Austin Business Journal
December 11, 2020
By Kathryn Hardison
New office tower on South Lamar on horizon, too
Several recently approved rezoning cases will pave the way for large developments, mainly in North Austin.
Austin City Council considered dozens of rezoning requests at its Dec. 10 meeting — the last of the calendar year — and endorsed a handful that will lead to additional office, residential, commercial and hospital space across the city.
Here are a few rezoning cases that stood out.
7700 Parmer
Council rezoned 129 acres at the 7700 Parmer business park in North Austin, less than one mile away from Apple’s future $1 billion campus. The owner of 7700 Parmer plans to give its parking lots a massive makeover.
Accesso Partners LLC, a Hallandale Beach, Florida-based real estate investment firm, plans to redevelop surface parking into 1,800 multifamily units, a 340-room hotel and 80,000 square feet of retail space. It’s also planning to add another 800,000 square feet of office space to the business park that already has 911,000 square feet of office space, according to an announcement.
The business park is already home to tenants Google Inc., Paypal Inc., eBay Inc., Deloitte, Electronic Arts Inc. and Polycom Inc.
“Austin has become a true tech hub and continued to lead the country in population and job growth,” Marc Bellet, national director of development and director of asset management for Accesso, said in a statement. “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.
“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.”
Samsung
Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLC purchased roughly 258 acres in late October around its massive chip fabrication plant off East Parmer Lane. The rezoning requests that Council approved indicate the land could one day be used for expansion, although there are no imminent plans, officials previously told Austin Business Journal.
Council approved the rezoning of 205 acres near the campus in Northeast Austin. Samsung, which established an Austin presence in 1996 and opened its first fabrication plant in 1997, wanted the land to the west, south and east of its campus to be rezoned to planned development areas, which would give the company flexibility on build-out options.
Dell Children’s North Austin campus
Four rezoning cases that were approved cleared nearly 25 acres for a $191 million children’s hospital just a few miles away from 7700 Parmer and Apple’s new campus.
As part of its latest expansion plan, Dell Children’s Medical Center will build a second campus in Austin, this one along Avery Ranch Boulevard near Lakeline Mall.
The children’s hospital is expected to have 36 beds. It will include emergency and trauma services, a pair of operating rooms, endoscopy and procedure rooms, sleep labs and extra space for future growth. There will also be a 60,000-square-foot medical office and free parking.
218 S. Lamar Blvd.
Council approved the rezoning of a 1.2-acre site at 218 S. Lamar Blvd. to a planned unit development, which will allow developer Generational Commercial Properties to exceed a 60-foot height limit for its 96-foot office tower on the site of a closed Schlotzsky’s restaurant.
The 190,000-square-foot project has been in the pipeline for several years now — reports first surfaced in 2018 — and ran into opposition from the Zilker Neighborhood Association.
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