Council gives final OK to 'Domain on Riverside'

The Austin City Council gave final approval late Thursday to building rule changes that pave the way for the redevelopment of five apartment complexes into a major mixed-use development.

The controversial project, which critics pejoratively call the "Domain on Riverside," will move forward along with its developers' promise to house 100 homeless people immediately as part of the deal.

The development — which will go by the name 4700 East Riverside and is spearheaded by developers Presidium and Nimes Real Estate — will eventually raze the Ballpark Apartments and neighboring complexes near the northeastern corner of Riverside Drive and Pleasant Valley Road. A spokeswoman for Presidium and Nimes Real Estate did not say when exactly construction will begin, but she estimated it should start in a few years.

The development will be built in phases over 10 to 20 years and is planned to bring housing, retail, restaurants, offices and a hotel to the 97-acre site. It could have up to 4,700 housing units, several million square feet of office space and hundreds of hotel rooms.

But it will come at the cost of bulldozing five student housing apartment complexes with hundreds of relatively affordable units on Riverside Drive.

"I don't feel like Austin is a place for regular people anymore," Austin resident Sophia Donnelly told the council. "It is just for the rich."

The vote was 6-3 with Council Members Greg Casar, Delia Garza and Leslie Pool against. Council Member Alison Alter abstained, and Council Member Kathie Tovo was off the dais.

The vote came late Thursday amid a din of protest chants from outside City Hall and public testimony from dozens who spoke against the development. For months, the project has faced opposition from the group Defend Our Hoodz.

But the carrot dangled by 4700 East Riverside's developers on the eve of the vote — a pledge to turn 100 units immediately into transitional housing for the homeless for up to five years and a $1.75 million investment to fund in-home health care and social workers to support those residents — helped push the development over the finish line.

The owners entered into an agreement with the Austin-based Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, which will handle the referrals to these units and will receive the $1.75 million.

Matt Mollica, the coalition's director, said his office hopes to begin moving people into the complexes next week.

"This is huge," Mollica said. "It is not going to solve homelessness and not going to resolve everyone's homelessness situation here in Austin, but it is going to help."

The council granted new land use rules that go beyond what was previously allowed on the five tracts. While several council members expressed reservations on approving the project, the threat that a lack of approval would lead to redevelopment of the complexes without any guaranteed affordable housing played heavily into its approval.

"This isn't my favorite project," Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison said. "I'll be honest about that."

The developers have promised that between 400 and 565 housing units will be affordable for people making 60% of Austin's median-family income.

Staff Writer Katie Hall contributed to this report.