In 2018, when MA Partners LLC was starting construction on the 35-acre Hutto Co-Op District, partner Bob Wunsch said they decided the project would be phased out based on tenant demand.
A year earlier, the Carrollton-based developer entered into an agreement with the city of Hutto to turn the former agricultural site into a vibrant mixed-use district adjacent to their historic downtown. They started with a new City Hall and library, along with other public spaces. They then moved on to a wealth of retail sites that are now home to the likes of Southside Market, Top Notch Burgers and Jack Allen’s Kitchen. Visitors can now park in a new six-story garage.
While future phases are set to include more retail, multifamily elements, entertainment options and hotels, the developers pivoted to another use early in the build-out: they broke ground about a year ago on a four-story, 68,000-square-foot office building with ground-floor retail after they were approached by an unidentified Fortune 500 tenant.
It’s set to open soon, Wunsch said, and one tenant has already fully leased the second and third floors, with 17,000 square feet available on the fourth floor and 9,800 square feet of retail available on the bottom. Leases are hovering around $40 per square foot plus triple nets — higher than the market average.
“We’re pretty sure we’ll fill that up pretty quickly,” Wunsch said.
That’s quite a feat at a time when office space is going sour in Austin, but it’s part of a growing trend in Austin’s fast-growing suburbs, where cities and developers are aiming to bring more office users to serve as the catalyst for community hubs.
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