Georgetown officials will move forward with plans to bring 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space to the upcoming second downtown parking garage.
City Council members and Downtown and Tourism Director Kim McAuliffe discussed plans for the site at East Ninth and South Main streets at a Sept. 22 City Council workshop meeting.
About the project
The city is partnering with the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool to construct a parking garage at the current Red Poppy surface lot. It will feature approximately 11,500 square feet of retail space fronting Ninth Street and another 4,500 square feet along Main Street, according to initial conceptual plans.
The city does not intend to act as a retail landlord or directly manage retail leases, but rather attract a development partner to manage the private businesses, McAuliffe said.
The options
City staff and council members discussed two ways to structure the partnership:
The city leases the ground-floor space to a developer in a long-term agreement.
The city creates a separate commercial condominium unit inside the garage building that a developer could purchase or manage.
City Council voted to issue a Request for Proposals or Request for Qualifications, inviting both local and regional developers to pitch creative proposals and business terms.
Choosing a partner quickly will allow the selected developer to give input on the garage’s design alongside the city and TML before construction starts, officials said.
“That's why us getting this out the door and working through the process right now quickly so that we have someone onboarding this part of the design process with the Risk Pool is important,” City Manager David Morgan said.
The history
The city opened its first downtown parking garage at Austin Avenue and Sixth Street in November 2025, which added 315 parking spaces to the area.
The first parking garage was planned as a part of the city’s 2024 downtown master plan, according to previous Community Impact reporting. That plan also calls for a second downtown parking garage to support growing pedestrian and parking demands, according to city documents.
In case you missed it
TML and its intergovernmental risk pool decided to move their headquarters to 205 E. University Ave., Georgetown—the former Wesleyan building—in October 2025. The TML risk pool plans to renovate the site into the Texas Municipal Center, with flexible office space and technology upgrades.
