Austin newcomer gives $1.1 million to Trail Foundation

The audience gasped when they heard the amount of the donation and the name of the new donor. Colin Corgan, a relatively recent transplant to Austin from New York City, gave $1.1 million to the Trail Foundation, which protects and enhances the Butler Hike and Bike Trail around Lady Bird Lake, during its Twilight on the Trail social event on Sunday.

“I can think of no cause more central to Austin — literally and figuratively — than the Trail Foundation,” Corgan said. “This gift says that I’m a longtimer. As such, it will be important for me for a long time.”

The $1.1 million will go to the Corgan Canopy Fund, a novel reserve of seed money that will provide early dollars for trail projects, to be repaid to the fund by community donations.

“That means we can have more projects in the queue at any one time,” said Heidi Anderson, executive director of the Trail Foundation, which celebrated its 15th anniversary at the Four Seasons Austin Hotel during the same event. “With this gift, we can pick up the pace.”

The foundation already has 15 projects in the works, including a restroom at Festival Beach, an ecological restoration on Brazos Bluff at the end of Brazos Street — coincidentally within sight of the Four Seasons event — and a water access area at Holly Point, near the decommissioned Holly Street Power Plant.

Many of the projects will be in East Austin, now firmly connected to the trail by the boardwalk on the south shore.

The evening, which began with socializing on a terrace outside the hotel, was full of surprises. Anderson accepted an unexpected check for $50,000 from Stephanie and Todd Routh.

“We got engaged right here,” Stephanie Routh said. “And we got married right here in 2001. We are constantly watching the changes on the trail and saw this project on Brazos Bluff.”

During the event’s programs, surviving members of the Town Lake Beautification Committee from the 1970s, including Les Gage and Carolyn Curtis, were recognized, as well as the Johnson family. Lady Bird Johnson, along with Ann and Roy Butler, was the visionary behind the trail.

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For his part, Corgan, a former executive at Goldman Sachs, is settling into the Austin vibe. He's in the middle of a two-year project renovating a Travis Heights house built by developer Charles Newning in the 1880s in the Fairview subdivision. Parts of the structure might even be older. Some historical evidence indicates that the masonry in the basement was part of the Swisher farm in the 1840s.

Like selected newcomers, Corgan has spent his first months here investigating philanthropic opportunities and has become involved in Preservation Austin, the Austin History Center and Positive Coaching Alliance, among other groups.

“I want to understand who is doing good for causes that resonate with me,” he said. “Coming from New York, where we have Central Park, the High Line and the Westside Highway project, I’m interested in access to the outdoors in an urban environment. The Trail Foundation is all those projects rolled into one.”