A plan that looks to combine housing, retail, restaurants and assorted cultural facilities has received an important vote of support in the effort to redevelop two signature blocks of East Austin. On Monday, the Urban Renewal Board voted 4-1 to recommend the Pleasant Hill Collaborative development plan to City Council as the preferred package for […]
City of Austin Urban Renewal Board
The body charged with oversight of, according to its web site, “the implementation and compliance of approved Urban Renewal Plans that are adopted by the Austin City Council.”
Posted inPlanning
Feedback fueling progress on redevelopment of blocks 16 and 18 downtown
Residents along the eastern edge of downtown Austin have had many, many opportunities through the years to share their thoughts about how the city should redevelop two blocks on East 11th Street, with not a lot to show for it. But leaders of the new quasi-governmental body leading the development process now insist change is […]
Posted inCity Hall
Urban Renewal Board extended for just nine months
City Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison expressed serious reservations about the need to continue Austin’s Urban Renewal Agency and its board during Wednesday’s Council work session and again at Thursday’s Council meeting. In the end, she convinced her colleagues to extend the life of the Urban Renewal Board for just nine months, instead of the 12 […]
Posted inPlanning
City working to align development standards on East 11th Street corridor
Development in Austin is anything but straightforward. That’s especially true on East 11th Street, where efforts to transform blighted neighborhoods into a vibrant downtown gateway are governed both by the Urban Renewal Plan and the Neighborhood Conservation Combining District. According to Jana McCann, a principal at McCann Adams Studio who spoke to the Urban Renewal […]
Posted inPreservation
City may initiate demolition-by-neglect case in effort to save I.Q. Hurdle House
For several years, one North Texas company has been stealthily purchasing properties along East 12th Street and now owns nearly four dozen properties between Interstate 35 and Walnut Avenue, according to Travis County property records. One of those properties happens to be the I.Q. Hurdle House at 1416 E. 12th St. Just over three years […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Politics
Council debates confidentiality of East 12th Street property sale
At Tuesday’s work session, Council Member Bill Spelman dove back into the issue of confidentiality in relation to a pending sale of land by the city’s Urban Renewal Board. Council members, who have limited options other than a straight thumbs-up or down over the purchase, postponed a vote on the matter last Thursday pending more […]