Photo courtesy Richard McFarland, StudA 1-acre space on Barton Springs Road will soon be home to a permanent food trailer court outside a new apartment complex next to the original Chuy's location.
The Picnic, a public food trailer court expected to open in mid-March, will feature eight vendors, said Ronnie Brooks, co-developer of Coldwater Apartments, a five-story complex under construction along Barton Springs Road. Tenants at the fully leased food court include Hey Cupcake!, Hey You Gonna Eat or What?, Mrs. P's Electric Cock, Skinny Limits Juice, Tapas Bravas, The Mighty Cone, The Seedling Truck and Turf N Surf Po'Boy. The space was originally slated to become a traditional stand-alone restaurant, Brooks said, but most inquiries were from national restaurant chains.
"I've been here long enough to know the homegrown flavor of this street, and we were certain a national chain would not be embraced by Austin in that location," said Brooks, who has lived in Austin for 47 years. "This is not a suburban location."
Brooks and co-developers Alastair Jenkin, Christian Brooks and Kurt Simons chose to wait for a better opportunity, he said, at which point multiple food trailers on South Congress Avenue became displaced.
"We did a pivot and said, 'Instead of doing a stand-alone restaurant, what if we built a permanent home for food trailers?" Brooks said. "They move all the time, and the available sites downtown keep developing and going away."
The food trailer park will include pavilions, heated and cooled restrooms and 80 parking spots, he said.
