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It’s a new Wednesday night, and there’s a lot of queuing outside the Museum of Ice Cream, an Instagram-friendly hotspot made up of installations including a plastic-sprayed swimming pool and wheeled pink animal crackers that recently made their way into domain shopping and entertainment have complex.
Just over a mile away, fans are thronging to Q2 Stadium, Austin’s first professional sports stadium and home to Austin FC, which is in the middle of its first season.
As the world tiptoes back to normal despite an ongoing pandemic, North Austin continues to woo new businesses that have a major impact on both the city’s economy and the local landscape. But given all these changes and developments, how do longtime residents and business owners feel about North Austin’s continued growth?
After all, North Austin has changed a lot over the years. After some began calling the city “Silicon Hills” in the 1980s due to the influx of tech companies into the area, many of those companies settled in the North Austin residential complex that quickly became a second city center when it opened in 2007. Even Apple, which already has a significant presence in the city, plans to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its first Austin office with the opening of a $ 1 billion campus in northwest Austin in 2022.
(Shutterstock)
Mike Lavigne has lived in North Austin for more than 20 years and has lived in the Crestview neighborhood since 2002.
“We have a 12-year-old daughter and I can’t think of a better place in the world to raise a child,” said Lavigne. “(The neighborhood) is mixed in terms of age and economic situation. It is still diverse, and most importantly, it has families.”
Lavigne said that overall he appreciates the role that places like the Austin Domain play.
“We need these many city centers. The Domain and Mueller are the few places that have been able to take the stress out of single-family neighborhoods,” he said. “I like that there is a place for apartments and retail and all these things that don’t have to be everywhere but get better when they are together. I think it’s necessary and it’s a smart way to grow. “
That doesn’t mean Lavigne isn’t concerned about the impact the influx of chain stores, restaurants and bars in the area is having on small business owners and the “old Austin” atmosphere in general. As a partner in the Violet Crown Clubhouse, a neighborhood hangout for Crestview and Brentwood residents that has an arcade and ice cream parlor, and as an investor in the strangely wonderful vacation-themed dive bar LaLa’s Little Nugget, Lavigne can confirm firsthand that the pandemic is for local businesses “kick your pants”.
The Violet Crown Clubhouse has been a neighborhood hangout since 2019. (Violet Crown Clubhouse)
“There are definitely many places that have been epicentres for communities that are just gone and won’t return. It’s up to us to create new places and keep things weird and unpredictable. It’s up to us as locals. ”He said. “(When it comes to progress) there is no going back now. Whether it is good or bad remains to be seen.”
Austin is currently ranked as the second most overvalued market in the country nationwide, and it can be almost impossible to find homes in the North Austin area. Jen Sparks, broker and owner of Kifer Sparks Agency, said there are currently only seven homes in the market and 38 homes with pending contracts in the domain area between Mopac and I-35 and 183 and Walnut Creek.
“The steady growth in the domain space from high-ranking employers continues to attract highly skilled tech talent, which in turn drives competition in the real estate market for single-family homes continues to break records,” said Sparks out that stocks in this area will remain low, which in turn will lead to rising prices. ”
Jenni Carter has run her Sticker Stop vehicle inspection business on Burnet Road for 15 years. She said it was “sheer luck” that she found the property, which is now less than a mile from Q2 Stadium.
“For us the growth has been amazing. The more the area grows, the more the business grows. We were very lucky,” she said. “When we first opened, most of our customers were commuters, they worked in the area. Now it seems we have a very balanced mix of customers who live and work near the Burnet Road corridor.”
While Lavigne said he enjoys visiting the domain and is looking forward to playing some Austin FC games, he hopes Austinites will continue to buy local products to keep Austin, well, weird.
“I’d say if there’s a cool place in your neighborhood and it’s a small local business make sure you double-back it,” Lavigne said. “The domain doesn’t need your help, but we do. We don’t get the same subsidies as the big ones. If it’s important to you and you want to keep a place, you have to spend your money there.”
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