February 11, 2020

Elgin-based Southside Market and Barbeque is aiming to open in the Hutto Co-op district by July, said Tom Abney, the restaurant’s director of operations.

“Today I ordered a big barbecue pit and we are hoping we can hire 50 Hutto folks to come work at Southside in the next few months,” he said.

Abney spoke at a Hutto City Council meeting on Thursday. The Co-op District is on the north side of U.S. 79 just west of downtown Hutto.

The city bought the Co-Op property, which includes a cotton gin and cotton silos, for $2 million in 2004.

It gave the property to MA Partners, which built an $8 million City Hall and is creating a retail, restaurant, office and residential district with $400 million worth of private investment, the city has said.

The expense of the PID, over the lifetime of the project, is expected to cost between $10.5 and $12 million total, with net proceeds listed at closer to $8.5 million, according to Bob Wunsch of MA Partners.

Two million dollars for offsite wastewater improvements would come from the PID, according to presentations made by Jessica Geray, Hutto’s director of economic development. which would extend existing water infrastructure to the site. A traffic signal placed at FM 1660 and Mager Lane would be placed at an entrance to the development, which would also connect East Street and Main Street to Limmer Loop.

The project, Wunsch said, would be completed in one or two phases; if two phases are required, Wunsch added that the second construction cycle would begin 60 days after the first phase’s completion.

“As long as this isn’t done before the Co-Op, we’re okay,” said Mayor Doug Gaul, with a laugh.