Site work, paving and new construction of a mixed-use development in Austin, Texas. Design plans call for the construction of a 700,000-square-foot conference / convention center.

https://www.spartnerships.com/newsletter/2024/tgi-07-26-2024/texas-government-insider-07-26-2024.html The proposed budget will invest in initiatives such as affordable, equitable housing and resilient, sustainable city services. In addition, the budget will support long-term projects such as expanding the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, redeveloping the Austin Convention Center and strengthening critical mobility and utility infrastructure. _____________________________________________________________ https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2024/05/08/sxsw-austin-expansion-london.html However, the future location in Austin for the festival is uncertain, as the Convention Center is set to be rebuilt for an expansion project starting after SXSW 2025 concludes in the Capital City. _____________________________________________________________________________________ https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2024/03/28/greenport-airport-emerald-island-austin-bastrop.html Mar 28, 2024 Stephen Carpenter leans over the dining room table in a brick townhome that overlooks the Bastrop County countryside and unrolls a series of maps. Over the course of the next two hours, he powers his way through his family's schematics for the long-awaited Greenport Airport -- planned for decades to be built on the field outside -- and for Emerald Island, a city-like development that would be located a few miles west down Farm to Market Road 969. Ultimately, the projects could represent at least $19 billion in investment through tourist attractions, business campuses, housing and much, much more on thousands of acres of what's now agricultural land east of downtown Austin. The 5,426-acre Greenport campus could become a $10 billion mixed-use aviation and technology park for private flights, high-tech research, energy storage and data centers. The $8.7 billion resort "mini-city" called Emerald Island, pegged for roughly 1,000 acres, could include resort casinos, hotels, entertainment hubs, retailers and restaurants. The words Carpenter uses sound more like they were pulled from a script of The Jetsons than a development plan: Electrical vertical take-off and landing aircrafts. Ferris wheel hotel. Autonomous fire detection. Hydroponic lagoons. Underground data centers. That's only a tiny sliver of his aspirations, and Carpenter is keenly aware of how crazy he sounds. The city he envisions has been described as a mix of Las Vegas, Disney World, Nashville and Venice, Italy. It's depicted in a series of artificial intelligence-enhanced renderings that are decades of their time. VIEW SLIDESHOW 13 photos Greenport Stationexpand Greenport Vertiportexpand Greenport Towerexpand Emerald Island Wave & Wheel Hotelexpand Emerald Island River & Gardensexpand Emerald Island Skyline & Stadiumexpand Greenport Industriesexpand Renderings released in March 2024 show a grand plan. "There was a quote ... 'Dreamers are only crazy until they make it a reality,'" said Carpenter, president of Austin-based Carpenter & Associates LLC. "Nothing that we're doing is crazy. Building an airport has been shown to be profitable, globally. Building a global destination and entertainment city has been proven to be profitable." Whether the Carpenters are indeed crazy depends on who you ask. People they are working with are inspired. Developers nearby are curious. And Bastrop County neighbors are concerned about the potential for harm to their stretch of the Colorado River. Map: This interactive map shows the Carpenters' land holdings east of Austin earmarked for the Emerald Island development, left, and the Greenport Airport, right. But one thing that's no longer in question: activity. Greenport's first buildings have risen north of FM 969 and are occupied by bitcoin miners and data centers. Other elements at both sites are shovel ready and could come together by the end of the year. The Carpenters contend they have a dozen letters of intent for tenants and developers at both sites and many more on the way. The company hosted more than 100 people at public exhibitions both on-site and at the recent South by Southwest festival. After all these years, Carpenter said the perception has changed. It was tougher to sell the ideas a decade ago, but with the area's growth and innovation -- largely buoyed by Elon Musk's Tesla Inc., The Boring Co. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. campuses nearby -- they're no longer viewed as pipe dreams. Companies, investors and government officials are listening, he said. "My goal is to change the world through real estate development, and these will singlehandedly be the most-profitable and eco-friendly city and airport that has ever been built in the history of humanity," Carpenter said. Stephen Carpenterexpand Stephen Carpenter stands in front of the future site of the long-proposed Greenport Airport in Bastrop County. JUSTIN SAYERS/AUSTIN BUSINESS JOURNAL There's no doubt that's a lofty declaration. But even if a small portion of it comes to fruition, it will transform what many view as the metro's last untouched frontier. In addition to an airport, there could potentially be thousands of jobs, millions in tax revenue and amenities unlike anything else in the region -- or maybe the world. "I think you have to be a little crazy to be a real estate developer to begin with," said Pete Dwyer, president of Austin-based Dwyer Realty Cos. Inc., which has been active on the east side of Austin. "I think time heals all kinds of things and they've been out there at it for a long time. ... With all of the Musk companies moving out to Bastrop, there's still a lot of green land between Elgin and Bastrop and Manor and Bastrop, so that's going to be a node if Carpenter gets it all going." However, others don't see the potential utopia Carpenter envisions. Years ago, the airport project was the first in a wave of possible development that neighbors deemed incongruous in an area that prides itself on scenic views and a well-kept stretch of the river. While they've long expected growth to come their way, they're aiming for more input to help devise plans that satisfy longtime residents and developers alike. Carl Altman-Kaough has lived for more than three decades on four acres upstream between the Greenport and Emerald Island sites. He was among those who protested the proposed airport years ago. Now, he said, the "zombie airport" appears to be rising once again, prompting neighbors to mobilize. He had one reaction: "Here we go again -- again and again." 'Mind's blown' When Carpenter talked about the projects, he cautioned that there's plenty going on behind the scenes he can't disclose yet. But the names, terms, ideas and companies he does mention -- JPMorgan Chase & Co., Musk, Caesars Entertainment Inc., World Trade Center, Jerry Jones and AT&T Stadium -- are intriguing enough. Emerald Island, for which a trademark application was filed in April 2021, includes plans for a 500-room "wave hotel" with an observation wheel, a 50-acre lagoon, millions of square feet of convention center space and an 80,000-seat stadium that Carpenter said would rival Jerry Jones' AT&T Stadium near Dallas. But what developers are most excited about is that every asset will be able to generate its own energy, collect its own water and generate its own food -- almost every building will have crops and farms, and the rivers will have fish. The titles Carpenter lists for himself are indicative of the number of moving parts. He's managing director, chief technology officer and chief information officer of the airport. He's the CEO of Greenport Data Center LLC and Greenport Communications LLC, and he's the co-owner and co-developer of Emerald Island along with his dad, Jim. The family has been working on the projects since 2004 and is so committed that Stephen Carpenter contends none of them have taken a salary for the projects. He's worked jobs in tech support and quality assurance for a stretch to make ends meet. The economic development potential that they see in this pocket of Austin was validated by Musk, who Carpenter said approached them about potentially buying their land. Musk eventually bought and built around the corner, part of his growing empire on the east side of the metro. "The second they landed here, we were the smartest people in the world because this is a new downtown less than a mile from Tesla," Carpenter said. Carpenter said they are seeking $2 billion from investors for each project, and construction is expected to come together afterward. The plan is to build out the technology campus and use revenue from it to help fund other parts of the project. That has already started with the bitcoin mining centers that are up and running. Jeff DeCoux, founder and chairman of the Autonomy Institute, who is planning to lease hundreds of acres for his advanced technology research organization at the Greenport site, said that having the initial pieces operating has gone a long way toward selling the wider dreams. "People go to the ranch house and they don't have an appreciation of anything going on," DeCoux said. "Until people see the substation, they don't understand that there is real stuff -- otherwise it's just someone's home with some plans" for it. Felix Zayas, chief security officer for both projects and a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, said it's been inspiring to be a part of something he views as moving the needle in critical ways that serve the nation while being at the forefront of technology. "I literally think it was a vision ahead of its time. We were not ready to have everything converge," said Zayas, who has been involved in the project since 2015. "Now everything is at a place where it can converge: the technology, the land, the politics, the capital, the relationships. Now is the right time." On a project of this size, how to pay for it is always a question. Carpenter said proponents are aided by the fact that it's located within the borders of the SH130 Municipal Management District No. 1, a political entity established by the Texas Legislature in 2019 to help fund services and improvements to the area. The district has been ensnared in the overall controversy of the Public Facilities Corporation Program, which is intended to incentivize workforce and affordable housing by allowing developers to remove properties from tax rolls for large periods at a time. That program underwent significant reforms during the last legislative session, like limiting those time periods and disallowing developers from removing properties outside of their jurisdiction -- a practice employed by the SH130 Municipal Management District No. 1. Still, Carpenter lauded the district as a plus because it would allow the developers to essentially operate the project as its own city -- writing development codes, setting tax rates, issuing bonds and more. That has been a big sell because it would circumvent the bureaucracies that often slow other projects. "If you're in real estate and you come and meet with us, and we tell you what we can do, your mind's blown," he said. "If you're in Texas, OK, you get it. If you're in every other state, like people who come here from California, they don't understand that we can do what we can do." The project has caught the eye of public and government officials. They've toured the facilities, and Carpenter hinted about high-security research potentially being done on the site in the future. The county recently dissolved a long-standing Chapter 381 incentives agreement for the project that expired, but the expectation is that Carpenter will request a new one. Besides the tax dollars, it could mean jobs for an area that's starved for them. And they'd be high-quality jobs, similar to those generated by Musk's companies, according to Adena Lewis, the county's director of economic development and tourism. That's key as the county continues to grow and residents look to cut down on commutes to downtown Austin or elsewhere. "Bastrop County is moving with the pace of society. This is just the way it is working," Lewis said. "The jobs that these companies now are bringing are more challenging in a lot of ways, and I think that's good." _________________________________________ https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2024/03/15/austin-light-rail-ken-paxton-opinion.html Mar 15, 2024 Austin's goal of building a $4.8 billion light rail system is again being met with resistance on the state level. Austin Transit Partnership's plan to seek court validation of its bond procurement process for the project -- which is in response to legal pressure questioning the financing of the planned light rail network -- is now being sidelined by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton issued a recommendation on March 15 that the Travis County District Court dismiss the city's request. ATP announced in February that it will seek to combine the request made in Travis County court with a lawsuit filed by former Travis County Judge Bill Aleshire that challenges the project's financing methods. If the court approves ATP's request, it would fast-track the lawsuit for completion within a year, compared with 18 months otherwise. The court is expected to review the case this spring; however, Paxton's opinion may complicate that goal. The attorney general's response was celebrated by Aleshire. "You are seeing the beginning of the end of the biggest con job ever perpetrated on the taxpayers of Austin," Aleshire said in a statement. "If Austin 'leaders' want mass transit in Austin, they should immediately stop Project Connect, cancel the illegal tax increase, and go back to the voters with an affordable plan." ATP did not immediately offer a statement in response to Paxton's filing. However, city leaders have previously shared confidence that the project would again be approved if the project had to be voted on for a second time. The crux of the controversy is that after voters approved the light rail plan -- and money for it -- it was drastically downsized due to cost constraints. Many argue it's a whole new plan that should get voter scrutiny again. Austin's plans for light rail is the largest portion of Project Connect, a public transit improvement roadmap and corresponding tax increase approved by voters in 2020. The light rail plan is also key portion of $25 billion in generational, job-creating investments planned in the city in the coming years. Other big projects include the I-35 revamp, a bigger convention center and a larger airport. This is not the first time that the undertaking has been met with resistance on the state level. The project was the subject of an unsuccessful bill introduced in the Texas House of Representatives. Referred to as the No Blank Checks Act and carried by state Rep. Ellen Troxclair, a former Austin City Council member, the legislation called for the city to hold another vote to dedicate taxpayer dollars toward the project. The new system, just under 10 miles long, is planned to run from 38th Street south past the University of Texas at Austin campus to downtown near the city's convention center, then across Lady Bird Lake on a new bridge at Trinity Street. Once across the Colorado River, the line will spit with one route heading down South Congress Ave. and ending at Oltorf Street and another heading east on Riverside Drive and ending at Yellow Jacket Lane. There is a potential that the line may be extended north to the Crestview neighborhood and east to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in this first phase of the project, but more funds will need to be secured. _________________________________________ https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2024/03/06/austin-hotel-san-antonio.html Mar 06, 2024 The rush to build out hospitality-driven development and capture a greater share of travel-related revenue in the Austin-San Antonio megaregion has created more intense competition between the two markets since the pandemic. Since 2019, Austin has seen its share of the state's hotel business increase from 14.6% to 16.3%, according to new data obtained from San Antonio-based Source Strategies. Over that same period, San Antonio's market share has decreased from 10.9% to 10.4%. While Austin's hotel revenue has increased more than 39% since 2019 to $2.37 billion, San Antonio's growth rate has been significantly smaller. The Alamo City generated $1.62 billion in hotel revenue in 2023, a roughly 14.9% increase over its 2019 haul. "Lagging convention business," according to Source Strategies Senior Vice President Paul Vaughn, is among the factors that cut into San Antonio's 2023 lodging activity. Austin's impressive revenue gain is tied partly to brick-and-mortar expansion. The Capital City has grown its hotel inventory by nearly 20% to 57,900 rooms since the pandemic. And festivals and events like South by Southwest, the annual Formula 1 race at the Circuit of The Americas and the Austin City Limits Music Festival are major economic generators for the city, from hotel revenue to airport travel and restaurant sales. San Antonio has added roughly half as many rooms over the last four years, taking its key count to 51,700. While Austin has added more rooms than San Antonio since the pandemic, it's also filling a larger volume of that inventory. Austin's occupancy rate was at nearly 66% last year, while the Alamo City's was just over 60% with fewer rooms to fill. Marketers in Austin sold 13.9 million hotel room nights last year. That's 1.2 million more than were booked in 2019. San Antonio saw a more modest gain, selling 12.5 million room nights in 2023 -- a roughly 2.5% increase over its pre-pandemic performance. It was the lowest demand increase over the pre-pandemic period of any of the major Texas metros, according to Vaughn. As hotel operators in San Antonio and Austin look to fill more rooms, they face certain economic challenges. The American Hotel & Lodging Association notes that 56% of the respondents to a survey it recently commissioned are less likely now to book a room because of inflation. But as Austin plans to begin work on a new convention center in 2025, Alamo City hospitality industry leaders may have an opportunity to recruit more group business. _________________________________________ Plans call to replace its 30-year-old convention center with a new structure more than 700,000 square feet including 360,000 square feet of exhibition space. As of January 22, 2024, The Capital City has earmarked $1.6 billion in hotel occupancy tax and other funding. Further details regarding design and construction timelines have not been identified. *Project information, including timeline and contacts, has been obtained through public sources. The content management team continues to pursue additional details; however, the contact(s) listed have yet to disclose or confirm any information. Inquiries should be directed to the contact(s) listed.