With Stassney Heights, persistence pays off
Austin Business Journal - by Emily Sopensky Special To The Austin Business Journal
Repeatedly, developers approached the out-of-state owners of undeveloped acres sitting adjacent to I-35 in South Austin. Repeatedly, they faced rejection.
Then Trammell Crow Co.'s Chris Ellis took a stab at it, but he did not go to the owners empty-handed. A client, having outgrown its existing location, agreed to be an anchor store at a proposed new retail site. With concept in hand, Ellis approached the owners of the 65-acre jewel, the only undeveloped land between Ben White Boulevard and William Cannon Drive.
Wanting only to purchase and develop the piece on the north side of Stassney Lane, Ellis instead walked away with the whole deal.
And what a deal it is. Stassney Heights Shopping Center, located on the northwest and southwest corners of I-35 and Stassney Lane, is the first new retail development in almost 10 years in South Central Austin.
The completed Phase 1 is anchored by a Lowe's Companies Inc. home improvement center and an Albertson's Inc. grocery store. Other well-known national names are included in Phase 1, such as Office Max, Castle Dental, Supercuts, AT&T Wireless, Blockbuster Video, Mattress Firm, General Nutrition, Eyemart Express, and three restaurants -- Texas Land & Cattle Co., Umi Sushi Bar & Grill and Texadelphia.
Plans for Phase 2 include a 14-screen Act III theater, several restaurants, two hotels and more retail. In total, Stassney Heights is a whopping $18 million, 450,000 square-foot project.
"Getting the land under contract was a challenge. The sellers were very difficult. But timing and a little bit of luck goes a long way," Ellis says.
Ellis also believes that the catalyst was Albertson's willingness to relocate if the land became available. Subsequently, business has increased 30 percent since they relocated.
Lowe's counts the Stassney Heights location as its number one store of the three stores in the Austin area.
Development in South Austin has long been overshadowed by activity in Northwest Austin. It may seem obvious in hindsight that demand for a mixed-use retail area would be pent up, but developers and investors alike have been surprised at the explosion of demand in the area.
"There is a lot more commercial demand than we expected," says Gary Shaw of Gary Shaw Architects, the project's architect.
Another challenge in acquiring the site was a small triangle-shaped piece that had much of the access to the I-35 frontage road. Without it, there would be no project. Once again, the long-time owner, a credit union, was not interested in selling. It took a year of negotiations.
There were other possbily daunting challenges as well. Despite the property's location in a designated City of Austin desired development zone, which is designed to make it easier to work with the city in developing land east of MoPac Expressway, the Stassney Heights project faced many unplanned delays, according to Ellis. Almost two years passed between signing the first contract in early 1998 and Phase 1 establishments opening in late 2000.
Part of the problem with the city may have been related to the unique topology of the site.
Shaw is blunt. "The topo was horrendous. The site fell 50 feet from Stassney Lane to where Lowe's sits," he says. Further, a creek cuts through the property, requiring setbacks.
Phase 2 presents its own unique challenge. It includes a gravesite.
Trammell Crow worked very closely with the Southwest Austin Neighbor-hood Association to spruce up the cemetery, replace the fencing and assist with access issues.
Emily Sopensky is an Austin-based freelance writer.
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