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Mixed-Use Project Planned Near Apple’s New Austin Campus Clears Permitting Hurdle

CoStar News

December 11, 2020

By Marissa Luck

Accesso Plans Expansion, Conversion of Existing Northwest Office Campus

A Florida developer is moving forward with plans to convert a 129-acre office campus in northwest Austin, Texas, into a sprawling mixed-use development in the rapidly changing area near Apple’s $1 billion campus that is under construction.

The Austin City Council approved a zoning request to allow developer Accesso Partners to expand an existing office campus at 7700 W. Parmer Lane into a mixed-use lifestyle community with multifamily, retail, office and hospitality components.

The existing campus has 911,754 square feet of office buildings with tenants such as online marketplace eBay, video game developer Electronic Arts and global accounting firm Deloitte, according to CoStar records. Thursday’s city council approval will allow Accesso to add apartments, retail and more commercial space to the property that previously was limited to 1.75 million square feet, according to city documents.

Accesso is planning to add 1,800 multifamily units, 80,000 square feet of retail, 800,000 square feet of office and a 340-room hotel, according to a Dec. 10 announcement. At full build-out, the project could have up to 1.7 million square feet of office space once the expansion is complete. The project is adjacent to where Apple is building its new campus that’s expected to house at least 5,000 employees at 6900 W. Parmer Lane.

“Northwest Austin — traditionally a suburban area of the city — is now home to many of the world’s biggest names in tech, which has created strong demand for the types of housing, recreation and hospitality assets that draw top talent,” Marc Bellet, director of asset management and national director of development for Accesso, said in a statement. “Between Apple’s upcoming campus and the master-planned development that is expected to take shape on the 7,000-acre Robinson Ranch, we believe we are at the forefront of a transformation that will create a world-class destination, serving as a vital cornerstone of the community.”

The existing campus already has a 540-seat food hall, an auditorium, an on-site preschool, a day care center, a full-service fitness center, an outdoor running trail, volleyball courts and outdoor basketball courts.

Accesso expects to receive its site development permit for the office buildings, parking garages and retail by early to mid-2021, a spokesman said in an email. The company wouldn’t start construction until it completes some preleasing because it doesn’t want to build without a tenant with “the uncertainty in the market,” the spokesman said. Studio8 is the architect for the retail and office portions of the project.

Accesso expects to start planning the multifamily portion within the next year, but there is no timeline on the project. The firm would partner with a multifamily developer to build the apartment project.

The projects will be a big boost to the far northwest office market, a midsize market with just about 4.9 million square feet of office space and a vacancy rate of 8.4%, lower than the citywide average of 12.3%, according to CoStar data. On the multifamily side, the project will infuse new apartments into an area dominated by older assets where there are no major apartment projects under construction, according to CoStar analysts.

“As the city continues to grow, adding multifamily, retail and hotel services around office nodes makes sense,” David Putman, a principal at Aquila Commercial who serves as the office leasing agent for 7700 Parmer, said in a statement. “With more than 900,000 square feet of office on the ground and 800,000 square feet planned, expanding 7700 Parmer to provide housing and services for over 12,000 employees between the 7700 Parmer and Apple office campuses will reduce commute times and allow people to live closer to where they work.”