Buda Mayor Lee Urbanovsky on How Downtown Went From Ghost Town to Packed Every Weekend

In an episode of The Building Texas Show, This Austin Suburb Was a Ghost Town. Now It's Packed Every Weekend, host Justin McKenzie returns to Buda to talk with Mayor Lee Urbanovsky of the City of Buda about how the fast-growing city between Austin and San Marcos is planning decades ahead. The full conversation is also on YouTube.

Urbanovsky, who has lived in Buda for more than 25 years, first ran for City Council in 2016 because he felt a council made up mostly of retirees was out of touch with younger families. He was mayor pro tem when the sitting mayor asked him to run for the top seat. "I said no twice and then came back and said, 'Oh, all right, we'll do this,'" he recalls. He was elected mayor in 2020.

A career in development and construction shapes how he talks about growth. Consistency in the city's development process, he says, is what he is proudest of: "We can do it slow if we have to, but we need to be consistent and predictable." The episode covers the projects that follow from that long view:

• Garison Park, on land Urbanovsky says the city bought in 2016, which will open up access to Onion Creek, one of the city's most beautiful gems in his words
• Buda Championship Park, formerly the Sportsplex, expanded to eight softball fields with grandstands and turf improvements, which hosted a soft-opening event with the Pony World Series
• 2021 bond projects on Goforth Road, Old Black Colony Road and Austin Street, which runs parallel to Main Street and could become a second downtown corridor

The heart of the conversation is downtown. Urbanovsky moved to Buda in 2000, "about a month before H-E-B" opened, when downtown "was a ghost town after about 6:00." Today he likes to sit on Main Street on a Friday or Saturday "just watch people, because it's people I don't know, which is amazing." He credits collaboration among the City Council, the Greater Buda Chamber of Commerce and the Buda Economic Development Corporation, which, he says, started during COVID when the city found ways to support small businesses.

McKenzie also gives "Monica and the chamber a big shout-out" for bringing business collaboration in Buda back to life over the last two years, a reference to Monica Davidson, CEO of the Greater Buda Chamber of Commerce and a Buda City Council member. Urbanovsky agrees that "the collaboration between the chamber and the EDC and the city council as a whole has made huge strides," and says, "Monica and Jennifer absolutely made a huge part of that," a reference to Davidson and Jennifer Storm, CEO of the Buda Economic Development Corporation.

The episode wraps with live music at the Buda Amphitheater & City Park, including September's Railcar Revival music festival, and Urbanovsky's invitation for residents to get involved through the EDC, the chamber or by reaching out to him directly. He tells new council members to "do your homework and be available."

Watch and listen: the full episode is on The Building Texas Show episode page and on YouTube.

About The Building Texas Show

The Building Texas Show, hosted by Justin McKenzie, tells the stories of the founders, community leaders and projects shaping Texas, from economic development and small business to conservation and education. New episodes publish weekly on YouTube and all major podcast platforms, with highlights on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn at @thebuildingtexasshow. Watch, listen and subscribe at www.buildingtexasshow.com and https://www.youtube.com/@thebuildingtexasshow.

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