Ground has broken on the Colony Park Sustainable Community project, a new master-planned development in northeast Austin, after well over a decade of community advocacy and planning.

The big picture

The redevelopment of more than 200 acres on the northeast side has been a longtime goal for Colony Park-area residents and Austin leaders, who have pointed to the need to address years of disinvestment and neglect in the neighborhood and surrounding area.

The concept of a sustainable community with accessible housing and public amenities was outlined in the early 2010s by local stakeholders and city representatives backed by a $3 million federal grant. Since then, it's slowly advanced with financial support from the city to get the $300 million-plus project off the ground.

Austin is working with Catellus Development Corp.—the same partnership that transformed the city's old airport into the master-planned Mueller neighborhood—to realize that local vision. The entire Colony Park development will now build out over 15 years.

Catellus representative Greg Weaver said builders will take best practices from Mueller's construction to the northeast Austin site. Despite the similar civic framework, he also said the Colony Park project is coming together under its own unique process.

"Like Mueller, Colony Park will have a mix of housing types, pedestrian-friendly streets, and access to parks, trails, and neighborhood amenities that foster a strong sense of community," he said in a statement. "However, Colony Park’s identity is shaped by community input and public investment including the adjacent Colony Park District Park and soon-to-open Colony Park Aquatic Center. Additionally, lessons learned from Mueller—such as the importance of phased infrastructure, strong public-private partnerships, transparency, and community involvement—will help guide Colony Park’s [development].

Barbara Scott, president of the Colony Park Neighborhood Association and a leader of the sustainable community initiative, has lived in the area since the 1970s. Residents have awaited basic features like health care facilities, grocery stores and libraries to serve their community for decades, she said—some spaces that will finally be added.

"Colony Park exists. It is not new. You’re building within ... the Colony Park and Lakeside communities," Scott said at an April 3 groundbreaking ceremony. "What we are trying to create here is not a community of the haves and have-nots, but a community of the haves. We want everybody to be blessed in all ways like all people. That's all we ask."

The details

The Colony Park Sustainable Community will bring new neighborhoods and infrastructure to the northeast Austin enclave, featuring:

• Up to 3,000 residences, including hundreds of income-restricted housing units. That workforce housing will be reserved for those making up to 80% of the regional median family income, or MFI, for for-sale homes and up to 60% MFI for rental units, according to Catellius.
• 230,000 square feet of offices and institutional space, including a new Central Health East Austin Health and Wellness Center coming off Loyola Lane
• 130,000 square feet of mixed-use retail
• About 42 acres of parkland and open space
• Miles of new roadway and utility lines

Infrastructure tied to the future Central Health wellness center is already being built, while that $16 million project remains in the project development phase, according to the county hospital district. Construction on the infrastructure that'll serve the rest of the future community could begin by late 2026, Weaver said.

"We’ve got to have the infrastructure, we’ve got to have the housing, we’ve got to have the open spaces, but it's not just the physical. It’s about opportunity," Mayor Kirk Watson said. "What we’re doing here today is about access. What we’re doing here today is about building a city that benefits all Austinites, that creates what I would call a complete city, a city where anybody and everybody can afford and be able to live in our city and bring their talents and their flavors to this place that we call our home."

Council member Natasha Harper-Madison, who represents District 1 including the Colony Park area, said the April groundbreaking was "bittersweet" given the length of time it's taken to kick off the long-awaited development. She also pointed to the project's future benefits for both nearby neighbors and others given the high bar set by the community.

"This is a giant, enormous, huge part of Austin, and it doesn't just belong to East Austinites," she said. "I really appreciate ... making a direct commitment to this being all of ours, to Colony Park being all of ours; to Colony Park being an example, a template for other cities across the nation as they go through redevelopment, urban renewal, etc. And recognize that while we do appreciate this new community coming in and new development coming in, there’s folks that were already here. There are communities that were already here."