Life Time gobbles up two floors on red-hot South Lamar

A new retail hub is starting to take shape along a fast-growing strip of South Lamar Boulevard. 

Life Time has leased 57,700 square feet at Seamless Capital’s mixed-use development the Bouldin. The gym will take up the first and second floors of a four-story commercial building at the development, which sits on about 4 acres in the 1300 and 1400 blocks of South Lamar. 

The remaining two floors, totaling 75,000 square feet of office space, remains to be leased. Endeavor has the assignment. Initially, the full building was planned for office space; the pivot is a response to “market changes” and “current demand,” according to a news release — likely a euphemism for the record office vacancy troubling landlords across Austin. 

Construction on the gym is expected to start at the end of the year, with the space opening next summer. 

The development will also include two restaurants and a 309-unit apartment building. East Austin’s consistently busy brunch spot Paperboy will open an outpost in the development, as will national wine bar chain Postino. 

Greystar will handle leasing for the project’s apartment portion. Some 31 units are set aside as affordable at 60 percent of the area median family income. The development will also include two pools for post-workout swims. The developers plan to open pre-leasing in the fall. 

Life Time already operates locations nearby. One lies to the south, at 7101 South MoPac Expressway, and one to the north, at 907 West Fifth Street. 

The development has been in the works for over a decade. Seamless has been assembling land on South Lamar since 2009, and it owns multifamily and self-storage developments elsewhere in Austin. Several major restaurants and multifamily developments are nearby, including Lamar Union, Odd Duck and Saxon Pub. 

Vacant retail space is hard to find across Texas metros. In Austin, less than 3 percent of space is available, putting a premium on large and newly built spaces like that in the Bouldin. 

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