A view of the Great Hills Market shopping center. Image: Trademark Property Company
Demolition permits are now pending with the City of Austin for two buildings inside the Great Hills Market shopping center, a 17.23-acre strip mall dating back to the late 1980s located between Jollyville Road, Great Hills Trail, and Research Boulevard near U.S. Highway 183. The sites set for demolition are the former Romano’s Macaroni Grill at the southeast corner of the center, and the closed Regal Arbor movie theater, which occupies a large separate building behind the center’s main retail strip. This would leave the majority of the site’s current retail still standing, with the two vacant buildings set to be demolished down to their respective slabs and fenced off.
You don’t typically do something like that without a plan in mind for what comes next, but the sense of urgency here is perhaps explained by the permit application, stating that the demolition “will prevent further unauthorized occupancy and associated risks to the surrounding property owners and general public.” Anybody want to fess up to living in the old movie theater? It’s not like anyone’s used it since 2022.
A site plan for the demolitions proposed at the Great Hills Market property, which also seems to confirm that the heritage oak in front of the movie theater isn’t going anywhere. Image: WGI
The site is owned by an entity associated with Chicago-based real estate investment group Heitman, and the demolition permits for the site filed by local engineering firm WGI are linked with Fort Worth real estate outfit Trademark Property Company, who had no announcements to share on the future of the Great Hills Market property.
Still, it’s worth noting that this whole center secured a vertical mixed-use rezoning from the city back in 2018, with plans for a full redevelopment including 372 apartments and more than 25,000 square feet of retail. The news in 2019 that one of the property’s tenants, Manuel’s Mexican Restaurant, had extended its lease until 2025 seemed to put those plans to bed — but believe it or not, that was five years ago and it’s 2024 now. With these demolitions pending, it’s certainly possible that a redevelopment plan for this shopping center is about to appear once again.
A rendering of the Alloy apartment project nearing completion at a former bank branch site directly north of the Great Hills market property at 10400 Research Boulevard. Image: Slate
These demolitions won’t be the only visible signs of change recently planned in this part of town, which has looked largely the same since I was a kid here in the ’90s — just north of the Great Hills Market site, the Alloy Apartments are nearing completion atop the former site of a Wells Fargo bank branch at 10400 Research Boulevard, a strikingly modern addition to this relatively sleepy pocket of the city by Houston-based developers Slate Real Estate Partners.
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Although the retail centers in this area don’t have the generous zoning allowances of the nearby North Burnet / Gateway planning region, they are just as likely to pursue their own Brodie Oaksifications as the general area follows the Domain’s lead. Since this is my childhood neighborhood, I can really say “Yes, In My Backyard” with my chest about any project trying to claw back some life from the oceans of surface parking that currently define most of Northwest Austin’s public spaces. We oughta keep the Arboretum, though — I sure do love those cows, by golly.
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