About half of the upcoming St. Elmo Public Market in South Austin is pre-leased to a variety of food and beverage retailers as shell and core construction finally nears completion, developers said.

The mixed-use project’s centerpiece — a 40,000-square-foot market space crafted out of a 1950s warehouse and former bus manufacturing facility for Austin schools — is expected to be turned over to tenants for buildout in April, said Matt Roy, one of the developers of the project. It has been likened to the Pike Place Market in Seattle. The St. Elmo market, which is south of Ben White Boulevard and bounded by Industrial Boulevard and South Congress Avenue, will open before the end of 2020, according to
developers. Construction began in early 2018.

Brandon Bolin — partner with Addison, Texas-based Maker Bros. Inc., the lead developer of the project — said tenants have their own buildout schedules, but all are expected to open in the third quarter of the year. The 12.5-acre site will also be home to a 385-unit apartment complex to the north of the public market and connected by a landscaped space for special events such as festivals and farmer’s markets and a pedestrian thoroughfare lined with Spanish sycamore trees. To the south of the market will be a 105,000-square-foot office building. A plaza and playscapes will be installed at the front entrance of the market. A parking garage will also be constructed on the site.

READ FULL ARTICLE >>