ShadowGlen

The feel of ShadowGlen

ShadowGlen is Manor’s original master-planned community, and after almost twenty years it reads differently than the brand-new subdivisions unrolling along US-290 around it. The streets in the established sections are finished, the trees have had time to become actual trees, and the neighborhood is organized around two anchors: a public 18-hole golf course that earned national notice when it opened in 2004, and a four-acre amenity center whose pool — with real slides — is closer to a small waterpark than a subdivision splash pad. Trails thread through roughly 200 acres of woodland along Wilbarger Creek, and ShadowGlen Elementary sits inside the community.

That established feel matters out east, where most of the new-home map is still raw. ShadowGlen offers something unusual for the corridor: a neighborhood with a track record. And now it’s growing again — a roughly 690-home expansion along Rector Loop and Fuchs Grove Road broke ground with infrastructure work through 2025, first model homes opening in 2026, and build-out projected at 200 to 250 homes a year through the end of the decade. For several years the community will be two things at once: a settled golf-course neighborhood and an active construction zone.

The homes and the market

Two markets share the gates. The established sections hold early-2000s-through-2010s production homes — 1,600 to 3,200 square feet on 40- to 65-foot lots, some backing the fairways — that typically sell between $400K and $550K per Redfin and Zillow public market data as of mid-2026; verify current. Golf-frontage and larger lots carry premiums.

The second market is the expansion, where new production homes are projected to open from the mid $300s as first sections release — introductory pricing that tends to be the best money in a master plan’s life cycle, and worth watching closely if budget is the constraint. Lots run modest, homes sit close together, and the trees are young; that’s the honest picture of production pricing everywhere out here. Our data-forward breakdown of current phases, lots, and pricing lives on our ShadowGlen community page, and buyers comparing the corridor should also weigh Whisper Valley down the road, where geothermal-and-solar homes change the monthly math in a different way.

Schools, taxes, and the practical file

ShadowGlen is zoned to Manor ISD, with ShadowGlen Elementary inside the community and Manor High School up the road — verify current assignments, since the district is adding campuses as fast as the area adds rooftops. The honest picture is the one we give across Manor: the district’s accountability ratings have historically trailed Greater Austin’s suburban heavyweights, and that’s the most common hesitation buyers voice. Manor New Technology High School, the project-based magnet, is a genuine bright spot, and campus-level results vary — if schools drive your search, we’ll walk the specific data with you rather than waving at the district grade.

Taxes are the other line item. ShadowGlen carries a long-standing MUD, and all-in effective rates commonly run 2.7–3.1% depending on section — toward the high end for the area, and meaningfully above Manor’s non-district neighborhoods. The MUD rate typically declines as a district matures and pays down debt, which is one quiet advantage of the established sections. HOA dues run roughly $40–60 a month (verify). We run the true monthly cost — principal, interest, taxes at the correct section rate, HOA, insurance — on paper for every home you consider, because the sticker price out here flatters the payment.

Getting around

US-290 is the front door: roughly 20 minutes to Mueller, 25–35 to downtown Austin depending on the hour, with the westbound merge toward US-183 the familiar pinch point. SH-130 opens the east-side job map — about 25 minutes to the airport, 15–20 to Tesla’s Gigafactory, and about 30 north to Samsung’s fab in Taylor, tolls included in that bargain. Heading anywhere northwest means crossing the city; be honest with yourself about that if the Domain is your office. Within Manor, the H-E-B has landed, but much of daily retail still means a drive toward 290’s Austin end or Pflugerville.

Who it fits

ShadowGlen suits golfers who want to live on or near a course without Hill Country pricing; buyers who want the east-side value story with amenities that already exist rather than ones on a rendering; and first-time buyers timing the expansion’s introductory phases. It also suits east-crescent commuters — Tesla, the airport, Samsung — better than almost any established neighborhood in the region.

It fits less well for buyers who rank school-district ratings first, for anyone allergic to MUD taxes, and for those who need finished retail at the neighborhood’s edge today. If the golf course matters less than the monthly utility bill, compare Whisper Valley; if you want the small-town version of east-side value with a real Main Street, look at Elgin ten minutes up 290. We’ll tell you straight which one your file actually points to.