[Mopacs]

New mixed-use urban development planned for central area of Round Rock, at the NE-corner of I-35 and US 79. Will ultimately include a 9-story hotel and convention center. For reference, this is about 18-19 miles north of downtown Austin.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/25/1025rrdevelopment.html

http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/03/15/15/image_7715153.jpg

The Citi Centre in Round Rock, seen in an artist's rendering, would span 1.1 million square feet with offices, townhomes, retail, a convention center and a hotel. The $250 million project would replace an aging strip mall.


$250 million development planned for Round Rock

Mixed-use project could create new downtown, officials say

By Katie Humphrey (khumphrey@statesman.com)
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, October 25, 2008

Round Rock could see a new $250 million downtown sprout along West Palm Valley Boulevard if the long-term vision of a proposed mixed-use development takes root.
The development, dubbed Citi Centre, would replace an aging, partially vacant strip mall and surrounding buildings on 13 acres between Mays Street and Interstate 35 on West Palm Valley Boulevard.

The 1.1 million-square-foot Citi Centre would include offices, apartments, townhomes, retail and restaurants, anchored by a 35,000-square-foot convention center and a nine-story hotel.

But the grand vision would begin with a more modest first phase: 27,000 square feet of retail and restaurants on the corner of Mays Street and West Palm Valley Boulevard. If the city approves that site plan next month, construction would begin in January and be completed by August. Two Midland-based groups, RRE Realty Partners Ltd. and BKRX Ltd. are behind the Citi Centre development.

"This will be a great draw for this new downtown area," said Kevin Flahive, an Austin-based attorney representing the developers. "There is nothing there of this nature."
The second phase will probably require city officials and developers to negotiate a planned unit development, which allows more flexible zoning for mixed uses, and an economic development agreement. No details have been drawn up.

City of Round Rock officials previously have said that the intersection of North Mays Street and West Palm Valley Boulevard is the one they most want to spruce up.
The strip mall on the northwest corner has been partially vacant for about two years since an H-E-B grocery store closed. "That particular shopping center is going on 40 years old and has outlived its useful life," said Jim Stendebach, the city's planning director. "We actively encouraged the developer to come up with something more than a paint job on the building."
City officials said they hope that Citi Centre, designed by Round Rock-based Moman Architects, can be a focal point for the city, with mixed uses, wide sidewalks and walkable areas. They have got a great vision for how this city wants to grow and the image we want to portray in the future," said Joe Vining, senior vice president of the Round Rock Economic Development Partnership.

The souring economy hasn't muted discussion of the project. Flahive said the developers want to complete plans and negotiations for when conditions improve.
Round Rock City Manager Jim Nuse said he expects the first phase of the project to move forward and the balance to be completed over time.
"Central Texas and Round Rock are one of the bright spots of optimism on the planet right now," Nuse said.

"There are some people who are still pretty bullish on the area here."
khumphrey@statesman.com (khumphrey@statesman.com); 445-3658

[Mopacs]

Story also published in this week's Austin Business Journal:
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2008/10/27/story1.html?b=1225080000%5E1721581


Friday, October 24, 2008

Big project set for Round Rock

$250M mixed-use center to be on I-35
Austin Business Journal - by Jean Kwon (http://www.bizjournals.com/search/results.html?Ntt=%22Jean%20Kwon%22&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode matchallpartial) ABJ Staff

A $250 million mixed-use development is in the works for Round Rock and being touted by city leaders as its new urban downtown core.
Two development partnerships from Midland — Round Rock East Realty Partners Ltd. and BKRX (http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/related_content.html?topic=BKRX) Ltd. — are behind the new project called Citi Centre on 13 acres at the northeast corner of I-35 and West Palm Valley Boulevard. Plans include a nine-story, 200-room hotel, a 35,000-square-foot conference center, 200,000 square feet of medical and office space, 250 residential units ranging from townhomes to apartments, and 160,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

The project is seeking final site plan approvals this month. Construction of the first phase, 35,000 square feet of commercial space, is expected to begin in January. Meanwhile, developers are negotiating a long-range development agreement for the subsequent buildout. That agreement is expected to involve several public-private partnerships with the city of Round Rock and prospective tenants that would establish city-controlled public improvement districts, or tax increment financing districts, to bring city services such as roads, water and sewer lines quickly to the area.

The new development will replace a two-story office building, strip center and a pad site restaurant that was built decades ago. The site was bought several years ago by the developers, who originally had considerably smaller plans to do retail only, those close to the transaction say.

Timing of the buildout will be “as the market will allow,” says John Joseph, the developers’ attorney. “I think we are perfectly timed because we will see exactly what the market is going to do and how the credit market is going to respond. I think it is timed correctly for when the economy turns up.”...

[sakyle04]

sponsored by citi?

[KevinFromTexas]

Interesting. And definitely the city's first true high-rise. The article states 9 floors, but in the rendering it looks like there are 11 floors.

Quote from the Austin Business Journal article:

The city’s population of 100,000 is expected to triple within 50 years, and Round Rock’s traditionally two-pronged economy of retail and Dell Inc.’s (Nasdaq: DELL) headquarters is changing, he says. The economy has diversified recently with the addition of a Texas State University branch, the Seton Family of Hospitals’ Williamson Medical Center and the Scott and White medical campus. Texas A&M’s medical school is set to open there next year, and Austin Community College is building a major campus there.

With the city growing that much, it only makes good sense to increase densities. I've actually wondered why it's taken this long to finally come up with something like this. I'd like to see more high-rise office and even residential projects there to combat the insane sprawl in Round Rock.

[Dragonfire]

I live a few miles west of that area, I can tell you that this is definitely needed. That strip mall is trashy and old, before AND after the HEB was there. I heard rumors before that Fiesta was considering leasing the space out, but this is definitely a better option.

There's also not that much residential in the area, so there shouldn't be too many NIMBY complaints. Although I hope they make several improvements on the Mays/79 and I-35/79 intersections because those two intersections are horrible to go through.

As for the city's first "true" high-rise, what about the Marriott in La Frontera, or the office buildings near there?

[KevinFromTexas]

Yeah, usually city fire departments consider a building that is 75 feet tall or taller to be a high-rise. That also effects insurance policies with buildings and other safety guidelines. I was talking about the more arbitrary definition that some skyscraper databases use which labels a building that is 115 feet or taller to be a high-rise. It doesn't really matter I suppose, but the 2nd definition is the one I've always though of.

[PartyLine]

As big as Round Rock is getting they need something like this some more highrises would be good in downtown. Round Rock is almost the size of towns like Waco and San Angelo and they have highrises downtown.

[jaga185]

I don't know if I like that tower, but the rest of the project looks and sounds good too. Does anyone have pictures of what it looks like now?

[Dragonfire]

As big as Round Rock is getting they need something like this some more highrises would be good in downtown. Round Rock is almost the size of towns like Waco and San Angelo and they have highrises downtown.

True, but Waco and San Angelo are the main city in their areas. Round Rock, while it is a major city in our area, is secondary to Austin.

As for pictures, I'll try to take some in the next week, but the Birds Eye feature of Windows Live Maps shows a great aerial view of the area.

It would look weird though because diagonally across the 79/Mays intersection is an open area of land that's undeveloped/

[NormalgeNyus]

yeah living in round rock for 10 yrs now i still dont get it. a city this size should have a workable downtown,and a bus system. Round rock has neither. And with that farm on the opposite corner. i still dont get why a town this size has several farms in its core.

[KevinFromTexas]

^ That open area of land could be developed with more projects. They mentioned wanting to create a denser downtown. I really hope this happens. The comments on Statesman have been mixed, but most seem to be in support of it, especially for creating jobs and revitalizing the area.

[Mopacs]

The land at the NE corner of Mays and 79 is home to the Texas Baptist Children's Home campus:

http://www.childrenatheartministries.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=545&srcid=559

As for the large open plot at the SE corner of the intersection, that I am not certain of.

Here's a picture of the strip center from Google Street View:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Round+Rock,tx&layer=c&ie=UTF8&ll=30.519496,-97.685226&spn=0.00635,0.013701&t=h&z=17&cbll=30.517782,-97.683571&panoid=cruXp7dOuwcyTz8O2mjq0Q&cbp=1,311.76163741714833,,0,7.012746288373052

That is truly one dumpy shopping center, even by strip center standards. The Beall's department store is currently the biggest anchor, formerly a Weiners.
The fast food restaurant they're referring to is a KFC. There is also a 2-story Chase bank office building at the corner of I-35 frontage road and 79.

[KevinFromTexas]

For some perspective, Round Rock is only two years younger than Waco.

Waco - founded in 1849. The first city plan was set up that year, but the area had been inhabited since at least 1824 by the Hueco Indians.

San Angelo - founded in 1867.

Round Rock - founded in 1851.

Waco and San Angelo are more prominent because they were their own independent city in their region and weren't affected by another town or city. They grew fast thanks to the railroads. Round Rock grew slower in its early days as a small town on the edge of a big city. Nothing was ever done to focus development centrally or denser since most people in Round Rock didn't want to see the town grow into a city like Austin. But of course as the entire region has grown intensely places like Round Rock were forced to grow. I'm not sure they were expecting to grow as much as they did. Even I'm surprised at how fast it's grown. Its population especially is growing incredibly fast. So with no plans to focus development in a denser, vertical way, it just grew unchecked and ended up growing outward, rather than inward. That's why when you visit Round Rock's downtown area, while it's not dead it's not even the most vibrant area of town and things haven't changed much. Most of the focus on growth has been in other areas of the city. And while the city has grown immensely, none of the focus has been on downtown up until recently. I hope that Round Rock does focus more on its downtown. Cities and towns that don't, lose their old charm and character.

[PartyLine]

True, but Waco and San Angelo are the main city in their areas. Round Rock, while it is a major city in our area, is secondary to Austin.

As for pictures, I'll try to take some in the next week, but the Birds Eye feature of Windows Live Maps shows a great aerial view of the area.

It would look weird though because diagonally across the 79/Mays intersection is an open area of land that's undeveloped/



That's true

[Mopacs]

Here's another rendering, posted by the Austin Business Journal. I suppose this could either be the residential component or possibly a hotel:

http://cll.bizjournals.com/db_image/294207-339.jpg
http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/

[NormalgeNyus]

That new rendering, the building looks just like those new apartment in la fronteria. you would have thought to come up with something new

[jaga185]

How dreary looking, I'm definitely glad they are doing something about it.

[Dragonfire]

There's a new article out about the Citi Centre: http://www.impactnews.com/round-rock-pflugerville/local-news/2481-new-development-on-hwy-79

And here are some renderings/drawings from the article

http://www.impactnews.com/images/stories/RPF/2008/11/01-centre.jpg

This is a nice before and after comparison:
http://www.impactnews.com/images/stories/RPF/2008/11/13-beforeafter.jpg

This is going to be amazing. My only problem like I said before is traffic. It's a nightmare when it's rush hour AND when there's a game at the Dell Diamond.

[Mopacs]

Impressive! Hopefully this development can rise in spite of the economic conditions

http://www.impactnews.com/images/stories/RPF/2008/11/13-vision.jpg

[KevinFromTexas]

Very impressive.