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.
