Representatives for the developer of Great Hills Market met with residents Wednesday night for the second of three meetings to answer questions and provide information about the proposed redevelopment of the retail center and movie theater. The third meeting is set for Dec. 4 at 6:30 p.m. at Triumphant Love Lutheran Church, 9508 Great Hills Trail, Austin. The proposed redevelopment of the 154,886-square-foot retail center located at 9828 Great Hills Trail, Austin, would happen in two phases. The first phase would include building 372 apartment units and adding up to 10,000 square feet of retail and 16,000 square feet of restaurant space on the sites of the Regal Arbor 8 @ Great Hills theater and Manuel’s Mexican Restaurant. The second phase would affect the rest of the retail center, anchored by T.J. Maxx and Petco with several local and chain retail and restaurant shops. HERE ARE FOUR THINGS TO KNOW: 1. The zoning change case will likely be postponed again to the Dec. 14 Austin City Council meeting. The property received a recommendation for approval Oct. 17 from the city’s zoning and platting commission to change the zoning from general retail and limited office to commercial services with vertical mixed use to allow residential. The property’s existing zoning allows for the construction of 60-foot-tall buildings and the new zoning would not change that. The case was initially slated to head to council in early November but was postponed to the Dec. 7 council meeting. Amanda Swor, director of entitlements and policy with Austin-based real estate law firm Drenner Group, said she is working with city staff to postpone the case again to Dec. 14 to allow for the developer to respond to questions from residents. Residents may contact the City Council District 10 office with further questions by emailing [email protected]. Residents may also sign up for updates on the project here. 2. The Regal Arbor 8 @ Great Hills cinema is likely to be demolished no matter what happens with the zoning change case. Tony Chron, who also represents the developer, Great Hills Retail Inc., owned by the state of Florida, said keeping or incorporating a new movie theater into the project isn’t economically feasible. “The future of retail is not known, so don’t know how long these stores will last or how long the theater will last,” he said. “… When [Regal’s] lease runs out [in 2020], we’re at their mercy.” Regal Entertainment Group closed its theater at Lakeline Mall last December. Furthermore, Swor said the zoning change would only allow the developer to add residential use to the site and that the center could be redeveloped under current zoning with commercial uses. Several residents at Wednesday’s meeting expressed disappointment in the eventual demolition of the theater, which hosts screenings for the Polish and Jewish film festivals in Austin, among other events. “It just makes my heart ache that the theater is going away,” Mountain View neighborhood resident Steve Rice said. “We’ve been going there for 20 years. It’s just part of the fabric of the neighborhood.” 3. The goal of redevelopment is not to build another Domain. Chron said the developer hired a multifamily market research firm based in Seattle to help with gathering information on what would be most competitive in the area. “We want to distinguish ourselves from The Domain because it’s not the right atmosphere,” he said. “It’s the people who are tired of that scene. They don’t want the party life or to be in The Domain. We see this as much more mature. We’re targeting outdoorsy people who will take advantage of parks and walkability.” The proposed mixed-use building would have retail on the first floor and four floors of residential with a mix of studio and one- and two-bedroom units. However, some residents were concerned about the lack of units for families. Rice said he does not want to see the site entirely devoted toward millennials and young singles. “The family orientation of the neighborhood seems to be going away, too,” he said. “… You’re really putting burden on the ability of the environment to support families.” 4. The traffic impact of the proposed new development is about 3,000 more vehicles per day. The retail center currently generates about 8,800 vehicle trips per day, and it is estimated the new development would generate about 11,500 trips per day, according to data from the traffic impact analysis completed for Phase 1 of the site. The traffic study did take into account the future Overture Arboretum senior living facility under construction across the street at 10600 Jollyville Road, Austin. The developer is responsible for any traffic mitigations based on the new development's effect on traffic. However, Dan Hennessey with Big Red Dog engineering firm said the impact on turning movements was so low that the city of Austin wouldn’t receive much funding from the developer for new turn lanes. He added that there also wasn’t any room to add new lanes. The best option was to provide the city with money to update the timing of traffic signals at six intersections, he said. These six intersections are at Great Hills and Jollyville Road; Great Hills and the two US 183 frontage roads; Jollyville and Braker Lane; and Braker and the two US 183 frontage roads. Signal improvements would be completed after Phase 1 is complete.