A view of the Riverside Place shopping center. Image: Bridgepoint Real Estate
A demolition permit filed with the city nearly a year ago for the Riverside Place shopping center at 2410 East Riverside Drive was finally approved this week, another sign that the 10-acre strip center’s redevelopment by owners Endeavor Real Estate Group are slowly moving forward. Endeavor, which purchased the property in 2019, has not yet publicly acknowledged any plans for the shopping center, and the finer points of the project and its anticipated development timeline remain unclear.
Riverside Place Could Be Austin’s Next Big Strip Mall Redevelopment
Even without explicit details, it’s reasonable to expect that the transformation of Riverside Place will look a lot like other strip mall flips currently planned all over the city at legacy retail center properties like Twin Oaks, Anderson Square, and of course Brodie Oaks — with this large site to work with, Endeavor could create a mixed-use community with residential and commercial uses in the same vein as its Saltillo project or the pending redevelopment of the Borden Dairy plant in East Austin.
What makes the Riverside Place center more attractive for redevelopment than most shopping centers of its type is its direct proximity to the future home of the Riverside/Pleasant Valley light rail station anticipated as part of Project Connect, the eastern edge of its property line located only a few hundred feet from the grassy median of East Riverside Drive’s intersection with Pleasant Valley Road where planning documents show the new station’s construction. Considering that Project Connect’s current timeline has the system up and running no earlier than 2033 — assuming the whole thing isn’t completely derailed by the state government first — Endeavor is clearly thinking a few moves ahead with this particular property.
An aerial view of the Riverside Place site in context with its surroundings — that grassy median where East Riverside Drive splits is where Project Connect has plans to build a light rail station near Pleasant Valley Road. Image: HFF
The permit for the Riverside Place demolition was filed by engineering firm GarzaEMC on behalf of Endeavor, and although documentation included with these existing permits for the site describes the construction of wastewater infrastructure and other improvements to accommodate anticipated future development, the details of Endeavor’s plans for the site have yet to be revealed in public documents. In the context of the city’s ongoing development slowdown, it’s probably wise not to expect any new project here to take shape immediately, even if demolition does move forward at the site. For what it’s worth, the permit now approved and released by the City of Austin for Riverside Place’s demolition doesn’t expire until 2027.
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