Quote:
Originally Posted by We vs us
Took a detour through the Domain on my way home on Wednesday, and was kind of stunned to see the streets relatively busy, and steady business through Rock Rose and the adjacent shopping area near the Apple store.
So my question is, what is it about the Domain that has attracted both high end, popular boutiques and stores, as well as the clients that want to shop there? Even more specific . . . why the Domain and why not somewhere in our first downtown? 2nd street is fine, but is really small and vacancies tend to last for a while. What gives?
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Downtown is too far away.
But in all seriousness, both downtown and the North Burnet/Domain area are about the same distance from the metro center of population. So it shouldn't be surprising that there are a lot of people for whom the domain is more convenient than downtown.
that doesn't explain why downtown wouldn't be equally popular for those for whom it's geographically closer.
it may be that (due to the distribution of tech jobs) that the domain is actually closer to higher disposable incomes than DT (more students close to DT?)
Maybe it's because retail/restaurants are too geographically dispersed downtown (which is larger than domain for the moment, though North Burnet is building out fast). Or competing with too many pockets in close vicinity (SoCo, West Campus, East Austin), some of which have existed for a long time. While the Domain has not real close competitors in its space (semi-walkable).
The Domain has also done a pretty good job at making the area walkable and relatively safe feeling. A lot of the streets are less vehicle oriented than even most of downtown. I.E. Rock Rose being only two lanes.
And of course, there's the significantly unified ownershp structure, which makes "master planning" easier.