Austinites to get a chance to review Green plant proposals

The public will have the chance to review proposals for the largest redevelopment opportunity ever for downtown Austin.

Redevelopment proposals for the five city block Thomas C. Green Water Treatment Plant and the adjoining Austin Energy Control Center will be presented to the Austin City Council on May 22. The two properties total about 6.1 acres.

Public presentations by the five firms that have submitted redevelopment proposals will begin at 1 p.m. at City Hall during the City Council's regular Thursday meeting.

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The five firms that have submitted proposals to purchase and redevelop the soon-to-be decommissioned plant include: Cleveland, Ohio-based Forest City; Austin-based Stratus Properties; Denver-based Catellus Development; Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co.; and Austin-based Simmons Vedder Partners.

The proposals vary significantly in vision and scope, but all call for about 1,000 apartments and condos, and hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail and office space. Proposed components include a two-story HEB grocery store, with H.E. Butt Grocery Co. acting as a limited partner in the project; a movie theater; a bookstore; a 250-unit senior assisted living facility and a waterfront art park.

The firms will provide informational displays in the lobby of City Hall for public viewing through May 30. Visitors may submit comments during that time.

Information about the proposals will also be on the city of Austin's Seaholm District Web site with opportunity to provide comments atwww.cityofaustin.org/seaholm

The Seaholm redevelopment is a $117.2 million mixed-use redevelopment led by Southwest Strategies Inc. that was approved by City Council in April.

City leaders have said the Seaholm redevelopment and the Green Water Treatment Plant redevelopment will reinvigorate southwest portions of downtown, provide links from Cesar Chavez to the city's traffic grid and extend the New Urbanist vision of the city-financed Second Street Retail District.

The Seaholm redevelopment calls for a 22-story hotel, 60 condo units, 130,000 square feet of office space and 50,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. The 150,000-square-foot decommissioned power plant will be the centerpiece of the 7.8-acre property across Cesar Chavez Street from Lady Bird Lake.

The City Council intends to select the winning proposal for the Green Water Treatment Plant in June and negotiate the sales price shortly after. The appraised value of the land is $55.5 million.

The decommissioning and deconstruction of the plant is expected to be finished by February 2010, with construction beginning shortly after.