Austin Residents Won't Be Boxed In

On Tuesday, January 21, almost all of the approximately 200 Austin, Texas, city residents at a community forum gave a proposed development that would bring Borders Books & Music to downtown Austin a resounding thumbs down, as reported by the Austin American-Statesman.

The community forum, held at La Zona Rosa music club, was organized by Liveable City, a local, nonprofit community organization. The goal was to give community residents a chance to voice their opinions on new development planned for Sixth and Lamar in downtown Austin. The proposed plan would include a Borders located across the street from two popular independent retailers, BookPeople bookstore and Waterloo Records. Two of Austin's city council members spoke at the meeting, Will Wynn and Raul Alverez.

"The meeting was really positive -- to see several hundred people there supportive of BookPeople and Waterloo," Steve Bercu, owner of BookPeople, told BTW. "They were unanimously opposed to big box retail in this part of town."

Schlosser Development Corporation has been planning to develop the area between Sixth Street and Lamar in downtown Austin for almost a decade. Initially, plans had called for a pedestrian plaza, but when one of the key tenants backed out, Schlosser brought in Borders as a tenant. Both Bercu and Waterloo Records are concerned that Schlosser will receive public funding from the city for a retail center that will be anchored by national chains. The city allocated $2.1 million in incentives, of which Schlosser has already spent about $700,000, as previously reported in BTW. (http://news.bookweb.org/read/1020) However, because the company's original plan changed, Schlosser must reapply for the remaining incentives.

Already, Bercu noted, only one block away from the proposed development, on Fifth and Lamar, is a Schlosser-planned development with an Office Max, AT&T phone store, and a Starbucks, located in a single, square building with ample parking.

In the hopes of encouraging a development that would highlight local, independent businesses located in a pedestrian friendly plaza, Liveable City commissioned, and, in December, released an economic study indicating that local merchants contribute significantly more money to the local economy than do retail chains. The study reported that local retailers return more than three times as much economic value back to the community than do chain retailers such as Borders.

However, the city council remains undecided on whether or not Schlosser will receive the remaining incentives. Bercu noted that the issue has become clouded by a number of factors. For one, Schlosser has divided the Sixth and Lamar proposal into two plans, "Block 1" and "Block 2." Block 1 calls for bringing in Whole Foods, a large, local food retailer to the development. The second block is the plan calling for a Border's. "The situation is now muddled," he explained, because "[Schlosser] is currently seeking incentives for [Block 1]; then, later they will seek incentives for Border's."

Secondly, the criteria for what developments receive city incentives are based on Austin's "Smart Growth" initiative, a plan meant to encourage development in the central city and slow down suburban sprawl. The overall goals of the initiative are to determine how and where Austin grows, and to improve both the quality of life in Austin and the city's tax base. Proposed developments are scored on this criteria to determine whether or not they receive financial incentives.

At the meeting, council member Wynne noted that the city needs to revisit the Smart Growth criteria and see how it fits with Schlosser's proposed plan. "He thinks [the city council] needs to rethink the Smart Growth criteria," Bercu said. "They might need a different criteria, such as taking a look at the local economic impact, or the cultural value."

How that may affect Schlosser's bid for incentives was still not clear, Bercu said, though he stressed, "I don't think [Schlosser's proposed plan] meets the Smart Growth criteria."

A third factor is Schlosser's need to acquire a bank loan to build the building, said Bercu. "The developer needs a credited tenant to get a loan from the bank," he explained. "Generally, that means a larger retailer or a business that is well known. It's much easier to get five bigger tenants than 30 small ones." At the meeting, one person suggested having the city guarantee the loans of smaller businesses as a way of helping Schlosser get a loan without needing to secure a lease from a larger, credited tenant.

At Tuesday's meeting, residents of the area stressed that a chain store would negatively impact their quality of life. For instance, several members of the steering committee of the Old West Austin Neighborhood Association pointed out that if Schlosser were to create a development similar to the one it planned on Fifth and Lamar -- with a large parking lot enticing patrons to drive -- it would only compound Sixth and Lamar's already pronounced traffic problems. For that reason, they called for a development that was more pedestrian friendly, Bercu reported.

Almost all in attendance agreed. Many others simply stated that they preferred BookPeople and Waterloo to Borders, with one resident remarking how much the two stores have done to make the city special, as reported by the Austin American-Statesman.

"[The residents' comments] made me and [Waterloo owner] John Kunz feel great," Bercu said. "So many people said that they didn't want anything to threaten our businesses."

Both Borders and Schlosser had been invited to the community forum but did not have representatives in attendance. --David Grogan