submitted by Tom Linehan and Steven Zettner
It was standing room only by the time everyone finished filing in at tonight's Responsible Growth for Northcross meeting. The message was simple: Wal-Mart is not a done deal.
The meeting lasted a little over an hour and in that time organizers provided a background on the project, gave a status on where things stand, took questions, and laid out the plan for mobilizing oppostion. It concluded with people directed to one of 8 committee tables to volunteer. A petition was signed and donations taken.
Continue reading "This is not over!" »
submitted by Linda Huff
After observing that the survey produced by the ANA shows a significant majority of Allandale residents oppose the Wal-Mart, I felt compelled to write and express my concern as to why the ANA is not taking a lead in opposing the Wal-Mart based on the reasons in the the ANA charter: " to protect the neighborhood quality of life, safety, residential characteristics and property values."
Northcross, I believe, should have a grocery store but not a 220,000 square foot behemoth that will be unleasable if the store is later abandoned by Wal-Mart. In researching past Lincoln Property/Wal-Mart deals I became aware that these companies initially give a very low traffic flow impact, then, after they are in place and operating, they petition cities to expand the arterial roads to their complexes.
Continue reading "Why Isn't ANA Doing Anything to Stop Wal-Mart?" »
submitted by Tom Linehan
Area residents don't want Wal-Mart as an anchor tenant in the
planned Northcross redevelopment according to our online survey. Of the
260 responses, 69% or 180 people are against it, 17% (45 people)
are for it, and 13.5% (35 people) are undecided. (Click on image to see
full graph).

Here's a link to the full results (when the image appears, click on it to enlarge). The following are links to the "Other" responses for Questions two, three, and four.
The purpose of the survey was to get an idea of what residents
thought about Lincoln Properties' plans for the redevelopment of
Northcross Mall which includes a 2-story Wal-Mart.
Continue reading "Wal-Mart - Not in Our Neighborhood" »
submitted by Steven Zettner
Wham. Here comes
Wal-Mart. And this being central Austin,
the anti-Wal-Mart folks aren’t far behind. I’ve also heard from a few folks, many of them 40+ year residents of the
neighborhood, who welcome Wal-Mart’s convenience and low prices with open
arms. I think they are a minority, but
one we should certainly respect.
Continue reading "How to Make Northcross a Huge Success" »
submitted by Kay Newell
Lincoln Property Co. represented by Robert Dozier and Wes
Babb
Wal-Mart represented by Richard Suttle and Mark Aflatooni
In the past Lincoln Property Co
and MRO N Cross
Inc bid on
Northcross Mall - MRO had the winning
bid. Then came the tech bust and the
downturn for Northcross Mall. In 2006 Lincoln bid on Northcross Mall again and this time had the winning
bid.
Lincoln ran a Retail Void Analysis - the results show the area is
massively undersized for grocery. Two of the companies contacted by Lincoln about locating in Northcross were Whole Foods and HEB,
both declined the site. Lincoln hired an architect and engineer, and continued with their
development plans to remodel the existing mall. Lincoln began the City of Austin site plan process in Jan 2006, the site plan was approved
by the City of Austin in August 2006. Wal-Mart expressed an interest in becoming a tenant in Northcross this
summer and signed a lease in Nov 2006.
Continue reading "Allandale Neighborhood Association meeting with Lincoln Property & Wal-Mart Nov 15 2006" »
an email from Darryl Haba, the City's project manager on the Shoal Creek sidewalk project:
From: "Haba, Darryl"
<darryl.haba@ci.austin.tx.us
Date: November 15,
2006 7:48:33 AM CST
Just wanted to provide you with an update. All work
along Shoal Creek from 38th Street to Allandale is now complete. We have two sections of railing to install
once they come in from the fabrication plant but all sidewalk, ramps, and
retaining wall work is complete. The remainder of this week we will clean
up our staging areas south of Allandale and resod them if needed and do a general
“once over” of the area to make sure we have all our construction debris
cleaned up.
Continue reading "Shoal Creek Sidewalk Update" »