The City of Cedar Park is taking steps to ensure that small businesses have access to affordable retail and commercial spaces. The Lakeline Boulevard rehabilitation project is expected to provide a variety of spaces for offices, stores, multi-family homes and hotels when construction is completed in 2013. This project will offer affordable commercial space combined with its market-rate commercial uses, including a brewery, restaurants and a “creative space” focused on creativity, along with approximately 500,000 square feet of office space and 370 or more apartments on a multi-building campus designed by Michael Hsu's Office of Architecture. The Bell District is a public-private partnership between the City of Cedar Park and lead developer RedLeaf. Velocity is a major mixed-use development project in southeast Austin that is located between Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and the Circuit of the Americas.
The Brodie Oaks shopping mall, at the intersection of Loop 360 and South Lamar in South Austin, could be transformed into a mixed-use project. Costco is the main hub of the Cedar Park Town Center project, which has 150,000 additional retail and restaurant spaces, including In-N-Out Burger, BJ's Restaurant and Brewery, Chipotle Grill, Zoe's Kitchen, Jersey Mike's and At Home. When construction is complete, the project will include The Chase Uptown, One and Two Skyrise and six other projects that will generate 3.2 million square feet of office space, 600,000 square feet of retail and hospitality space and 2.9 million square feet of multifamily space. River Park, located on East Riverside Drive, is one of many upcoming mixed-use projects in Austin that is hoping to introduce a new community benefit that can serve as a model for future projects. This includes 10,000 square feet of affordable commercial space offered at 60 percent of market rent to small local businesses focused on the arts identified by a partnership with the Austin Creative Alliance. As Austin continues to grow rapidly with more projects expected to begin construction or be announced soon, it is important to consider the availability of affordable retail or commercial space as part of these projects. The City of Cedar Park has already taken steps towards this goal with its Lakeline Boulevard rehabilitation project.
Additionally, River Park is offering 10,000 square feet of affordable commercial space at 60 percent of market rent to small local businesses focused on the arts. These initiatives are an important step towards providing more affordable retail or commercial space in Cedar Park. By continuing to prioritize this goal in upcoming projects, Cedar Park can ensure that small businesses have access to affordable spaces that can help them thrive.
