HATCHERY NEWS
Catching Up With the Hatchery, Transforming East Austin’s RBJ Center
by James Rambin
TOWERS
August 7, 2020
A little more than two years after its official groundbreaking, the expansive redevelopment of the Rebekah Baines Johnson Center is making visible progress in East Austin. Soon, we’ll be calling it the Hatchery — and along with the construction of new market-rate residential, retail, and office space at the 17.8-acre site just southeast of downtown, its existing 250 units of low-income senior housing will be renovated and then doubled with an additional 250 affordable senior apartments.
The vision of Momark Development, Southwest Strategies Group, and Diana McIver & Associates, the renovation of the original 1972 tower — which will soon be rebranded as the Rebekah, after the center’s namesake Rebekah Baines Johnson — along with the considerable expansion of new buildings surrounding it is a lot to take in, even from the air.
… Split into three phases of construction, in addition to its 500 senior residences the master-planned development will eventually host more than 250 market-rate residential units, 176,000 square feet of Class A office space, 16,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, a community garden and “food forest” just west of the original RBJ tower, and “Hatchery Park,” a public plaza located near the corner of Haskell and Waller Streets. Here’s a map of everything headed to the site, including a new headquarters for classical radio station KMFA 89.5.
… Shannon says the Weaver appeals to a demographic of Austinites that appreciate its peaceful environment despite its stone’s-throw location from downtown proper — and that’s always been the public appeal of both the RBJ Center area and surrounding parks around Festival Beach, potential that will soon be explored with nearby improvements like the Holly Project and Longhorn Dam Pedestrian Bridge.
https://austin.towers.net/catching-up-with-the-hatchery-transforming-east-austins-rbj-center/
KMFA 89.5 announces permanent home to be built at new East Austin development
Press Release
Media Contacts:
David Wyatt or Laura Bowman
Elizabeth Christian Public Relations
(512) 472-9599
DWyatt@EChristianPR.com or LBowman@EChristianPR.com
June 27, 2019
18,000-square-foot facility to open late 2020;
will feature live music studio and community event areas
AUSTIN, Texas—After broadcasting from leased space for 52 years, KMFA 89.5—the oldest independent all-classical station in Texas—is getting a new permanent home.
The public radio station has purchased land adjacent to the Rebekah Baines Johnson Center (RBJ Center) as part of a to-be-named, mixed-use development just east of Interstate 35 on the north shore of Lady Bird Lake. The planned 18,000-square-foot building will triple the size of the current KMFA studios and will allow for new amenities including performance and recording spaces.
… The freestanding KMFA building will be a centerpiece of the development, which is being planned with an “urban village” feel. In addition to KMFA, the community hub will include the RBJ Center, which provides affordable housing for seniors; retail; offices, and market rate rentals on its 17.8-acre site at 21 Waller Street. Developers are Southwest Strategies, DMA Development and Momark Development.
https://sightlinesmag.org/kmfa-89-5-to-build-new-permanent-home
Downtown Austin development update: affordable senior housing, luxury office move in
Community Impact Newspaper
by Emma Freer
August 16, 2018
Terry Mitchell, president of Austin firm Momark Development, presented on the renovation Rebekah Baines Johnson Senior Center, an affordable senior housing development located on the north shore of Lady Bird Lake at Waller Street.
Operated by the Austin Geriatric Center, the RBK Senior Center currently includes a 16-story tower. The renovation involves the addition of a five-story wrap-around building, which will include 279 new units of affordable senior housing—bringing the total up to 504—when it is finished in June 2022.
According to Mitchell, the project has faced some challenges—long waits for permits, zoning restrictions and a large number of heritage trees on site that need to be accommodated for in the design.
When completed, however, the senior center will provide housing options for Austin residents making up to 60 percent of the median family income. It will also include a ground-floor retail plaza that will serve the community at large.
Austin Geriatric Center begins renovation of East Austin senior center
Community Impact Newspaper
by Emma Freer
July 15 2018
The Austin Geriatric Center broke ground on the Rebekah Baines Johnson Senior Center May 1.
The project, located on the north shore of Lady Bird Lake at 21 Waller St., Austin, includes a renovation of the existing 16-story tower and the addition of a five-story wraparound building, which will include 279 new units of affordable housing for seniors.
The work is expected to be completed by June 2022.
RBJ Center in Texas Begins Renovation, Redevelopment
MHN - Multi-Housing News
by Anca Gagiuc
May 8, 2018
Rebekah Baines Johnson Center, a 16-story residential tower located at 21 Waller St. in Austin, Texas, is currently undergoing renovations and will be expanded through the addition of a five-story building with 279 affordable apartments for seniors. Behind the project are local developers DMA Development, Momark Development and Southwest Strategies Group.
... The nonprofit Austin Geriatric Center founded the RBJ Center during the Lyndon Johnson presidency in 1972, naming it after the former President’s mother. On the 17.8 acres it occupies, there used to be a fish hatchery. President Johnson’s concept for the location was ahead of its time in 1969, when it broke ground—to create a continuum of housing and healthcare for older people and to include independent apartment units and nursing beds.
The infrastructure part of the project is estimated to take approximately six to seven months and the construction on the new senior housing property is scheduled to begin in late 2018.
Images courtesy of DMA Development
https://www.multihousingnews.com/post/rbj-center-in-texas-begins-renovation-redevelopment
Groundbreaking begins expansion of RBJ senior facility
American-Statesman Staff
by Connor Brown
May 1, 2018
Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman
The Austin Geriatric Center began a development and renovation project for its Rebekah Baines Johnson Center on Tuesday, which plans to provide 504 newly renovated affordable housing units for seniors by 2022.
The project will feature a five-story, wraparound building with 250 additional units for seniors and a renovation of the existing 245 units in the center’s 16-story tower.
Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson and the granddaughter of Rebekah Baines Johnson, attended the groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday.
Senior residents living in the center will be relocated to the new units upon completion while the tower undergoes renovations. Residents will have the option to move back into the tower or stay in their units following the renovations.
... “If I am blessed to make it to heaven,” Luci Baines Johnson said Tuesday, “I hope to say to Daddy, ‘Look! Austin has made your fondest dreams for RBJ to come true — and they have even out-dreamed you.”
Groundbreaking
May 1, 2018
Rebekah Baines Johnson Redevelopment
Ground Breaking Ceremony
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
10:00 am
Project kicks off to remake RBJ Center for seniors
American-Statesman Staff
by Shonda Novak
April 30, 2018
A redevelopment project that will double the amount of affordable senior housing at the Rebekah Baines Johnson Center just east of Interstate 35 is set to break ground Tuesday.
... The redevelopment project, to be carried out in phases over the next five years, will bring to 500 the number of affordable senior housing apartments on the 17.8-acre site just north of Lady Bird Lake.
... As part of a master-plan for the RBJ site, a five-story building will be added that will wrap around the existing tower at 21 Waller St., Saldaña said. The new building, which will take about two years to construct, will have 279 affordable apartments for seniors, plus a 412-space parking garage and numerous amenities, including a fitness center and theater.
Expansion of independent senior living high-rise will double units
kxan.com
by Phil Prazan
April 30, 2018
The Austin Geriatric Center, the nonprofit in charge of the Rebekah Baines Johnson Center, will break ground Tuesday on an expansion plan that will double the number of units and renovate the 16-story building in east Austin.
... "Unlike a lot of projects that you do. This is a project about people," said David Stauch, the project manager of the renovation and expansion.
He says it was very difficult to get an affordable housing project of this size started near downtown Austin. City tax dollars, housing tax credits and selling excess green space for private housing units and commercial use all will generate more than $60 million for the project.
"A lot of people have said, well, why don't you take these old folks and move them out to Manor or move them somewhere else. They're actually right here in the middle of town. We're taking care of them and we're doubling the affordable housing right here next to downtown," said Stauch.
The project will be completed within two to three years.
Finally, East Austin’s RBJ Center Redevelopment Will Begin in 2018
TOWERS
by Adolfo Pesquera
January 17, 2018
A view of the residential tower building at the RBJ Center site. Photo by James Rambin. https://austin.towers.net/finally-east-austins-rbj-center-redevelopment-will-begin-in-2018/ via @austintowers
This week, Momark Development and Southwest Strategies Group, the site’s owner/developer team, had their general contractor line up subcontractors for the project — meaning actual construction isn’t too far down the road. According to various documents outlining the RBJ Center’s redevelopment, the first phase of the project is referred to as Block C, with its site located on the southeastern end of the existing campus. Austin-based Davies Collaborative is this project’s architect, with Blu Fish Collaborative handling landscape architecture.
When all is said and done, further phases of development described in these documents could eventually bring 787 new residential units to the site, with affordable senior housing and market-rate units included, but for now, the Block C project appears to be the first stage of construction we can expect in the near future.
https://austin.towers.net/finally-east-austins-rbj-center-redevelopment-will-begin-in-2018