Texas Real Estate Business magazine covers the multifamily, retail, office, healthcare, industrial and hospitality sectors in Texas.
Issue link: https://texasrealestatebusiness.epubxp.com/i/817755
www.REBusinessOnline.com Texas Real Estate Business • May 2017 • 41 R etail development today is trending toward experience, placing a focus on local and specialty retail, unique food concepts and well-designed public gathering spaces. With its latest — and final — phase of retail development at The Domain in Austin, Texas, Endeavor Real Estate Group has added a heavy dose of local experience, including specialty retail with a focus on Austin- based tenants, a variety of chef-driven food concepts — many of which hail from the Lone Star State — and enter- tainment and gathering space. The Domain mixed-use develop- ment — which features buildings owned by both Simon and Endeavor Real Estate Group — is home to 1.8 million square feet of office space, four hotels comprising 775 rooms, over 5,000 multifamily units and roughly 1.8 million square feet of retail space. "The first phase of The Domain is a highly successful, 720,000-square-foot retail phase anchored by Neiman Mar- cus and now Macy's," says Jeff New- berg, managing principal of Endeavor Real Estate Group. "We co-developed that first phase with Simon, and they ultimately bought out our interest. At that time, they also bought roughly 50 acres adjacent to the project, and de- veloped a second phase, which is an- chored by Dillard's and Dick's Sport- ing Goods and is pedestrian-only." The latest phase of development by Endeavor in partnership with North- wood Investors — entitled Domain NORTHSIDE — consists of 600,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, anchored by Whole Foods Market, Restoration Hardware and Nord- strom. Rock Rose, a 100,000-square- foot retail street within the develop- ment, brings in the local community by featuring predominantly Austin- based retailers and food and beverage destinations. "We felt like The Domain was un- der-represented in food, so one of our main goals with this latest phase was to bring in a great mix of dining options," says Newberg. "Food is so important today, and we've done that very successfully. For the new retail portion of the project, we really fo- cused on emerging and first-to-mar- ket brands, as well as local retailers. It's been really exciting to see how the project has come together." A central theme for this phase of development was celebrating Aus- tin — from retail, to restaurants and bars. "We really wanted to bring Aus- tin to The Domain and to Domain NORTHSIDE," says Billy Osherow, principal of retail at Endeavor Real Estate Group. "There were a handful of local Austin retailers and restau- rants at Phases I and II, but really no more than the token number. First, we committed and planned for Rock Rose Street to really serve as a critical mass of space so we could recruit and as- semble a great group of best-in-class, beloved Austin restaurants and retail- ers all in one street." Rock Rose Street contains seven different buildings that are roughly 95 percent leased. Nearly 80 percent of the tenants on Rock Rose are true, local, Austin-owned restaurants and retailers. "Almost 75 percent of Rock Rose is devoted to dining concepts," says Osherow. "It's fun — we gave an enormous amount of flexibility to the tenant's creative teams and architects to put their own personalities into their spaces. We broke the rulebook as it relates to developer restrictions on signage, patios and storefront facades. It's been incredibly successful; the food and beverage results so far are spectacular, and we have this collec- tion of great, Austin tenants that are now represented at The Domain." With Domain NORTHSIDE, En- deavor also sought to provide the burgeoning tech community — with nearby and on-property office space occupied by the likes of FaceBook, Amazon and IBM — a live, work and play sense of community "In the morning, we have people at 6 a.m. go- ing to CorePower Yoga or Soul Cycle to work out, or they're walking their dogs or grabbing a bite to eat and a coffee for breakfast," says Newberg. "Late into the evening, the bars are closing up, and people are walking to go home. It really is a 21 hour-per-day community." Newberg notes that the company hired seven different architects to de- sign the buildings that comprise Do- main NORTHSIDE in hopes of giving the property a lived-in feel. "The feel is much more urban and street retail than it is suburban shopping center, and that was important to us," says Osherow. "We have real streets that you can drive down and the archi- tecture varies dramatically between buildings. There are big patios for the restaurant spaces and rooftop patios for some of the larger restaurants and bars on Rock Rose. It's new construc- tion, but it feels very authentic." With this phase of development, Endeavor also wanted to incorporate public gathering spaces. "With this latest phase, we were able to look at Phase I and determine what it was that we did really well, and what we could've done differently or better," says Newberg. "One of the issues we identified was a lack of great public space. At NORTHSIDE, we created a nearly one-acre, open community area, which has six restaurants that open onto a large park with a 9,000-square- foot grassy area surrounded by a bunch of hardscape where people can congregate. The valet drops off there, so while people are waiting for a table at the nearby restaurants, the kids can run around and play." "We have a really unbelievable col- lection of retailers and restaurants that are very unique," says Osherow. "It's been a multifaceted effort to bring a lot of authenticity, personality and soul to Domain NORTHSIDE. That has been the mantra we've been trying to stay true to from the very beginning." n ADDING ENTERTAINMENT The final phase of development by Endeavor Real Estate Group at The Domain in Austin brings local flavor with specialty retail, dining and entertainment space. By Katie Sloan Domain NORTHSIDE is anchored by Whole Foods Market, Restoration Hardware and Nordstrom. Domain NORTHSIDE — the latest phase of development by Endeavor Real Estate Group at The Domain mixed-use development in Austin, Texas — features Rock Rose Street, a 100,000-square-foot space occupied by predominantly local retailers and restaurants. From left, Jeff Newberg and Billy Osherow of Endeavor Real Estate Group.