Austin Texas Real Estate: the Sendera Neighborhood in Oak Hill

Sendera is one of the neighborhoods you will find among the cluster of multiple adjoining southwest Austin subdivisions better known collectively as Oak Hill.  This is a more recent addition to the immediate area, with construction on homes here having started in the mid 1990s and finishing around 2003.   

Its boundaries are Davis Lane to the north, Mopac to the west, Slaughter Lane to the south (although there are homes on both sides of Slaughter) and to the east it sits adjacent to the older Deer Park at Maple Run neighborhood.  Yet as you drive the area keeping track of boundary lines could be tricky business: you may find yourself abruptly outside of the official Sendera boundaries and inside the Deer Park section.  Due to the way in which this area developed, it is not uncommon to turn off of one street and suddenly find yourself in another subdivision.  Don’t let this concern you, since the neighborhoods flow together nicely and are fairly uniform in their look and feel.

Like other neighborhoods here, you can expect Sendera to make a pleasant first impression:  it is clean, quiet and nicely landscaped; yards are neatly trimmed and exteriors and public areas well-maintained.  Some streets dead-end to cul-de-sacs and most streets are set back from busy Mopac and Slaughter Lane, giving an interior, insulated feel.

Sendera is just minutes away from downtown Austin, due to its close proximity to northbound Mopac.  It’s also a short drive from the famed Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center and the beginning of the Hill Country, and minutes from the Escarpment Village Shopping Center, opened in 2006.  That’s where HEB located a new supermarket to serve residents of all the local neighborhoods.  The center also includes several popular restaurants.

You’ll also now find some other options much closer, almost at your doorstep. As you immediately exit the subdivision toward Slaughter Lane, you will encounter a grouping of retail sites, including a Walgreen’s pharmacy, Wendy’s, Starbucks and other “fast casual” restaurants.  Slaughter Lane on this side of the neighborhood is noticeably busy, with a fairly heavy and constant flow of traffic.

Sendera is dominated by owner-occupied single family homes, although it includes the Camden Stoneleigh apartments on Sendera Mesa. The complex is fairly large with multiple buildings, but because it sits on several acres, has a gated perimeter and is positioned far from the street, it blends with its surroundings in a way as to be almost unnoticeable.

Otherwise, Sendera is a mix of one and two story dwellings, ranging in size from 1,500 square feet to 2,800.  Construction is what has come to be expected in more recently built Austin neighborhoods – brick or stone exteriors, two car garages, vaulted ceilings and modest front and back yard space, with privacy fencing separating the properties.

Sendera has its own outdoor pool facility at Sendera Mesa and Lanna Bluff, not far from the apartments.  It is a generously sized pool with up to six lanes for swimming.  The facility itself is immaculate, monitored by security cameras and surrounded by a handsomely landscaped lot with swings and a playscape for kids. In addition to the pool, a recreation committee oversees events like the annual fun run, a garage sale and a Memorial Day barbeque cook-off.  There is a playgroup for parents and small children that meets weekly at the pool.

Sendera, like the other neighborhoods in Oak Hill, is governed by an active homeowners association.  In addition to enforcing strict deed restrictions on building, property maintenance and noise, the association is also alert to crime and nuisances.  Recent discussion here concerns efforts to discourage solicitors from canvassing the neighborhood, as well as the revamping of a neighborhood watch program. 

The Sendera Homeowners Association is part of the larger Oak Hill Association of Neighborhoods, a politically active group of residents from surrounding subdivisions who have the ear of local developers, city council members and other local community leaders.  Like other Oak Hill neighborhoods, Sendera has been right in the middle of recent battles over growth, development and the environment.  In 2003 residents had a major role in helping defeat Wal Mart’s plans to build a massive Supercenter at Mopac and Slaughter, at the edge of the subdivision.  Sendera expects to remain involved in these kinds of issues, as the Austin City Council in 2005 mandated a long-range strategy for the future development of this and the rest of Oak Hill.

Neighbors have found natural allies in partnering with local environmental groups as they fight to protect the environmentally sensitive Edwards Aquifer, the massive underground porous rock formation that serves as the major groundwater supply for central Texas.  It begins here and stretches some 180 miles through several counties.  While environmentalists lobby to limit any industrial or retail development that might negatively impact the water quality, residents keep track of anything they feel might drastically increase traffic congestion and urban sprawl, ultimately driving down property values and upsetting the quality of life here.

Children here will attend Cowan Elementary School, which has been given a very good “Recognized” rating by the Texas Education Association.  Covington Middle School is rated “Academically Acceptable”, as is Bowie High School.