Building a Stronger, More Connected Central Texas
Central Texas is growing quickly, bringing new opportunities, new neighbors, and new ideas to communities throughout the Austin-San Antonio corridor. Many leaders across the region have called for a coordinated effort on long-term planning to ensure growth considers the multitude of impacts and opportunities it presents.
For that reason, Southstar is proud to participate in newly-formed Central Texas Alliance (CTXA), a new regional coalition bringing together businesses, civic, educational, and community leaders from across the region.
The organization officially launched during a public event on Sept. 18, 2026, at Texas State University in San Marcos.
Working Together for the Future of Central Texas
The Central Texas Alliance was created to encourage greater collaboration across the 13-county Austin-San Antonio region. By bringing together leaders from both the public and private sectors, CTXA aims to help communities address the opportunities and challenges they share.
The alliance will focus on issues that directly affect the people who live and work throughout Central Texas, including transportation, workforce development, housing affordability, healthcare access, water resources, energy resilience, land stewardship and economic growth.
Rather than approaching these priorities one community at a time, CTXA offers leaders a place to exchange ideas, study regional trends, and work toward solutions that can benefit the corridor as a whole.
Creating a Shared Regional Vision
As the Austin and San Antonio areas continue to grow closer together, the decisions made today will help shape how families, businesses, and communities experience the region for generations to come.
Thad Rutherford, CEO of Southstar and a founding member of the Central Texas Alliance, believes working together will be essential to building a strong and successful future:
“The Austin-San Antonio corridor is evolving into one of the most important economic regions in the country, and its future depends on our ability to work together across community boundaries,” said Thad Rutherford, CEO & President of Southstar. “The Central Texas Alliance creates a platform for leaders to collaborate on the issues impacting our residents, businesses and future generations. Southstar is proud to be part of this effort and help support a stronger, more connected region.”
Through regional conversations, data-driven research and policy advocacy, the alliance hopes to strengthen Central Texas’ collective voice while helping communities plan for responsible, sustainable growth.
A Natural Extension of Southstar’s Commitment
As the area continues to welcome new residents and businesses, collaboration will play an increasingly important role in protecting what makes the region special, while also preparing it for the future.
For Southstar, participating in the Central Texas Alliance is a natural extension of the company’s longstanding commitment to thoughtful development and meaningful partnerships.
“Developing large-scale communities creates impacts that must be considered regionally. For the past 26 years, we’ve been pleased with the partnerships that we’ve forged with different cities, counties and towns across Central Texas to proactively address infrastructure, traffic, and resource issues to protect the quality of life in the region,” Rutherford says. “We’re confident CTXA will improve coordination in areas that are important to the residents and businesses along the corridor.”
Southstar develops master-planned communities throughout Central Texas including the 2000-acre Mayfair community on I-35 in New Braunfels, VIDA San Antonio, Lone Star and more.
Through CTXA, Southstar looks forward to working alongside leaders throughout the corridor to help build a more connected, resilient, and welcoming region for everyone who calls Central Texas home.