Day 2 Ronald McDonald House is LEED Platinum development. Kent Burris gave us a tour of the project. The Ronald McDonald House provides access and lodging for families who have children in the hospital for $10 a night. Built in 2003, it is the first LEED Platinum building in Austin and was the 3rd in Texas. All water fixtures throughout the building are water efficient, which reduced the water usage by 30%. The building was built specifically to help it reach its long term goal of sustainability. The Ronald McDonald House gets its cold water through a very efficient system from Austin Energy plant. It was built over a portion the old airport and has a LEED rating. The building has no asphalt and light colors to reduce electric cost. Materials are recycled, built for 11 mil, receives funds through fundraising. This is the most energy efficient place I have ever been in. From the building material to the solar powered water faucets, great building and deserving of its certification.
Mueller Central is a 700 acre development over the old Austin Airport. It is a PUD development with great flexibility for use changes of land. The property has 140 acres of parks and looks to restore the original Austin ecosystem. The community development plan was 15 years, 4900 homes including multifamily in the community with about 25% affordable housing. This is redevelopment of land of a brown site.
After lunch, we met with Judy Fort and Sherri Gohart Barron from the Texas Department of Agriculture. They discussed economic development in rural areas in Texas. They informed us of some the rules and incentives given to rural businesses in order to keep businesses gong. Sherri Barron spoke with us in regards to the GO Texan Certified Community Program. Our 2nd stop after lunch was with John Rasatta from the Seaholm Power Plant. The Seaholm Power plant is an interesting redevelopment and reuse of an old electrical powerplant. It has been on hold for the last couple years. The project has an 180 million dollar budget and after it starts it should take about 2 1/2 years to complete. I think the concept is great. I’m just not sure of the efficiency as far as revenue stream and proper use of the area. The concept of the Seaholm Project is to turn the old electric power plant into a mall, green garden, and condos. This property is one of a kind, because unlike many other projects this received city money.
Our last stop in Austin was the Hillcrest Galleria in Bee Cave. Lance Morris the Broker responsible for leasing the retail portion of the development gave us a rundown of the challenges and the future of the property. The significance of this project was that it was built for 160 million and sold for 75 million after foreclosure. At this point about 70% of the retail space is leased, however the owner has had to give several concessions. The problem with leasing some the space in this building was because the crash of the retail market and the community surrounding the property is not large enough to support such massive mall in the area, yet. The office space leasing in the Hillcrest Galleria has went from 3% to 55% in 7 months. With the new leases developing in the project, there does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel.
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