BG Reads | News You Need to Know (June 21, 2022)
Measure to help improve downtown Austin renewed for another 10 years (KXAN)
Austin City Council passed a measure earlier this month that will help improve the downtown Austin area for another 10 years.
Council members unanimously renewed the Downtown Austin Alliance’s Downtown Public Improvement District through 2032.
The organization explained a Public Improvement District (PID) is an area created to enhance, improve or promote the interests of the city. The downtown PID was first established in 1993, and the Downtown Austin Alliance was put in charge of it.
The nonprofit said every 10 years, assessed property owners decide whether to support the PID and the Downtown Austin Alliance’s work for another term. The petition, which must represent a majority of the value and land area in the PID, is then submitted to Austin City Council for approval.
“Authorizing the PID for another term ensures that the Downtown Alliance will continue its work as the only full-time advocate and champion of downtown to ensure downtown continues to be a desirable place for people to live, work, entertain and invest,” Bill Brice, vice president of investor relations for the Downtown Austin Alliance, said in a press release… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Apple lining up land to expand North Austin campus (Austin Business Journal)
Apple Inc. is preparing for the next phase of development at its new campus off West Parmer Lane.
Executives have their eyes on roughly 53 acres of ranch land they'd like to transform. They're asking Austin City Hall to annex the property so it can be rezoned for a variety of uses.
The campus was announced in December 2018. Apple has laid out plans to develop the land in five phases. At full buildout, it is expected to be 3 million square feet and include 12 office and amenity buildings, parking garages, a central utility plant and a separate daycare building, according to past Austin Business Journal reporting. A 192-room hotel and conference center for use by Apple employees were also proposed, according to an April 2020 site plan.
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) already has four large buildings on the site, which are receiving finishing touches from construction crews.
This annexation seems to be the next step in that timeline… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
H-E-B may be headed to Manor, alongside other retailers and hundreds of apartments (Austin Business Journal)
A new mixed-use development planned for eastern Travis County could be anchored by an H-E-B.
Developers have secured a handful of approvals, including an incentives agreement, to aid with the creation of the 95-acre hub for living and shopping in Manor.
Representatives from Butler Family Partnership Ltd. on June 15 discussed the Manor Crossing project, at the northwest corner of U.S. Highway 290 and FM 973, during a Manor City Council meeting. Plans call for 600 multifamily units and up to 425,000 square feet of commercial space… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Officers in Uvalde were ready with guns, shields and tools — but not clear orders (Texas Tribune)
The officers in the hallway of Robb Elementary wanted to get inside classrooms 111 and 112 — immediately. One officer’s daughter was inside. Another officer had gotten a call from his wife, a teacher, who told him she was bleeding to death.
Two closed doors and a wall stood between them and an 18-year-old with an AR-15 who had opened fire on children and teachers inside the connected classrooms. A Halligan bar — an ax-like forcible-entry tool used by firefighters to get through locked doors — was available. Ballistic shields were arriving on the scene. So was plenty of firepower, including at least two rifles. Some officers were itching to move.
One such officer, a special agent at the Texas Department of Public Safety, had arrived around 20 minutes after the shooting started. He immediately asked: Are there still kids in the classrooms?… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
ERCOT could be in for another record breaking week, with temperatures climbing above 100 (Houston Chronicle)
Texas is set to come close to all-time records for electricity demand today, with temperatures across the state forecast to close in on 100 degrees. The state's grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, is forecasting power demand will hit 76,975 megawatts around 5 p.m. this afternoon. If sustained for a full hour, that would exceed the record set last Thursday of 75,124 megawatts. So far, ERCOT has not called on residents to conserve power, saying it has enough generation to meet demand.
"ERCOT continues to monitor the weather forecast and will deploy all available tools to manage the grid reliably," a spokesperson said. With temperatures only expected to rise through the week, the strain on Texas's power grids is only likely to increase. ERCOT is also predicting peak demand to exceed 76,000 megawatts on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Earlier today ERCOT issued a notice to transmission companies, warning that temperatures are expected to exceed 103 degrees across much of the state Thursday through Sunday, driving up demand for electricity… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Records detail secret council swearing-in of Uvalde CISD chief Pete Arredondo (KSAT)
Records obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders late Thursday show that Pete Arredondo, the embattled Uvalde school district police chief, signed both the oath of office and statement of officer to officially become a city councilman on May 31. The signings took place in private after Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin canceled the meeting during which the public swearing-in of Arredondo and other recently elected councilpersons was scheduled to take place. An attorney representing the city wrote via email that no video or audio records of the swearing-in exist. Arredondo, who was elected to represent Uvalde city council district 3 in the May 7 election, has not taken part in public city business and has largely remained in hiding in the weeks following the May 24 shooting massacre at Robb Elementary School.
Arredondo, described by Texas Department of Public Safety officials as the incident commander inside the school, has faced an avalanche of criticism for having law enforcement assembled outside the classroom hold back instead of confronting the gunman, who eventually killed 19 students and two teachers. The embattled chief defended his handling of the mass shooting incident in an interview with the Texas Tribune last week, but through his attorney, has declined multiple requests to answer questions from KSAT. McLaughlin confirmed during a sit-down interview with the Defenders last week that Arredondo and other recent electees were sworn-in privately at city hall May 31. McLaughlin said he was not present for the event. The released documents show Arredondo’s signing of paperwork took place in front of at least one witness: city secretary Sorayda Sanchez, a notary public. “By law our charter says by the 31st of May we have to swear in. So that’s what we did,” said McLaughlin. Asked if he believes Arredondo will ever take part in a Uvalde city council meeting, McLaughlin said, “I can’t answer that for Pete. He’ll have to make that decision if he wants to come forward and start coming to those meetings or if he decides to to do something differently. I can’t answer that,” said McLaughlin… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[BG PODCAST]
Episode 159: Talking Austin Real Estate Development and Entrepreneurship w/ Ari Rastegar
Today’s episode (159) features Ari Rastegar, Founder and CEO of Austin-based Rastegar Property Company. He and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss real estate development in Austin, as well as Ari's entrepreneurial path.
Rastegar Property has a portfolio spanning more 13 states and over 3.5 million square feet. It recently announced its 809 Skyline office development project in Austin, as well as a 318-acre planned community in Kyle, TX. -> EPISODE LINK
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