The master plan for the district includes the new city library, the backyard—an area with a playground, lawn and events—multifamily units, retail shops and dining, and office space.
In an effort to keep the Bell District urban and dense, public parking garages will be built within some of the residential and retail buildings. These will eventually replace the need for the temporary surface parking lots currently in use for the library and park, and that space will be developed as restaurants. Once fully built out, the development will be home to 1,200-1,500 apartments.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is the history of the Bell District, and how did RedLeaf get involved with the project?
The vision for the Bell District really goes back to probably 2013 to 2015, when the city was going through the Imagine Cedar Park exercise and decided they wanted to really focus on this one stretch of Bell Boulevard, which was the old Hwy. 183 that wasn't growing at the same pace as the rest of the city, and frankly, had some aging retail and and declining tax revenues. So the city really put forth a vision to revitalize that area.
Cedar Park doesn't have a traditional downtown. ... As [city leaders] started to dream about what the Bell District could be, it became pretty clear that there was an opportunity to do something iconic that would function as Cedar Park’s downtown.
From 2015-2018, the city began assembling property that ultimately totaled a little over 50 acres. That is now, today, the Bell District. Then, in 2018, Red Leaf got involved during the procurement process. We were ultimately selected as the city's master development partner in 2019. We spent the entirety of 2019 working through multiple iterations of master plans. I think we had 13 or 14 different master plans, and then we finalized the master plan, went in for our zoning and got council approval, Feb. 27, 2020, and we all know what happened two weeks later—COVID hit, and so we barely got things done before the COVID shutdown.
What construction has happened so far?
The first thing that had to happen in order for the district to come alive is the road alignment of Bell Boulevard. ... That freed up a tremendous amount of development potential. We then started the first phase of infrastructure—these streets and utilities were built over the last couple of years, wrapping up this year. The new city library, which is phenomenal, [was completed]. And then we're finishing up the park and green space, which kind of surrounds the library.
What will the backyard space be like once complete?
The backyard is intended to be heavily programmed. We're working with the library and other local partners to come up with a schedule of events that we’ll host in 2025 and beyond. That will look like things like movie night in the park, could be small, intimate concerts, certainly going to be some programming collaborating with the library on some of their outdoor, nature-based activities. And then, we are right now exploring different food and beverage options. Ultimately, we'll have these brick-and-mortar restaurants when everything is built out, but we're looking at interim options.
What is the timeline for construction moving forward?
The next vertical construction is expected to start mid-next year, so summer 2025, and it’s an 18-24 month build-out. So we're anticipating that will open in 2027, and then we're targeting for full build-out of Phase 1 to be complete within five to seven years.
Can you explain what it means for the district to be a public-private partnership?
It is a P3, a public-private partnership, between the city of Cedar Park and RedLeaf. The high level is that RedLeaf is responsible for what we call the horizontal infrastructure, which is streets, utilities [and] getting sites to the point where they're shovel ready. The city is ultimately responsible for the maintenance of the streets, and then our agreement calls for a lot of collaboration when it comes to things like maintaining the park.
[RedLeaf is also] responsible for all of the private sector development, which is the apartments, the restaurants, the brownstones, the offices. The city is responsible for the park and the library.
The city did support some of the early infrastructure through their Type B Corporation. That's pretty typical with a public-private partnership, but there's usually some kind of public incentive to help get things moving, and so we certainly appreciate the city support there. But yes, generally speaking, other than the roads and utilities, all of the private development falls to us.
Why is a public-private partnership beneficial in a development like this?
Public-private partnerships is such a broad term that can mean a bunch of different things. Typically, what our type of P3s are looking to do is fill a void that wouldn't otherwise happen with normal market conditions. In the example of the Bell District, the city had established this vision that, "Hey, we want this urban, cool, iconic downtown, and that means we want structured parking and we want a very walkable and dynamic green space." If you drive up and down Bell Boulevard, that's not what you see today, and even if you squint your eyes and look 10 years in the future, you're like, "Man, that seems like a pretty far stretch from what exists today."
A P3 gives the city and the master developer the opportunity to take a very long-term approach to the project. Bell will take 10-15 years to build out in its entirety. And because the city already owned the property, we're able to take down these development parcels, as the development conditions warrant.
Have you experienced any construction delays or have you chosen to strategically pace the project?
When you're doing a 15-20 year project, it's impossible to know what all is going to present itself over that period of time. What you do know is, you're going to have market ups and downs—typical real estate cycle—and you know that there's going to be a lot of unforeseen things. So when we put these agreements together, we spend a lot of time on flexibility and making sure that there's enough room in the agreement for things to evolve. At the end of the day, we are responsible for delivering on the city's vision, but that path to get to the end result could likely change.
So yes, to some degree, there have been some components that maybe we wish we could have gone a little faster. But the flip side is, because we're being deliberate and nimble, I think the end result is going to be something that everybody's really proud of.
What else would you want residents to know about the Bell District?
First and foremost, I would direct them to our website, which is www.belldistrict.com. We're revamping it, but we intend to launch in the next few weeks a pretty robust site that will have information related to events, where to park ... the information you need when you're coming to visit.
I'm really proud of what we've been able to accomplish thus far. The city has been a tremendous partner with us, and the work and the delivery of the library is just iconic, really special. I really think they're redefining what a library is, and that's a really cool thing to be a part of.
Then, to the community at large, this site feels like it's been under construction for many years ... so what I love to tell our neighbors and the community is, it's happening, thanks for bearing with the construction, but we're open for business, and there's more to come.
