This was never just a piece of land.
For two years now, this property has looked like a place in transition. And it has been.
Behind the scenes, a lot has been happening: planning, redesigning, problem-solving, learning, waiting, and working through the practical realities of turning a deeply personal idea into something real.
It has not been simple. The path from “this is what we want this place to become” to “this is how we can actually make it happen” has taken more time, energy, and persistence than we expected. There is still more to figure out.
But the vision itself has been clear from the beginning.
We wanted this property to remain something special — a place connected to its past, useful for families today, and deeply meaningful to the neighborhood around it. And we're excited to finally share what that is.
This little site next to the park is the future home of Good Little Neighbors: a community preschool rooted in warmth, belonging, curiosity, and the belief that children grow best when they feel safe, known, and loved.
A school thoughtfully designed to feel like home.
Good Little Neighbors is being designed as a small, warm preschool that feels connected to the neighborhood around it.
The vision is not a big center, a franchise, or a corporate-feeling childcare facility. It is something more personal: a three-room schoolhouse near the park, built around familiar faces, thoughtful spaces, outdoor play, shared rhythms, and the everyday relationships that help children feel secure enough to explore.
We want it to feel like a place children recognize as their own.
A place where teachers know the kids deeply.
A place where families become friends.
A place where snacks, stories, muddy shoes, big feelings, small friendships, and loud and quiet moments all belong.
A place that feels less like drop-off and more like becoming part of a little community.
That is the heart of Good Little Neighbors.
The idea didn't come out of nowhere.
In some ways, it is a new version of something this property already knew.
When we moved to the neighborhood in 2020, Maxine, the prior owner, would often greet us from the shade of her carport as we walked to the park with our two year old son. Maxine would get up from her chair, meet us at the sidewalk, and usually have a Tootsie Roll ready for Emmett. Covid rules didn't apply.
Over the course of those neighborly chats, Maxine shared pieces of her story. She told us of her love for children and for those living nearby that felt like family, and how this property had been the place where she ran an in-home daycare for many years. We later found county-recorded documentation showing that Maxine had been deeded life rights to the property by a neighbor she had cared for near the end of his life, with the property’s use for childcare specifically acknowledged.
After Maxine passed, we worried that this part of our community's story might simply disappear.
Good Little Neighbors is not a memorial, and it is not an attempt to claim anyone else’s legacy. It is our way of honoring what was here by creating something new for the children and families who are here now and who will be here in the future.
A modern neighborhood preschool carrying the purpose forward. .
Designed around what we believe this age group actually needs.
Part of what made this project exciting from the beginning was the chance to reimagine a piece of neighborhood real estate with real purpose.
But a preschool cannot just be a good building or a good use of land. It has to work for children in ways that are actually meaningful and important.
After we decided to pursue Good Little Neighbors, Geoff left his job to spend a year enrolled in early childhood education courses while working full-time in preschool classrooms. Those experiences reinforced what we had already learned as parents ourselves:
preschool age children do not need or want every moment scripted, scheduled, and optimized. They need room to move, time outside, trusted adults, real relationships, and the dignity of being treated like full people — small, still-growing people, but people.
That belief is shaping the design of the schoolhouse and the yard around it: simple classrooms, a connection to the foods we eat, intentional outdoor spaces that include an art and science classroom, play field, loop track, gardens, an organic playscape, and other areas that invite children to explore, connect, and feel at home.
Projects with Purpose
Good Little Neighbors preschool is one project, but it's also part of a larger family theme of trying to embrace the things we're sincerely interested in, and finding ways to enjoy them individually and together.
For Nora, that shows up through Pretty Good Bones — where she leads the design vision behind making older, overlooked, or complicated places feel useful and loved again.
For Geoff, it shows up through South Austin real estate — helping people understand not just houses, but the lots, constraints, renovation potential, and little neighborhood details that make this area of South Austin special.
And for our kids, it shows up in smaller but equally real ways: The hidden creatures you saw in the artwork were imagined and drawn by our 7 year old son. They're the first series of creatures released under Strange Creature Co. — a fun project intended to remind us all to embrace whatever makes us unique - especially the strange.
Search Battlebend Park and you may encounter these same creatures in sticker form hiding in real life!
If you see one, tag @Strangecreatureco!
@PrettyGoodBones
@Geoff_in_ATX
@Strangecreatureco_
_edited.jpg)
Follow along as it takes shape.
Good Little Neighbors is moving forward one step at a time and there is still lots to be done before construction starts.
There will be more to share as the things progress — design updates, site work, construction milestones, and eventually, ways for people who believe in the vision to be part of helping it grow.
For now, the best way to support the project is simple: follow along, share it with people who care about thoughtful neighborhood change, and join the supporter list for more meaningful updates as they happen.
What about the lot For Sale?
The original property has been subdivided into two lots.
The for-sale sign on the south portion of the property is a development opportunity for future residential use. The portion connected to this sign is being held for the Good Little Neighbors project.
For us, those pieces are connected by the same larger goal: thoughtful, neighborhood-aware change that makes this corner of South Austin better over time.