Whisper Valley in East Austin received the Austin Business Journal’s 2022 Residential Real Estate Award for Best Master-Planned Community this Spring, capping off a year of top awards for the eco-friendly community. Whisper Valley was also named Project of the Year at the November 2021 Austin Green Awards as well as being the reigning 2021 Master Planned Community of the Year for the Greater Austin Homebuilders Association’s MAX Awards.
The 2,063-acre, first-of-its-kind sustainable development is the largest in the nation to use a new geothermal infrastructure to power 7,500 residences, along with future commercial buildings, schools, a fire station and more.
“We’re honored by the award and are grateful for the Austin Business Journal’s recognition,” said Douglas Gilliland, President of Taurus of Texas, a division of Boston-based Taurus Investment Holdings. “Affordability and sustainability are two of the hardest nuts to crack in residential real estate, however Whisper Valley can accomplish both. First-time buyers and growing families are able to afford a new home, while collectively reducing their carbon footprint and saving energy.”
Whisper Valley wowed judges with its eco-friendly approach. “Talk about being at the right place at the right time. Developer Taurus Investment Holdings was one of the starkest examples of a local business to immediately feel the ‘Tesla effect,’” they said, “The whole thing would make Elon Musk proud, given that homes use geothermal heating and cooling systems to reduce energy consumption by up to 65% — and every house comes with solar power and gadgets such as Nest thermostats, which can run on Google Fiber implanted in the area.”
Taking a revolutionary approach to residential development, Taurus created EcoSmart Solution, a green energy service provider designing and delivering innovative geothermal infrastructure for zero energy capable communities. Combining geothermal heating and cooling with a Solar PV System on every house, Whisper Valley is utilizing EcoSmart’s energy management platform EcoNoc to create zero energy capable homes. These homes exceed the local energy efficiency building codes in Austin, allowing homeowners to enjoy extremely low monthly utility bills.
The vision for Whisper Valley is to use proven sustainable development principles on a mass scale to deliver affordable net zero energy capable homes to the mass market, greatly reducing the community’s footprint and preserving our planet for future generations.
The community also has 700 acres of greenspace, parks and amenities including trails, a resort pool, fitness facility, a dog park, playgrounds and lifestyle programming for community activities and events. A natural wooded area in the community has also been certified as a Wildlife Habitat by the Texas Conservation Alliance and National Wildlife Federation, preserving the native habitat of indigenous wildlife on the site.
On-site organic gardens are managed by the community farmer and provide free, community-grown produce to residents. Future amenities will also include a 600-acre public park with an extensive trail system and a planned transportation hub.
Whisper Valley is currently closing out its Whisper Highlands neighborhood with limited homes available from the $300s to $700s. Taurus will deliver 365 lots this July.
Homebuilders include Pacesetter Homes, GFO Home, Thurman Homes, AHA Dream Homes, CastleRock Communities and Terrata Homes. All have new, fully furnished model homes to tour except CastleRock, whose model will be complete late this year.
Whisper Valley is located just east of the SH-130 Tollway on FM 973 and 25 minutes from Downtown Austin, 10 minutes from Austin Bergstrom Airport and 7 minutes to Tesla’s new Gigafactory.
FOR MORE INFORMATION visit them online at www.whispervalleyaustin.com or call 512-710-3799
