For developer Tommy Spinosa, a recently announced deal to bring Austin-based hipster movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse to his Rouzan development is a big win, says Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel in her latest column.
“Rouzan has been dogged by controversy for years, due in part to neighborhood opposition, and in part to the developer’s own financial problems,” Riegel writes. “The economic downturn in 2009 and 2010 didn’t help matters. Then, in early 2013 Spinosa’s deal with the library board fell apart, and what was supposed to be one of Rouzan’s crown jewels became yet another black eye for the developer.”
In the past year, however, Riegel says the TND’s fortunes have begun to turn. Residential sales have picked up. Level Construction recently purchased 21 lots and is already building on them. Now Village Center, the commercial portion of the development, is finally about to get off the ground—with a trendy, cool anchor tenant, no less.
“But just because Alamo Drafthouse is a great concept doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a great fit for Rouzan, which is an issue the Planning Commission will have to visit in the coming weeks,” Riegel notes. “Though the cinema and its adjacent multistory parking garage fit with the provisions of the TND zoning ordinance approved last spring by the Metro Council specifically for Rouzan, the Planning Commission still needs to OK the details of the theater project.”
Riegel says chances are it will get approval, but adds there are several issues the commission needs to consider carefully. Read the full column. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
