Austin nearer to transforming Seaholm
City to get look at plans for $100 million redevelopment while negotiating final public-private deal.
By Shonda Novak
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Developers are expected to roll out today their vision for a mixed-use project that would transform the former Seaholm Power Plant into shops, offices, a hotel and condominiums by 2009.
The Austin City Council will get its first look at a new rendering of the project, which features a modern design while retaining the distinctive Art Deco building and its five signature smokestacks.
The decommissioned 1940s plant sits on about 8 acres along West Cesar Chavez Street overlooking Town Lake.
An adjacent 22-story residential/hotel tower and two-story office building also would have a modern design but with an Art Deco flavor.
The project is a joint venture between the City of Austin and Seaholm Power LLC, which the city in 2005 tapped as its partner to oversee redevelopment of the landmark site.
Construction, which would cost more than $100 million, is expected to begin this fall. The first parts of the project are expected to open in mid-2009.
The rendering illustrates just how dramatic the transformation of the iconic plant and surrounding land would be.
The 136,000-square-foot building that housed the power plant would have 99,000 square feet of rentable retail space, with a mix of local, regional and national tenants plus restaurants and cafes.
The residential/hotel tower would loom over the original Seaholm structure, featuring 60 condo units on the top seven floors of a 160-room boutique hotel. The condo owners would have concierge and valet services and other amenities of the hotel.
The project also would include a two-story office building with 62,000 square feet. Two terraces will be used by residents of the hotel and condos, as well as the public.
More than 3 acres of the site would be preserved as as green space. Seaholm also would be a transportation hub, with future commercial rail connections, including a line between Austin and San Antonio.
Southwest Strategies Group, an Austin-based commercial real estate company, is leading the redevelopment team. Seaholm Power LLC is in the final stages of negotiating a development agreement with the City of Austin for the project.
"This is an historic event and an opportunity for saving a slice of Austin's history," said John Rosato, managing partner of Seaholm Power LLC. "It's the first time that the city has entered into a public-private venture for the sole purpose of saving an iconic building in Austin."
Assistant City Manager Laura Huffman said, "We view this as a pivotal opportunity for revitalizing downtown" and realizing a longtime goal for a transit hub at Seaholm.
Huffman said the city will make "significant investments in the project," although details are still being worked out.
Huffman said increased property and sales taxes generated from the development would be used to fund the city's portion of the project, which will be spelled out in the development agreement.
Once those investments are paid off, the city would devote 40 percent of the incremental property taxes to affordable housing, Huffman said.
Rosato said other community benefits of the redevelopment include the planned extension of West Second Street to Seaholm.
Two other Austin-based companies, Centro Partners and La Corsha Hospitality Group, round out the redevelopment team.
Centro would develop the condos. Units could cost from about $450,000 for about 1,200 square feet to more than $1 million for the largest 3,000-square-foot units, Rosato said.
Jeff Trigger, former managing director of the historic Driskill Hotel in downtown Austin, would oversee the construction, management and operations of the Seaholm Plaza Hotel, to be built just north of the former power plant, through La Corsha, his newly formed hotel management and consulting company.
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