Kairoi Approved for Massive East Austin Mixed-use Project

Kairoi Residential has cleared a major hurdle that will allow it to proceed with a 115-acre mixed-use development along the Colorado River in East Austin.

Austin City Council approved the San Antonio-based firm’s request to rezone the site at 827 Ed Bluestein Boulevard, east of Highway 183, from light industrial use to a designated planned development, the Austin Business Journal reported.

The decision sets the stage for Kairoi’s ambitious project, which calls for more than 2,200 multifamily units, a 385-key hotel, 1.5 million square feet of office space, 20,000 square feet of retail and a 127,000-square-foot shopping center near the northern bank of the Colorado River. It’s also slated for 134,000 square feet of restaurant space, a 27,000-square-foot theater, an 8,500-square-foot music venue and a 37,000-square-foot civic center.

The site, currently occupied by an asphalt facility and an open industrial area adjacent to Austin’s Bolm District Park, is owned by APAC-Texas. The property is valued at $13.9 million by the Travis Central Appraisal District.

Kairoi’s project adds to the wave of large-scale developments in East Austin, including Endeavor Real Estate Group’s planned redevelopment of the 21-acre former Borden Dairy plant into a massive mixed-use complex. However, the future of that project is somewhat murky, as neighborhood and advocacy groups recently sued city council, alleging that it gave the property owners special treatment when approving redevelopment plans last summer, despite opposition.

Other large-scale projects in the area include mixed-use developments The Patten and Urban East, as well as Seabrook Square, an affordable housing development near the Mueller neighborhood. Industrial projects are also proliferating, driven by Tesla’s gigafactory in eastern Travis County, the outlet said.

—Quinn Donoghue