City Approves Plan for Second Downtown

The Austin City Council today approved the first phase of a plan to create a second “downtown” urban center in the region of north Austin near Braker and Mopac — essentially the area surrounding the domain. As we have reported in the past, between now and 2015, one developer alone plans to build 50 new buildings with heights ranging from 2-26 stories (as tall as 310 feet). When complete, The Domain will form a second Austin “downtown” with as many as 82,000 residents and 50,000 daytime workers. To put these numbers in context, Mayor Will Wynn has working hard towards a big goal: getting 25,000 people to live in the real downtown by 2015, the same timeframe.

Here is the summary from the Austin Business Journal:

Austin’s City Council gave final approval of phase 1 of the North Burnet/Gateway master land use plan, which will create a so-called second downtown in the area around the Domain luxury shopping center by 2035.The North Burnet/Gateway plan’s vision is to ultimately create clusters of dense, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods in the 2,300-acre area north of U.S. 183 bounded by Walnut Creek, Metric Boulevard, Braker Lane and MoPac Expressway.The final plan will allow developers to build denser than anywhere outside of downtown, as high as 15 stories or 180 feet, and up to 30 stories or 360 feet in areas closest to planned commuter rail stops.Phase 1 immediately designates a zoning overlay district in the area to allow vertical mixed uses and other urban design elements, and to preclude interim development not in concert with the plan.A draft plan of Phase 2 — outlining ordinances implementing the plan — is expected in six months, says Molly Scarbrough, a city senior planner. Final approval for the entire plan is expected in a year.