Sometime in the next 18 to 24 months, construction will start on a new downtown square for Leander to host concerts, festivals, movies in the park, farmers markets and other events, said a developer.
It will be part of a 115-acre, mixed-use project called Northline that will begin construction next week, said Alex Tynberg, the project’s developer.
Northline, which will be between Austin Community College’s San Gabriel campus and St. David’s Hospital, will include shopping, dining, entertainment, apartments, a hotel, offices and townhomes. The project is about ⅛ of a mile from the Capital Metro rail line stop.
“This could provide a new downtown for Leander,” said Mayor Troy Hill.
Leander also may consider building a new City Hall at Northline, Hill said, but that decision would have to be approved by voters.
The city of more than 60,000 residents has very little restaurant or retail development, and most people go to Cedar Park to shop, officials have said.
“Every town is wanting to do their own version of the Domain,” Hill said. “What makes ours (Northline) different is that we have the transportation hub right here.
People from Austin can ride the MetroRail to get to entertainment at Northline, he said.
Tynberg said it will be “a super friendly family destination.”
“It will be akin to a downtown where you have all the offerings of a downtown district.”
Tynberg said the first phase of construction, estimated to last 18-24 months and scheduled to begin March 4, will include infrastructure such as roads and utilities, as well as the start of construction of a town square, an estimated 350 apartments, a few office buildings and some kind of entertainment.
The entertainment could include an opportunity for movie theaters. It is estimated to be completed in September 2021.
The town square will include a stage, a green space, a pavilion, a children’s play area with a water feature and plenty of benches, he said. The goal is to “really make it a heartbeat hub for the entire community,” Tynberg said.
When the project is built out over the next 10 to 15 years, it is planned to have 300,000 square feet of retail space, more than 700,000 square feet of office space, 150,000 square feet of hotel space, 2,000 apartments and 300 townhomes.
The city is providing $9.54 million to pay for infrastructure, including streets, utilities and parks for the first phase of the project, said spokesman Mike Neu. Northline Leander Development Company is paying $3.87 million for phase one infrastructure, he said.
The city also has a development agreement that Leander will be reimbursed for the infrastructure costs up to $15 million through a tax increment reinvestment zone, he said. Northline Leander Development Company also will be reimbursed through the zone for infrastructure costs up to $12.5 million.
A study done for Leander in 2018 by a company called Urban3 estimated the value of the project at $733 million.
The annual property tax revenue could equal about $4.3 million based on the city’s current tax rate of 54.1 cents per $100 valuation when the project is finished, the release said.
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