Pflugerville Council approves purchase-and-sale agreements for City Hall and Monarch rec center, extends Downtown East development pact

Pflugerville City Council on March 11 approved two purchase-and-sale agreements with Griffin Swinerton LLC to construct a new City Hall and the Monarch multigenerational recreation center in the Downtown East development and extended the preliminary development agreement to continue design work.

The city approved a purchase-and-sale agreement for the Monarch recreation center at $81,721,788.89 and a separate purchase-and-sale agreement for City Hall at $86,886,289.75. City staff and the developer said both amounts fall within the project budget the council previously authorized; council also approved an extension of the preliminary development agreement that staff said is needed to finalize design elements and reach guaranteed maximum prices for related parking and other scopes.

Council and staff said the Downtown East project entered construction in December 2024 with civil infrastructure already underway. Corin Crawford (staff presenter) and Jeff Niediger, bond counsel with Winstead, reviewed the transaction history: an exclusive negotiating agreement (ENA), predevelopment agreements and ground leases that led to the current purchase-and-sale agreements for the vertical components. Niediger said the developer advanced design and that the agreements include standard contingencies and payment schedules tied to construction progress.

City presenters showed design renderings for both buildings. The Monarch’s planned amenities include a pool with a beach entry and slides (the presentation noted an outdoor slide and a “stand-up” slide), a spa/walk-against-current area intended for senior exercise, an indoor turf area, child-watch space and an event space on an upper floor. The sports area was described as accommodating basketball, volleyball and pickleball courts; the presentation referenced multiple courts for those sports.

On the financing and contract model, Niediger described the guaranteed-maximum-price (GMP) approach as “a fully open book, fully transparent process subject to the city’s audit,” and said that actual awarded subcontract prices are visible to the city and that savings return to the city. Council members asked about contingency line items and tariff allowances; one council member noted contingency line items of about $3.2 million and an additional approximately $1 million allowance for possible tariffs as shown in the project schedules provided to council. Staff said schedules attached to the purchase-and-sale agreements allow for true-up and true-down adjustments to match expenditures during construction.

City staff said vertical construction for City Hall and the recreation center will begin in the coming weeks and that the overall project schedule aims for opening in November 2026. Staff also said additional items will come back to council for approval, including a ground-lease amendment, retail condominium details for first-floor retail space, and a separate purchase-and-sale agreement for structured parking.

Council voted separately to approve each purchase-and-sale agreement and to extend the preliminary development agreement. No detailed roll-call tallies were read into the record; the minutes record the motions and that each motion “carried.”

The council earlier approved civil infrastructure and other Downtown East documents in prior meetings; staff said the current approvals finalize the city’s purchase obligations tied to the developer’s guaranteed maximum price process and allow the vertical construction phase to proceed.