Brodie Oaks PUD wins second-round approval

City Council last week gave its blessing to the Brodie Oaks Redevelopment Planned Unit Development on second reading and set third reading for July 20.

Council Member Ryan Alter, whose District 5 includes the sprawling shopping center, wrote on the City Council Message Board that he had been “deeply engaged with the applicant and staff” to resolve remaining issues. Developer Barshop & Oles proposes to provide 1.2 million square feet of office space, 140,000 square feet of retail, 1,700 residential units and a 200-room hotel on the property.

Specifically, the developer proposes approximately 1,233 mid-rise multifamily residential units, 467 high-rise dwelling units (up to 275 feet tall), 1.26 million square feet of office space, 200 hotel rooms, and 140,000 square feet of retail and restaurant uses located along private streets with public access easements, according to a staff report.

Alter outlined his motion for approval, starting with the fact that the developer would dedicate 11.6 acres of parkland.

Lionstone Investments and LCFRE Austin Brodie Oaks LLC filed the PUD zoning application on Dec. 21, 2021, for the 37.61-acre site on the northeast corner of Capital of Texas Highway and South Lamar Boulevard. Council gave its initial approval last December, but some issues still remain. Armbrust & Brown are also representing the applicant, but none of its attorneys spoke at Thursday’s meeting.

Planner Rebecca Leonard of Lionheart Places represented the applicant, providing a detailed overview of plans for the property, which is now scheduled to be completed in 2026 or 2027.

According to the staff report, the developer has worked with the Austin Fire Department and Austin-Travis County EMS to provide a new fire and EMS station to serve the new development and the surrounding area. “The fire and EMS station will be located within a mixed-use building and provide better access to the Barton Creek Greenbelt including the potential for search and rescue staging areas,” the report states.

However, the developer has yet to reach agreement with Austin Energy about where to locate its substation. Staff reported, “Austin Energy has requested that the Applicant dedicate a 1.5 acre site for an above-ground, gas insulated substation on the Property in order to address load capacity limitations in the existing area.”

Attorney David Armbrust told the Austin Monitor on Monday that the developer had agreed to locate the substation on the site if Austin Energy cannot find a suitable location nearby. “They’ve been very cooperative about trying to minimize the disturbance on the site,” Armbrust said.

The report states that “the project will capture and beneficially reuse all rooftop rainwater from the water quality event for beneficial use in cooling towers and traditional landscape irrigation. The building will provide low-flow and efficient fixtures to reduce demand beyond minimum requirements in the Austin Energy Green Building star rating system.”

When the PUD is completed, impervious cover will be reduced from 84 percent to 54 percent, complying with water quality standards under the city’s Save Our Springs Ordinance, according to staff report. In addition, the new project will eliminate nearly 4 acres of untreated runoff from buildings and parking currently draining directly into the Barton Creek Greenbelt. However, an amendment to the SOS Ordinance is still required because the impervious cover level is higher than what is allowed by it.

The applicant proposes to restore more than 25 percent of the site to open space adjacent to the Barton Creek Greenbelt and in return is asking to build up to 275 feet tall along the Loop 360 and South Lamar Boulevard frontage.

Greg Anderson, who works for Habitat for Humanity and serves on the Planning Commission, urged Council to move forward with the new zoning. Anderson said he was appearing on behalf of the hundreds of people who will live at the refurbished Brodie Oaks in the future. He said those future residents are not aware that they will have that opportunity, but that the city needs to move forward with more housing, which the developers are promising.

Bill Bunch of the SOS Alliance complained about the proposed height and about a provision in the ordinance that would allow the property owner to close off the center portion of the project for up to 60 days a year. Leonard said that the portion to be closed would be the park that the developer is creating, not part of the Barton Creek Greenbelt. In addition, Bunch and Roy Waley, conservation chair of the Sierra Club, both complained that the developer was not providing enough parkland.

According to Alter’s motion, “Any shortfall in funding for development of the parkland, including those costs associated with off-site trail construction and maintenance related to the (Balcones Canyonlands Preserve) Trail Master Plan permit, may be funded by landowner or another mechanism including a public improvement district (PID).”

Photo caption: A conceptual rendering of the project shows green space along Barton Creek and buildings stepping up in height toward Loop 360, via the city of Austin. This story has been changed since publication to clarify the substation location issue.

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Posted In: Planning, District 5