South Lamar could get small skyline where the old Toys-R-Us used to be
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Another major development in Austin is headed to city council next month after the planning commission signed off on the Brodie Oaks proposed planned unit development, or PUD, Tuesday night.
The increasingly empty shopping center near South Lamar and the 360 Loop is in the early stages of becoming a small skyline in south Austin, roughly four decades after it was originally built.
The developer has now passed the boards and commissions necessary to land back on city council's agenda Dec. 1 for the first of three PUD readings.
"This is not the Statesman. We're seeing this real active green space, we're seeing the mixed use, we're seeing open areas, we have three parks," Rich DePalma, who's on the parks board, said earlier this year.
The proposal for the nearly 40-acres, the entire footprint of the current mall area, includes 1,700 hundred residential units, an Imagine Austin Activity Center, three parks and a trailhead for the Barton Creek Greenbelt, according to the developers. The buildings will be capped at 275-feet tall.
"We anticipate somewhere around 200 units of affordable housing here, over 11-acres of public parkland," Rebecca Leonard, the chief executive officer of Lionheart Places LLC, said.
While the development will include hotels and retail space, some of the shops currently in the shopping center are now in limbo, or closing altogether. That's the case for Anna Barr, who owns Anna's Toy Depot.
"I signed a three year lease knowing that it was probably going to be my last three years and now my three years is up. And it's perfect timing because they're developing this place," Barr said.
Similar is the case for Hobby Lobby, which shuffled to a new location, and Texican Cafe, which closed their South Lamar shop. Several others, like Pinthouse Pizza, The Park and Pok-E-Jo's are continuing to operate for the meantime.
"It's been a good spot for me and I've really enjoyed being here but it's just time for me to do something else," Barr said.
Austin City Council is expected to hear the first PUD reading for the development Dec. 1.