They've taken flight, but what's on the ground?

So Villa Muse is in discussions with Bexar County about moving their planned studio-in-a-city to San Antonio. “We didn’t confirm it, but someone confirmed it for us,” said vice president of strategic development Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, (that someone being Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who let it slip to the San Antonio Business Journal).

But that’s half the story. Before canceling negotiations with the city, they spent a lot of time and money getting options to buy land in Eastern Travis County from a patchwork of private owners. Alvarado said no firm decision had been made as to what to do with that land.

But who holds the options? The city was in negotiations with called Villa Muse Development, but according to Alvarado, the options were in the name of Carpenter and Associates. That’s not that strange, since developer Jim Carpenter‘s company is involved in Villa Muse. According to Assistant City Attorney Tom Nuckols, “We had always assumed it was Carpenter, because in all the publicity on Villa Muse team, he was the only person with a development background.”

So what will to happen with the options, and all that land that Carpenter so painstakingly bolted together, now that Villa Muse has rode off into the sunset?

This article appears in May 23 • 2008.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.