UT moves to rezone hundreds of acres in Northwest Austin for future medical center

That shift was confirmed this month by Kevin Eltife, UT System board of regents chair, who said the northern location would accommodate the medical center's future expansion and leave the downtown site available for other uses. The medical center is set to open in 2030.

"The result of this partnership will allow Texans to harness both institutions’ mission of patient care, education, innovation, and research to create a once-in-a-generation opportunity to define the future [of] health care of Texas," Eltife said Feb. 18.

Zooming in

Further details about the medical center project, such as its exact location or scope, haven't been released as of early 2026. For now, UT is seeking to rezone several of its properties near The Domain, including the Pickle campus, specifically for research and science uses.

Eltife said the UT Medical Center would be situated west of the Pickle campus. University-owned land in that area includes The Shops at Arbor Walk retail plaza, an office building at Braker Lane and MoPac, and undeveloped land off Braker and Stonelake Boulevard. Those properties cover about 374 acres and are all included in the zoning case moving through city reviews.

Austin's Planning Commission unanimously advanced the rezoning item without discussion Feb. 24, and City Council is now scheduled to consider the request in late March. A UT representative declined to comment about the case or its impact on the medical center project after the commission's vote.

The current process covers five tracts that currently hold industrial, institutional and mixed-use zoning. The change would label them all as Research and Sciences Mixed Use, or RSMU, in the area's North Burnet/Gateway Regulating Plan.

The UT land now being rezoned was designated for RSMU in the 2024 plan update. New buildings could reach up to 120-125 feet tall by right, and up to nearly 500 feet with development bonuses. Similar height allowances are also in place along Braker and Burnet Road east of The Domain under the North Burnet/Gateway Plan.

The zoning case is progressing as UT Austin embarks on its first campus master plan initiative in over a decade. That project is aimed at "building cohesive connections" between the main downtown campus and other properties, including the future medical center, according to the university's Feb. 23 announcement.

“With the pace of physical growth that we’re experiencing right now, this is an exciting moment to consider how our spaces can best support discovery, connection, and long-term impact," Brent Stringfellow, UT architect and associate vice president for campus operations and planning, said in a statement.