The corridor between Lakeline Mall Drive and SH 45 has seen development increase in the past 24 months, creating a rise in commercial occupancy rates and potential construction of new businesses.

The boom followed the November 2006 opening of SH 45 and the March 2007 opening of Toll 183A.

David Simmonds, principal at Lakeline Mall Plaza manager Retail Solutions, said the area is perfectly situated for potential customers who pass through from Central Texas.

“When [SH] 45 was put in, for the first time people from Round Rock had a highway that went directly to a mall,” Simmonds said, referring to Lakeline Mall. “To the north you have Cedar Park and Leander. To the west you have Four Points and Steiner Ranch and Lakeway. To the east, Round Rock, Pflugerville and Hutto. … [The intersection is] now a core market for Austin.”

The junction serves as a main thoroughfare for Austin, Cedar Park and Round Rock drivers. New commercial retail and residential development is underway in the area, including Sam’s Club, which opened in April, and luxury apartment complex LIV Whitestone, which is expected to complete 340 units in early June.

New businesses are also filling vacancies that have been empty for months at The Hub at Research & 45 and Lakeline Mall Plaza centers, such as a Total Wine & More store that will open by summer in a 38,000-square-foot space that sat empty for about eight years.

Meanwhile, commercial landowners are eyeing sites along the westbound SH 45 access road and North Lake Creek Parkway. Buyers are drawn to the area’s dense mix of living spaces and businesses, said Austin McWilliams, senior vice president of one landowner’s representative, JLL Retail.

“The Lakeline trade area is a mature market,” McWilliams said. “However, in the last 24 months [the area] has seen further development due to its unique characteristics—regional intersection, dense residential [and] office populations, mature retail development and [increasing] land available for development.”

Lakeline Mall Plaza fills vacancies

Vacancies at Lakeline Mall Plaza in Austin are filling up after some suites have been empty for a year or longer.

The new arrivals will boost the plaza’s occupancy rate from about 82 percent about two years ago to about 97 percent, said David Simmonds, principal of plaza manager Retail Solutions.

Simmonds said the newcomers are facing several challenges to catch up to population growth.

“Austin just doesn’t have enough space on the market,” he said. “It’s a result of the Great Recession [and] a result of the city of Austin’s development process and construction process being so arduous and more difficult.”

Total Wine & More will open its second Austin location this summer in the former Toys R Us location in Lakeline Mall Plaza at 11066 Pecan Park Blvd., Ste. 117. The Potomac, Maryland-based chain store will have walk-in wine and beer coolers, demonstration areas and tasting stations as well as classrooms that can be used for wine classes and nonprofit groups, said Ed Cooper, vice president of public affairs and community relations with Total Wine & More.

Remodeling began in late April on the 38,000-square-foot space, which was vacant for more than a year after Toys R Us closed. Other vacancies in the area will also be filled this summer, including an undisclosed tenant taking over the former Ulta Beauty spot in Suite 303, Simmonds said.

Ulta Beauty moved out of its space between Best Buy and Ross Dress for Less, and the spot was vacant for about six months before the new tenant signed a lease in April, Simmonds said.

In April, Sylvan Learning moved from Suite 207 to Suite 203 in Lakeline Mall Plaza, which was left vacant by the now-closed Family Christian Stores. Simmonds said the relocation left Suite 207 open for a new Dress Barn women’s clothing shop,

Buyers eye SH 45 and N. Lake Creek Parkway properties

Four buyers are pursuing purchases of about 10 undeveloped acres in the area, said Austin McWilliams, senior vice president of JLL Retail. The group represents Chattanooga-based property owner CBL & Associates Properties Inc.

McWilliams said he cannot yet disclose the four buyers’ names or what the properties could become. One potential buyer is a publicly traded company, he said.

One tract is located between North Lake Creek Parkway and the new Sam’s Club, and three tracts border the westbound SH 45 access road. All the sites are undeveloped and zoned for commercial highway use, which allows for a variety of business and office uses, McWilliams said.

Sam’s Club opens

Growth in Leander, Cedar Park and Austin drew Sam’s Club to build a fifth store in Austin, Club Manager Maurice May said.

The big-box retailer opened the 134,464-square-foot store April 16 at 10901 Lakeline Mall Drive after construction delays prevented an opening date originally scheduled for November. Sam’s Club is a Wal-Mart division that offers groceries, clothing, electronic goods, furniture and books as well as medical care options for member businesses and individuals.

“This is the newer format for the Sam’s Club,” May said. “This [building] is the gold standard.”

May said the store also includes energy-efficient devices, such as interior lights that automatically dim in response to the amount of exterior light coming through its skylight windows.

The Lakeline Mall Drive store has 175 employees—25 transferees from other stores and 150 new hires from Austin, Cedar Park, Leander and Round Rock. May said the store will likely draw customers from throughout Central Texas who find the location convenient. Businesses on RM 620 also expressed interest in the new Sam’s before it opened, he said.

David Simmonds, principal at Lakeline Mall Plaza owner Retail Solutions, said he expects the new Sam’s may serve as a destination that draws a wider customer base to the crossroads.

“It benefits everybody on the intersection,” Simmonds said.

LIV Whitestone completing construction

By June 1 construction will be complete on the new LIV Whitestone luxury apartment complex, almost a year after the project began opening to renters in summer 2014.

About 100 residents are living at the 20-acre complex that will offer 16 buildings with 340 units upon completion, said Emilie Schernik, LIV Whitestone assistant community manager. The complex is the first Austin project by Birmingham, Alabama-based LIV Development. Schernik said the complex is within an Austin ZIP code, 78717, and is perfectly situated.

“You have so much drive-by traffic,” Schernik said. “This location was prime just because it’s actually Austin. … We get a lot of foot traffic because we’re in the Round Rock school district. And everyone else around here is [in] Cedar Park and Leander.”

She said residents have been drawn to the apartments’ amenities, including a car wash, chef and fitness center, and the apartments’ proximity to a variety of cities and businesses. Employees of some nearby businesses receive discounted leases, and several employees from the nearby Sam’s Club and The Hub at Research & 45 businesses live at the complex, Schernik said.

“We’re basically a small, little community [in the crossroads area],” she said. “Every business owner knows each other.”

The Hub at Research & 45 remodels

In 2015 new businesses have filled almost all vacancies at The Hub at Research & 45 plaza.

Newcomers include Charlotte’s Saddlery, Austin Soccer Apparel and Mega Furniture as well as Man Pasand Supermarket, an Indian food store that plans to open in late spring.

Colin Hodges, leasing broker with The Hub property manager Sandalwood Management, said new tenants could arrive within the next six months and include a real estate office in Suite D-190, a Daawat Indian Cuisine in Suite C-5 and a Dogtopia dog day care in Suite C-4.

Hodges said The Hub plaza’s owner, Delaware-based Leeward Property Management, spent about $5 million remodeling The Hub during the past two years, ending with a new exterior for the center. The remodeling, along with delays in Austin building permits, have led to the recent growth in new businesses, Hodges said.

Larger businesses that have announced their projects in the crossroads area have also promoted other retail, he said.

“Having the Sam’s built behind us draws more traffic to [The Hub] center,” Hodges said. “That H-E-B that they put in up there [on Lakeline Boulevard], that was a home run.”

Charlotte’s store manager Missy Raisbeck said the crossroads area was a natural choice for the store. She and her husband, co-owner Mark Raisbeck, considered moving to Austin for several years before they settled on the Toll 183A area.

“[The location] has been even better than we thought it would be,” Missy Raisbeck said.