The Austin City Council approved May 25 the $42.4 million sale of the former Green Water Treatment Plant site near the 2nd Street District to developer Trammell Crow Co.—despite several hours of testimony from many in opposition citing concern about safety, affordability and heritage trees.

The company has planned a $500 million redevelopment project including two high-rise towers with apartment, hotel, retail and office space. The site includes 4.4 acres of land bounded by West Third Street, Cesar Chavez Street, Shoal Creek and San Antonio Street.

Council made several changes to the deal before the approval just before 2 a.m., such as ensuring an effort is made to hire at least 20 percent of site workers from local training programs, the addition of frequent reviews by Workers Defense Project safety monitors and making a goal of saving the eight heritage trees on-site.

Council postponed action on the sale April 26 to allow more time to work on issues raised by the public and council members. Trammell Crow had made major changes to the proposal such as guaranteeing a prevailing wage and changing the housing affordability term from seven years to 40 years.

Additionally, at least 10 percent of the apartments would be affordable for families below 80 percent of the median family income level—or the lesser of 12 percent of the total number of "for rent" residential multifamily units constructed. Further, if Trammell Crow instead sells condo space, it will pay $5 per square foot into the affordable housing fund.

The city awarded Trammell Crow Co. the rights in 2008 for the redevelopment, which would include 75,000 square feet of apartment, hotel, retail and office space distributed over four blocks.

The project is part of a massive redevelopment of the Seaholm District and would connect Second Street via a new bridge across Shoal Creek extending to West Avenue. The city is expected to begin construction of the bridge in 2013 in conjunction with a new 200,000-square-foot central library.

During a March 22 update to City Council, Adam Nims, head of Trammell Crow's Austin office, said the company is ready to begin construction as soon as the city completes cleanup of the site, which is estimated to last six months. However, he said the city is still awaiting permit approval for the cleanup by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which will also likely take about six months.