Retail center planned in Northwest Austin

KevinFromTexas · #1 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 7:29 AM**

Quote:

DEVELOPMENT
Retail center planned in Northwest Austin
$70M complex would add 300K square feet of retail, dining, entertainment.

By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The region's first major retail project to be announced in nearly three years is planned for 69 acres at RM 620 near RM 2222, across from the new Concordia University campus and a Walmart.

Developers Rodney Speaks and Leslie Perry Sloan plan to break ground by June on the Trails at 620, a $70 million, 300,000-square-foot center at RM 620 and Wilson Parke Avenue, pending approval of a site-development permit from the City of Austin within the next six months.

The project's developers are targeting a summer 2011 opening. They hope to attract a movie theater, hotel, specialty grocery store and clothing, sporting goods and bookstores, as well as local retailers and restaurants to the affluent area, Sloan said.

"We don't want this to be just another strip mall," Sloan said. "We want it to have a very Austin flair."

Negotiations are under way with several theater owners and hotel groups, said Jeff Townsend, a principal who heads the Austin office of Edge Realty Partners, which the developers tapped to recruit retailers.

Read more

^They also have a map.

arbeiter · #2 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 7:46 AM**

Great, more stucco on the Jollyville Plateau. I guess it's inevitable - the demographics over there are to die for. You have both high-income nuclear families and middle-class singles living in the apartments.

The size of the supermarket is kind of a surprise though, 35k square feet is small by Texas standards. Is it going to be a Whole Foods? It's not going to be an HEB, as there already is one at that intersection, which leaves Randall's, Whole Foods, or perhaps Sprouts...

KevinFromTexas · #3 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 8:23 AM**

I hate how far out it is. It's almost next to Lake Travis.

Downtown_Austin · #4 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 2:12 PM**

More unnecessary sprawl.

Mopacs · #5 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 3:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by arbeiter

Great, more stucco on the Jollyville Plateau. I guess it's inevitable - the demographics over there are to die for. You have both high-income nuclear families and middle-class singles living in the apartments.

The size of the supermarket is kind of a surprise though, 35k square feet is small by Texas standards. Is it going to be a Whole Foods? It's not going to be an HEB, as there already is one at that intersection, which leaves Randall's, Whole Foods, or perhaps Sprouts...

Sprouts' footprints are in the 30-40k sq ft range, so that is a distinct possibility... or perhaps a competing natural foods retailer (Trader Joe's?). It's a pretty good bet that the theater will carry a Cinemark flag. Time will tell. Sporting goods store? Perhaps a Dick's or Sports Authority.. Academys are pushing the 100,000 sq ft footprints these days.

The area is very much under-retailed, so they should have no trouble finding willing tenants, even in this economy. Also, I think much of the developable properties along 620 (between 2222 and Anderson Mill) are grandfathered in with less restrictive zoning. Flat topography of the commercial land (atop the plateau) also doesn't hurt.

This will create even more of a traffic headache for that area... However, I can't sympathize with with the traffic complaints of the newcomers... If you have willingly moved into that area of town, you get what you get.

tgbAustinite · #6 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 4:11 PM**

ugh...

Spaceman · #7 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 5:06 PM**

I live in this part of the city and I welcome this...Especially a smaller grocery store...I shop HEB but sometimes it's a lot of trouble to shop for just a few things...When I lived in Allendale the Crestview Minimax was so convenient...Park near the door, get your stuff, check out, all in 10 minutes or less...Try that with an HEB, Randalls, or Walmart...a light year from the door, lines like ACL, etc..I've never understood Whole Food's reluctance to move into the NW area. The Arboretum is not NW.....Plenty of $$$$ in NW Travis county and SW Williamson county...The growth rate is very high...

M1EK · #8 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 5:24 PM**

The demographics in far northwest Austin aren't suitable for Whole Foods. Too politically conservative, and the people with the money aren't exactly ethical consumers, or they wouldn't be living out in Lakeway to begin with.

Scottolini · #9 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 5:56 PM**

From the article Kevin posted:

Demographics within five miles of the planned Trails at 620 retail project

• Average household income: $112,749

• Population: more than 100,000 people

• Education levels : more than 62 percent have a bachelors degree or higher

Source: Demographics Now

Scottolini · #10 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 5:57 PM**

And Concordia University is right across the highway.

M1EK · #11 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 7:20 PM**

None of that remotely contradicts what I said. Rich people in Lakeway aren't environmentally conscious - and thus aren't exactly in Whole Foods' wheelhouse.

bulletbala · #12 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 9:27 PM**

I am from Los Angeles and I pass there on my way home in Cedar Park, Love the Idea, Density is a plus for me. Bring it on!

Scottolini · #13 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 9:46 PM**

I wonder how long until they continue the TX 45 toll road along 620 through this area. The next phase will probably extend it from where it ends today just west of 183, to just past 2222 or Quinlan Park Rd.

arbeiter · #14 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 10:21 PM**

I don't think they'll ever manage to get 45 to go that far. It just won't happen - can you imagine building a big freeway right over the lake? If they did that then they'd have to do that to Loop 360 first.

And I don't think this area is under served by commerce - there's a Target, a Home Depot, a Wal Mart, an HEB, among many other things...

Instead of being a crass naysayer, M1EK, what do you think a 35k sized grocery means for this shopping center?

M1EK · #15 Posted **Sep 16, 2009, 11:01 PM**

Quote:

Instead of being a crass naysayer, M1EK, what do you think a 35k sized grocery means for this shopping center?

I suppose in your world, this was somehow not crass itself.

A 35K grocery store there probably means a boutique store for rich people - something like the Royal Blue or Walton's, except for Lakeway suburbanites.

Spaceman · #16 Posted **Sep 17, 2009, 12:16 AM**

M1EK,
You are on the wrong forum...This forum is about wealth and the developement it produces....I'm wealthy and I give quarterly donations to every animal protection group in the area ...plus the Nature Conservancy...What do you do? Continue to support SOS and their "real agenda"...Their endless rhetoric against "the haves."...Go buy some dube, get some new flip flops and continue to hate the rich....Pitiful

arbeiter · #17 Posted **Sep 17, 2009, 12:49 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spaceman

M1EK,
You are on the wrong forum...This forum is about wealth and the developement it produces....I'm wealthy and I give quarterly donations to every animal protection group in the area ...plus the Nature Conservancy...What do you do? Continue to support SOS and their "real agenda"...Their endless rhetoric against "the haves."...Go buy some dube, get some new flip flops and continue to hate the rich....Pitiful

This forum is not about "wealth".

Mopacs · #18 Posted **Sep 17, 2009, 1:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scottolini

I wonder how long until they continue the TX 45 toll road along 620 through this area. The next phase will probably extend it from where it ends today just west of 183, to just past 2222 or Quinlan Park Rd.

If 45 could at least clear the 620/Anderson Mill Rd intersection, that would relieve traffic immensely. The stretch from there to 183 is the only whisper of an extension I've heard of.

However, there's very little ROW to work with along that corridor...it would surely wipe out large swaths of retail/businesses on 620. Either that or the homes that back up to the highway...which of course won't happen.

breathesgelatin · #19 Posted **Sep 17, 2009, 2:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spaceman

M1EK,
You are on the wrong forum...This forum is about wealth and the developement it produces....I'm wealthy and I give quarterly donations to every animal protection group in the area ...plus the Nature Conservancy...What do you do? Continue to support SOS and their "real agenda"...Their endless rhetoric against "the haves."...Go buy some dube, get some new flip flops and continue to hate the rich....Pitiful

UGH. What arbeiter said. Get a clue.

As far as wealth goes, there are certainly many types of wealthy people. Wealthy liberal people who shop at Whole Foods as a matter of pride. See: Hyde Park. There are also wealthy conservative people that scoff at Whole Foods, organic foods, hippies, etc.

However, my sense is that many, many wealthy conservatives are now getting into the organic foods movement. The culture of being a wealthy conservative is very different than that of being a working class conservative. Many wealthy conservatives, though politically conservative in most respects, do support enviromental issues *to some degree* (think Ducks Unlimited) and eat organic. I'm thinking of all the BoBo kids I went to college with. I went to an extremely conservative liberal arts school in Virginia and there was a group of kids that conceived of themselves as "countercultural" although they still voted Republican- they just enjoyed hiking, jam bands, and making their own jewelry.

I know one or two people who live in West or Northwest Austin now who I would characterize as conservative in most respects (eg, they hate public schools and would not even consider sending their kids to the excellent public schools in that region, they hate public schools THAT much), but who are vegan and crunchy in other respects (use cloth diapers, etc). Nice folks and one is one of my closest friends in Austin. Go figure.

So I wouldn't totally discount the possibility of a Whole Foods.

arbeiter · #20 Posted **Sep 17, 2009, 2:10 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mopacs

If 45 could at least clear the 620/Anderson Mill Rd intersection, that would relieve traffic immensely. The stretch from there to 183 is the only whisper of an extension I've heard of.

However, there's very little ROW to work with along that corridor...it would surely wipe out large swaths of retail/businesses on 620. Either that or the homes that back up to the highway...which of course won't happen.

Yeah, the stretch between Deerbrook and Lake Creek is backed by houses, and then the stretch from Hatch to El Salido too. It's narrower than 183 was back when they upgraded it to freeway standards. It would have to be one of those high-elevation jobs like what is done between Lamar and Burnet (i.e. Ohlen).