Jonathan Coon, who built and sold 1-800-Contacts for north of $3 billion across two exits, has acquired a Lake Austin waterfront property formerly held by Exxon and committed $35 million to convert it into a Four Seasons-branded residential enclave. The transaction closed in late March. Development drawings are with the city.
The site spans roughly 3.2 acres on the north shore of Lake Austin, west of downtown. Coon's entity, Lake Austin Development Holdings, will deliver an undisclosed number of villas and possibly a small clubhouse amenity structure. Four Seasons will manage the property under its Residences flag, not as a hotel. No opening date has been set, but permits suggest late 2026 or early 2027 occupancy. Pricing has not been released. Comparable lakefront parcels in the corridor have traded between $8 million and $22 million per finished unit in the past eighteen months.
The move signals two things. First, Four Seasons is doubling down on Texas after launching residences in Houston's River Oaks and expanding its hospitality footprint in Dallas. The brand now has four active residential projects in the state, more than in California. Second, Coon is deploying liquidity from his 2020 sale of 1-800-Contacts to a European private-equity consortium into hard assets in a market where ultra-prime inventory remains structurally tight. Austin added 12,400 luxury units last year, but only 340 of those were priced above $2 million. Lake Austin proper has seen six waterfront land sales in the past twenty-four months, all to single-family-office principals or founder-led development vehicles.
Four Seasons' residential strategy has shifted. The company no longer builds hotels first and attaches residences. It now licenses its management platform to capitalized developers who want the brand without the operating risk. Coon's structure fits that model. He holds the land, controls construction, and pays Four Seasons an annual licensing fee plus a percentage of resale transactions. Four Seasons provides concierge, housekeeping, and maintenance staff but takes no balance-sheet exposure. The playbook mirrors what the brand executed in Napa, Los Angeles, and, more recently, Nashville.
What allocators and development directors should watch: Austin's luxury-residential pipeline has 1,800 units permitted but not yet started, the majority in the urban core. None are on water. If Coon's project clears city review by June, construction begins in late summer, and that sets the pricing benchmark for the next wave of lakefront conversions. Three other parcels on Lake Austin are rumored to be under contract to operators with hospitality licensing in place. Names have not surfaced. Also worth noting: Four Seasons has not yet announced a full-service hotel in Austin, though site tours occurred in 2023. A residences-first entry suggests the brand sees more margin in branded real estate than in operating rooms in this market.
Coon's last public move was a $47 million ranch acquisition outside Fredericksburg in 2022. This is his first urban-adjacency play.