Rapid development closes the gap between south, South Congress corridor and downtown
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Darin Dement, owner of Hillside Liquor, works in front of an Austin skyline poster from the 1980s. (Maggie Quinlan / Community Impact Newspaper)
The 2-mile section of South Congress Avenue from William Cannon Drive to Slaughter Lane has changed dramatically over the past decade, with development accelerating since 2019.
Several new shopping centers and residential buildings will be built in 2021. In it, Dement says he remembers well when the area was mostly green.
Dement runs the cash register at the South Austin liquor store that he owns and that his parents opened in 1984.
On the wall behind the cash register, a poster of the Austin skyline from the 1980s shows the drastic changes Dement has seen in the downtown area.
“There was nothing out here at the time,” said Dement, a third-generation Austinite who runs Hillside Liquor.
His parents opened the South Congress store on what is now Ralph Ablanedo Drive 37 years ago.
Dement’s parents opened the shop doors and listened to concerts in the old Southpark Meadows Amphitheater.
Dement, who moved the store to 160 W. Slaughter Lane in 1997, said that growth along the South Congressional Corridor between Slaughter and William Cannon has accelerated like never before in the past three or so years.
“I think the genie is already out of the bottle when it comes to the small town feeling – we’ve passed that point,” said Dement. “But I hope it retains some of its character.”
Blooming business
Lawrence Boone, who books bands for the Far Out Lounge and Stage at South Congress, thinks it’s ironic that the mall across the street is called Oaks at Slaughter because most of the trees on the plot were felled during construction.
However, Boone said he wasn’t against it. He said he believes the proposed 108-room hotel in the mall could make the Far Out more touristy, but it will bring business.
“Right in front of our eyes [this area] is being developed and a lot of it will be beneficial to this part of our city, ”said Boone.
The Far Out Lounge itself is new, although part of the building has been standing since 1908. On the outdoor stages, surrounded by picnic tables and five permanent food trucks, bands from the entire genre spectrum perform.
Kerry Richardson opened another local corridor watering hole, Last Stand Brewing Co., which opened in October 2020.
Starting in 2017, Richardson was looking for a second location for his brewery, which he had founded two years earlier, on Pauls Valley Road in the extreme southwest of Austin. Richardson’s business partner Jim Sampson stumbled upon a newly opened mall in the South Congress, The Collective.
The brewery opened in this mall four months after HEB moved its 8801 S. Congress Ave. had opened. South Congress Station, a mall across from the grocery store, opened this spring.
The Oaks at Slaughter mall, slated to open in November, is also a consequence of the opening of HE-B, said Milo Burdette, vice president of real estate and development company Barshop & Oles.
“We know when they are there it will be a good place where other restaurants and retailers want to be,” said Burdette.
While the development has opened up opportunities for some, companies are also facing rising costs, according to Dement.
“I hope that companies like mine that have been here a long time – local independent companies – can survive,” said Dement. “We have always had cool, funky music venues. I hope we can keep that up. “
Making SoCo at home
When Councilor Vanessa Fuentes thinks of the southernmost corridor of the Southern Congress in her district, she thinks of displacement, both of praised residents and those moving to the area to escape the growing costs deeper into the city.
“In our Latino community in particular, we have been pushed further and further out of town,” said Fuentes.
For some Austinites, areas like the southernmost section of the South Congress used to be considered far from downtown but now seem like more affordable options to stay in the city proper, Fuentes said.
“Many in our community embrace this growth because it brings amenities, but on the flip side, as we grow as a city, we need to make sure no one is left behind,” said Fuentes.
Fuentes said housing is fueling residential growth. The Martingale apartments will comprise 270 units in the fall. Across the street is the Windsor South Congress complex, which opened in 2021 with 308 units.
The Orange Line, a light rail transit corridor, could flow through this section of the South Congress in the coming years but is slated for a later phase in Capital Metro’s Connect project, Fuentes said.
The initial investment in Project Connect Orange Line includes a light rail along the South Congress but stops 2 miles north of Slaughter, said Jenna Maxfield, spokeswoman for Capital Metro.
Fuentes said there is still a risk that the Orange Line construction will not receive enough funding to reach the southern portion of the South Congress, despite the fact that she believes the line is crucial in connecting the community with other parts of the city.
Fuentes also pointed to an affordable residential complex, although no schedule was set. The city has already acquired land next to the inferior Cullen Lane, which is now a makeshift homeless shelter. Fuentes said improvements to the road are a top priority, but the city has not set a schedule for building the development.
Growing pains
As Fuentes advocates new infrastructure, she hopes the growth will not change the “heart and soul” of Congress in the far south.
She said the soul is defined by live music, funky hole-in-the-wall locations, outdoor activities and friendliness.
Long time resident of the area, Susan Hambright, director of the Park Ridge HOA, said every local store opening a business in her neighborhood has brought her a sigh of relief. They make the corridor feel more like a unified community than a disjointed downtown satellite, she said.
She has been on the board of directors of her HOA for 17 years. One of the neighborhood’s seemingly endless battles was to keep fast food restaurants from filling the area.
“The Far Out is a really, really cool neighborhood venue,” said Hambright. “We all go down there and ride our bikes. They employ local musicians and have made it a place to hang out. “
For Dement, the growth was good for business, but it also pushed him out of town. He said he has lived in what he calls “no man’s land” near Driftwood since the 2000s.
“It’s one thing to have a business in it and another to live and drive in it,” said Dement.
Boone is still living on the South Congress. He said he saw the advantages and disadvantages of “stretching the inner city this way.”
“We love the city of Austin – we love the live music scene, and we want it to continue to be in town so our children and their children’s children can get a taste of what we love so much,” said Boone. “I see myself as a cog in the machine. I’m doing it because someone did it before me and I thought it was really cool. ”
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