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More Apartments, Plus Hotel, Retail, Entertainment Uses Planned for Southeast Austin Project

Jan 21, 2025

An ambitious development in the works just east of the Austin airport has a new name, along with newly announced plans for a hotel, more apartments and an entertainment district.

Previously called Velocity, and before that, Velocity Crossing, the 314-acre project has been renamed the Row. It will be built in phases at the southwestern corner of the Texas 130 toll road and Texas 71, along Onion Creek and about 8 miles from downtown Austin.

The project will take shape in the growing Del Valle area in southeastern Travis County, on land just east of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The developer is Presidium, which is co-headquartered in Dallas and Austin.

Once complete, the Row will include thousands of apartments, retail and restaurant space, hotel rooms and about 100 acres of green space. The project has approvals for about 7 million square feet of new development.

Even before Tesla expanded into the area with its $1 billion-plus electric vehicle gigafactory, Del Valle already was seeing a surge of growth, which was further fueled by Tesla’s arrival.

The next phase of Presidium’s development is due to break ground in early 2025 and take about 12 months to complete. It will have a 6,250-square-foot freestanding restaurant site, plus an additional 22,000 square feet of retail space.

“The project will create a destination for Del Valle residents and the larger southeast Austin region,” Kenley Reed, development manager for Presidium, said in a statement. “The Row will feature a thoughtful retail-focused district that fosters walkability and open space to build community. The new name and brand are built around creating a sense of place that reflects those ideals.” 

The new retail phase is being developed with PentaGrowth Capital, a California-based real estate private equity firm, and a subsidiary of Biolink Capital, a global asset management company.

Plans for a third phase call for an additional 100,000 square feet of retail space, an AC Hotel by Marriott to be built in a partnership with Merritt Development Group and a second apartment project with more than 300 rental units along the Texas 71 frontage road. The third phase is expected to bring a mix of local and national retailers, restaurants and entertainment concepts.

Units in the project’s first apartment complex – the 307-unit Del Via – are expected to be ready for residents in February. Del Via will have a mix of studio apartments and units with one, two and three bedrooms.

Presidium tapped Austin-based Chioco Design to lead the architectural design of the upcoming retail phase, along with Blacksmith Collaborative landscape architects, and KFM Engineering & Design for civil engineering.

Asterisk Design is overseeing the renaming and rebranding efforts for the Row, and Dallas-based Retail Street Advisors will lease the project’s retail space. Other members of the Row’s consulting team include LandDesignLeap!Bay MEPHWA Parking and O’Brien Architects.

The Row development has approvals in place for about 7 million square feet of mixed-use space.

Elsewhere in Austin, Presidium is developing River Park, a large mixed-use project to be built in phases over the next 10 to 20 years off East Riverside Drive and Wickersham Lane. Plans call for housing, retail, office, hotel and entertainment uses. 

In the Del Valle area, the Row will join several other major projects. In addition to Elon Musk’s nearby Tesla gigafactory and other Musk ventures, including X, SpaceX, Boring Co. and Neuralink, here are some of those other projects, both existing and planned:

  • In 2022, Austin Community College passed $200 million in bonds to build its Advanced Manufacturing & Skilled Trades campus on a site that borders the southwestern section of the Row. The future campus will serve 10,000 to 12,000 students and focus on applied technology programs, including building construction technology; advanced manufacturing; auto collision repair; heating, air conditioning and refrigeration; welding; and general education classrooms.
  • The Texas Division of Emergency Management is building a new $423 million headquarters that will be coupled with a new State Emergency Operations Center just south of the Row.
  • The city of Austin recently approved about $1.9 billion in contracts for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport’s expansion, which is slated to include a new concourse with 20 gates and an accompanying tunnel as well as a new arrivals and departures hall.
  • In 2018, French cosmetics maker Capsum bought 50 of the original 390 acres at what was then called Velocity and quickly built a 126,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution center. Its site has the ability to expand in the future.

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