New wayfinding signage has started to go up around the downtown area. The updated signs are one of several changes coming to downtown. (Gracie Warhurst/Community Impact)
Downtown Georgetown is actively undergoing several improvements that have been planned for over two years as part of the 2024 Downtown Master Plan. City officials have begun work on over half of the priority projects identified in the plan to elevate the city's downtown footprint, Downtown and Tourism Director Kim McAuliffe said.
These priority projects include the north and south gateways along Austin Avenue, redeveloping Rock Street, enhancing bike and pedestrian connections, historic square enhancements, creating a Ninth Street art walk, and potentially priming “catalyst sites” for future redevelopment downtown.
“We want people to go off and enjoy the rest of our downtown, because our downtown is 52 blocks, but most people only think about the nine blocks of the square,” McAuliffe said.
A new street patio and sidewalk cafe pilot program touches on pedestrian and historic square enhancements, and a second planned parking garage will accommodate visitors downtown.
The overview
The city of Georgetown adopted the 2024 Downtown Master Plan to guide growth in the city over the next decade, according to city documents.
Key projects include installing new wayfinding signage, constructing a second downtown parking garage, and expanding sidewalks to promote business activity. Two ways are through sidewalk cafes, which use the public sidewalks, and street patios, which will use parking spaces.
The city will begin with replacing out-of-date directional signs, McAuliffe said. The new wayfinding measures will guide drivers and pedestrians across downtown.
Officials are also working on the design of the second downtown parking garage located at Ninth and Main streets. The garage is a public-private partnership between the city and the Texas Municipal League’s Intergovernmental Risk Pool, which provides insurance and risk management services to Texas cities.
Additionally, downtown businesses can opt-in to a street patio and sidewalk cafe pilot program that will allow them to expand business operations to outside of their storefronts. The two-year trial program will go into effect in November, Chief Development Officer Kelly Trietsch said.
Source: City of Georgetown/Community Impact
Wayfinding signage
Directional, gateway and interactive signage will replace the current signs in downtown Georgetown—which were installed around 2004, McAuliffe said.
“Hopefully with this new refresh look and it being really eye-catching, people will notice them and be like, 'Oh my gosh, now I know where to go park,'" McAuliffe said.
Designed with the city's poppy motif and branding colors of blue and red, new signage will include:
Signs directing drivers to existing free public parking lots, the current parking garage and future garage sites
Pedestrian-level signs guiding visitors to popular destinations such as the Williamson Museum, the Georgetown Palace Theatre and public restrooms
Interactive kiosks featuring downtown directory maps, business listings, annual event calendars, and historic photos and stories
Small gateway signs have already been installed at the Light and Waterworks District and the South Main Arts District. Over the next several years, the city plans to install 25-foot-tall gateway signs at entrance points on Austin Avenue at Hwy. 29 and near the Austin Avenue bridges.
Contractors are currently working on design fabrication, and installation is expected to begin in late October, with final signs in place by mid-to-late November, McAuliffe said.
Source: City of Georgetown/Community Impact
Second downtown garage
To address parking needs, Georgetown officials partnered with the TML Intergovernmental Risk Pool to build a second downtown parking garage. TML will move its headquarters from Austin to downtown Georgetown, in the former Wesleyan Building, and the parking garage will accommodate its employees as well as the general public, McAuliffe said.
The planned parking garage project will feature:
450 total parking spaces
Ground-level retail and dining
Georgetown is partnering with the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool to construct a parking garage near East Ninth and South Main streets.Courtesy city of Georgetown
About 200 spaces will be reserved for TML staff during weekday business hours, while the entire garage will open to the public during evenings and weekends when visitor demand peaks.
"They reached out to us, and it was just kind of like this perfect assembly of people coming together to make this project happen,” McAuliffe said. “It's a pretty good deal cause that's when we need the parking the most is evenings and weekends when it's busy."
Still in the design phase, full construction on the parking garage is scheduled to begin in 2027, with an anticipated opening in early 2029.
Source: City of Georgetown/Community Impact
Street patio and sidewalk cafe pilot
Building on temporary outdoor seating introduced under COVID-19 emergency orders, a new city program will officially regulate street patios and sidewalk cafes.
The two-year pilot will allow businesses in and around the downtown square to construct enclosed seating infrastructure for dining or shopping outside of physical storefronts.
Business owners can already submit applications for internal review, allowing construction to start as soon as the pilot program receives final approval.
Drafted following multiple council feedback workshops, the ordinance is scheduled for its first reading Oct. 27, with final adoption targeted on the consent agenda in November.
"Every single one of these things is going to be a sales tax generating machine. And that's the whole reason why I'm excited about them. Every square foot down there in the downtown area generates sales tax revenue off the charts."
—Josh Schroeder, Georgetown mayor
One more thing
In addition to signage, parking and street cafes, design and planning work continue on other public infrastructure projects included in the Downtown Master Plan.
The city grouped together the historic square enhancement project with Austin Avenue enhancements to streamline planning. These projects will widen downtown sidewalks, which will create more accessible pedestrian paths and accommodate the outdoor seating initiative, according to city documents.
Both are in the active design phase, with plans to begin construction in the next one to two years.
City officials are also focused on revitalizing Blue Hole Park and created a master plan to revitalize the park in response to community demand, McAuliffe said.
