PlaceMKR Plans Massive Development on East Riverside in Austin

East Austin continues to transform.

Austin-based developer PlaceMKR and Los Angeles-based architecture firm Steinberg Hart are partnering to build a $450 million mixed-use development at the intersection of East Riverside and Highway 71, the Austin Business Journal reported. The complex will be called East Riverside Gateway.

Development on the 22-acre site, owned by Artesia Real Estate, will include a total of 1,100 residential units, 68,000 square feet of retail space and 4,000 parking spots, the outlet reported. Renderings show three massive office buildings. With the project seeking a site development permit and economic uncertainty ahead, it’s unclear when construction will begin.

Plans for East Riverside Gateway call for seven buildings. Three of them will be devoted to commercial use for a combined 1.9 million square feet, mostly devoted to office but also including 32,000 feet of retail space and 2,300 parking spots.

The other four buildings are expected to have anywhere from 170 to 480 apartments each, ranging from 430-square-foot studios to 1,770-square-foot three bedrooms. Features include solar shading and double-height porches and balconies, the outlet said.

The development site is adjacent to Austin’s Project Connect Blue Line public transit endeavor. East Riverside Gateway, located just west of Highway 183, will be walking distance from a train stop that will eventually access downtown and Austin Bergstrom International Airport.

“The big thing is being intreated into mass transit,” Steinburg Hart’s Doug Moss told the outlet. “This is going to become a new urban node for Austin.”

Other large mixed-use buildings have sprouted up in East Austin over the past few years, and there are no signs of slowing. Catellus Development Corporation announced plans to redevelop the Colony Park Neighborhood, and Dallas-based Presidium Group has embarked on the Velocity, which will have 7 million square feet of apartments and commercial space in the southeastern part of town.

—Quinn Donoghue