The yearslong vision has been fueled by development momentum and zoning and land use amendments that have allowed developers to propose taller and denser projects in the district, bringing more mixed-use developments focused around multifamily units, office and retail space, and transportation.
Interest from public and private investors following completed projects such as Q2 Stadium, CapMetro’s McKalla Station and parts of Uptown ATX are redeveloping NBG from being a primarily industrial and warehouse district, said Jorge Rousselin, head of Austin Planning Department’s Urban Design Division.
“The council and the planning commission have been keenly tuned in to the recent market changes ... to hopefully diversify this into increasing housing density, offices, vibrant storefronts, retail businesses, [and] a lot of pedestrian activity,” Rousselin said.
The overview
City planners, backed by Austin City Council, have made amendments over the years to the NBG Regulating Plan—which was adopted in 2009 and enforces NBG’s zoning codes—to accommodate more mixed-use developments, higher housing densities and improved transit options.
These amendments have helped mixed-use development Uptown ATX off Burnet Road deliver 348,000 square feet of office space at One Uptown and 341 multifamily units at Solaris House, with more office, residential, retail and hospitality uses slated to deliver into 2028.
City documents show other proposed NBG developments, such as tracts off Stonehollow Drive and Kramer Lane, could also bring hundreds of multifamily units to the district under the updated amendments.
Representatives for Verde Square, an office, residential, hotel and entertainment development slated to be built west of Q2 Stadium but that has faced delays, did not immediately respond to requests for comment for a status update.
Development patterns have “changed significantly over the last 10 to 15 years,” Rousselin said, which has influenced the council to increase zoning entitlements to incentivize this type of redevelopment in exchange for community benefits such as affordable housing.
“This land that was once low-rise warehouse [and] industrial is being cleaned up and redeveloped,” Rousselin said. “... We can see how when you couple policy changes and facilitate incentivizing development, it gives developers an added benefit to consider when they're trying to develop property within Austin.”
How it works
NBG has subdistricts that identify how land can be used—such as for residential, commercial or industrial—and places standards on design, building heights and the floor-to-area ratio, or FAR, Rousselin said.
Austin City Council has made various amendments to the regulating plan over the years to allow more mixed-use developments to be built in certain subdistricts, including:
- Increasing the FAR, or a building's density, to 12:1 in some subdistricts
- Increasing maximum building heights to 491 feet in some subdistricts
- Creating commercial-mixed use and research and sciences subdistricts
- Removing square-footage limitations on retail space with multiple small businesses
- Permitting outdoor recreation planning uses
CapMetro officials are incorporating transit-oriented development, or TOD, through the metro rail Red Line, which runs through NBG.
The agency is working on double tracking along the Red Line, or adding an additional set of tracks to increase operational flexibility, said Sharmila Mukherjee, executive vice president and chief strategic planning and development officer at CapMetro.
Broadmoor, Red Line’s newest station, is also slated to open within the next couple of years and will be embedded within the Uptown ATX development.
“We are trying to put more capacity [on the] Red Line so we can match the growth of North Burnet/Gateway and North Austin,” Mukherjee said.
Beyond rail infrastructure, the agency is also developing a roadmap for developers on building around transit based on a project’s size, location and proximity to frequent transit routes, Mukherjee said.
“The whole purpose of having a subdistrict that is transient-oriented ... is to facilitate increases in [building] height and density closer to where you have mass transit options,” Rousselin said. “That’s by design, so that we can encourage a robust transportation system that would be able to connect users to those mass transit options.”
The features
People are looking for additional opportunities to live, work and play, said former 10-year District 7 council member Leslie Pool, and city officials are focused on ensuring NBG has enough residential space to accomplish this, “be it apartment, townhome, condo or single-family homes.”
“I expect to see more residential and commercial kind of filtering in the mile between [Broadmoor Station] and [McKalla Station],” Pool said.
In some NBG subdistricts, a developer can only reach the increased building heights and FAR if they participate in Austin’s development bonus program, Rousselin said, which requires setting aside a certain number of affordable units—usually about 10%.
“As urbanists, we tend to think affordable housing is important, but you also need the infrastructure system around the affordable housing to make a place livable,” Rousselin said. “Great sidewalks, trail connections, parks, open spaces.”
CapMetro is working with city officials and developers on trail-to-rail and BikeShare connections within NBG, which Mukherjee said currently has “moderate demand” in The Domain area but is anticipated to increase as Broadmoor Station and other developments come online.
“We're making sure as we discuss with the developers what their plans are [that] we are very mindful of the fact that we have a unique moment in time ... to be able to impact change,” Mukherjee said.
Although adopted in 2006, the district’s 2035 Master Plan continues to provide framework for development in the area and anticipates it could accommodate:
- 4 million-5 million square feet of retail space
- 5 million-6 million square feet of industrial warehouse space
- 12 million-13 million square feet of office and commercial space
- 3,000-4,000 hotel rooms
- 40,000 residential units
Supporting mobility, connectivity and affordable housing are top priorities for District 7, and NBG is a “key area for development” in the district, officials representing council member Mike Siegel said in a statement to Community Impact.
Pool said opportunity within NBG has created an influx of developers seeking out the area.
“It wasn't, ‘Build it and they will come,’” Pool said. “They were coming. We needed to give them the tools to build at the level that they wanted.”
Quote of note
“There are no successful cities anywhere that don’t find ways to renew themselves," Pool said. "... You find that adjustment and adaptation in all kinds of different ways."
Going forward
Areas like NBG tend to go through a long-term transformation that is often reactive to the peaks and lows of the real estate market, Rousselin said.
“Legislating development often doesn't come to fruition because it's always, always based on the market,” Rousselin said. “... I believe you're going to continue seeing a great interest in this area as it continues to transform over the next one or two decades.”
As the district continues to develop, officials say they are continuing community engagement efforts through stakeholder and town hall meetings, block walking and digital campaigns.
“Nobody wants to be at a point where you're at a public hearing only to hear from surrounding property owners or developers that a certain proposal won't work,” Rousselin said. “It's one thing to design these standards, and it's another thing to implement and execute them. That's why we depend on community stakeholders and subject matter experts to be able to guide us.”
Rousselin also said NBG’s regulating plan could see further amendments as the area continues to grow.
“In the planning world, nothing is set in stone,” Rousselin said. “Every major city that enjoys the tremendous influx of residents has to stay current in some of these land-use and specific district regulations to be able to keep up with the demand of, for example, new housing interest.”
