,243, not including optional fees and utilities.
The latest asking rent price per unit in the San Marcos market is $1,241, a 6.3% drop from the same time last year, CoStar data shows. Similarly, Homes.com data notes the median sales price for homes sold in the past 12 months in San Marcos is $390,000, a 9% decline from the prior year.
Strait & Nelson may be Woodfield’s first Texas multifamily project, but it isn’t the only one in development. The developer’s website includes details on Northwest Village, a 455-unit luxury apartment complex that's part of a larger 46-acre mixed-use project in Fort Worth, Texas. Cooley confirmed the units are expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2027.