DOWNTOWN
City council proposes moving
APD headquarters north

By Thom White

AUSTIN August 28, 2008 -- While city officials like Betty Dunkerley and Sheryl Cole have been able to cobble together funds through bond debt and anticipated property tax revenue to fund the Waller Creek storm water bypass tunnel, the city is floating the idea of bringing in more immediate capital by selling the police headquarters and municipal courthouse along the I-35 access road between 8th and 7th Streets to private developers. These city-owned properties are in the heart of the Waller Creek district.

Police headquarters and the courthouse would both be moved to a soon-to-be closed Home Depot along IH-35 at the St. John's exit. This land is located in what used to be far-north Austin, but now is a central location in the Austin / Round Rock metropolitan area. Home Depot sold the property because the company is set to open a smaller, more upscale home improvement warehouse in the Mueller Airport redevelopment.

The Austin Chronicle's Michael King reported (10/19/07) how (in what he described as an "under the radar" manner) the City Council authorized negotiations to purchase the Home Depot and 14 surrounding acres, saying they planned to build a Northeast Austin police substation and a new municipal courthouse.

Certain public advocacy groups complained that this authorization to move the municipal court (which is visited by over 400,000 people each year) was preceded by no public hearings, even though this location could be much more difficult to get to for many residents, especially by public transportation.

City real estate manager Lauraine Rizer told the Chronicle, "In order to meet the parameters of the bond appropriations -- $16 million for the courthouse, $7 million for the APD substation … staff needed to find a site with a finished, high-ceiling building on a major corridor that could be redesigned for the city's purposes, with 450 parking spaces, and within 10 minutes of Downtown by car. Building a new building would cost $300 to $350 per square foot, Rizer said -- the Home Depot site (building and land) is estimated at $65 per square foot."

According to the Austin American-Statesman (5/17/08), city council members Sheryl Cole, Mike Martinez, and Mayor Will Wynn, proposed a resolution to have city manager Marc Ott carry out a study on the costs and benefits of moving police headquarters, and selling the buildings and parking garages to private groups to redevelop.

KXAN news reported (5/19/08) on the reasons to totally move APD's headquarters up north:

Headquarters for the Austin Police Department sits along Interstate 35 at 715 E. Eighth St, but the city is considering a property it purchased near the interstate and St. John's Avenue, currently a Home Depot.

Austin police said they look to move out of their cramped space downtown, outgrowing a building from 1982. … City leaders also want to explore how much Austin could profit from the police department's land. The buildings sit on prime property near a future Riverwalk-style development around Waller Creek.

"We know that the police station is in bad shape, so we need to consider moving it, so that we can evaluate the property and what we're going to do long term," said City Council Member Sheryl Cole.

Full-scale redevelopment of this area of town has certain clubs in the Red River district (right across Waller Creek from APD headquarters) a little concerned about "long-term viability" in their current location.

Clubs on the east side of Red River (Elysium, Beerland, Red Eyed Fly, along with several places along 7th St.) that are in older, formerly industrial, automotive, or agricultural warehouses, now face the prospect that their buildings will be sold and demolished to make way for the dreamy Waller Creek River Walk (see article here).