The Allandale Reporter

This is not over!

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.

Northcross Redevelopment in the News

Today's Austin American-Statesman has a front-page article in the Business section on the the Northcross Redevelopment. The article talks about the formation of the Responsible Growth for Northcross, a group that has organized to oppose Wal-Mart in the development (info on upcoming meeting). It mentions the outcome of our survey, includes a quote from ANA's president, Gretchen Vaden, interviewed a resident who supports having the Wal-Mart, and a store owner who is opposed to it. Here's a link to the article.

Why Isn't ANA Doing Anything to Stop Wal-Mart?

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.

Wal-Mart - Not in Our Neighborhood

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.

How to Make Northcross a Huge Success

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.

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Like everything in life all good things must come to an end, so last Friday night at Burger Stadium the McCallum Knights 2006 football season came to that end. The Knights hosted the Montgomery Bears from District 18 in a first round playoff game, and when the final siren whined the Knights were on the short end of the score 28 to 21. (Continue reading "All Things Must Come...)

Allandale Neighborhood Association meeting with Lincoln Property & Wal-Mart Nov 15 2006

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.

Northcross Redevelopment - 1st Look

Here's the elevation of the Northcross redevelopment that was shown to the Allanddale neighborhood at last night's meeting with representatives from Lincoln Properties. The development will  include a 200,000 foot Wal-Mart, a Walgreens, a new Chaparral Ice Rink along with many of the existing stores. The Wal-Mart will go in where the current Sports Authority is. Many of the existing tenants of the mall will be moved to a redeveloped mall on the east side where Beall's currently is. Walgreens will  sit out in front facing Anderson Ln. The Wal-Mart multi-level  parking lot is the building facing Anderson Lane at the bottom of the elevation. Wal-Mart sits behind it. We will provide you with a full report on what we learned from last night's meeting later.

Shoal Creek Sidewalk Update

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.

Knights Cap Off Outstanding District Season

The McCallum Knights finished their regular season last Friday night at House Park when they played host to the Crockett Cougars. When the final whistle sounded the Knights walked away with a 41 to 13 victory, and an undefeated district season. (Continue reading Knights Cap Off...)