St. Austin Catholic Parish Seeks Developer for Prime Central Austin Redevelopment Opportunity

On behalf of St. Austin Catholic Parish and the Diocese of Austin, CBRE is soliciting proposals for the long-term ground lease and redevelopment of an urban campus across from the University of Texas on Guadalupe Street. The Parish seeks to create more efficient and effective facilities while considering market uses that can coexist with Parish programming.

Founded in 1908 as the third Catholic parish in the City of Austin, St. Austin is served by the Paulist Fathers, a religious community of priests established in the United States in 1858. In addition to staffing St. Austin Parish, the Paulist Fathers also staff the University Catholic Center, the campus ministry center at The University of Texas at Austin.

“This is a rare opportunity for a developer to reimagine a vertically mixed-use project, anchored by a spiritual community and market uses on a dynamic site across the street from a world-class university campus,” said Eric DeJernett, senior vice president, CBRE.

The urban campus includes the church and rectory originally constructed in 1953, church offices, fellowship hall, meeting areas and a Pre-K through 8th grade Catholic school. While the church and rectory are undergoing renovations and building improvements, most of the remaining campus buildings are outdated and functionally obsolete.

“The Paulist Fathers have been honored to serve in the Diocese of Austin for over a hundred years, and we have the responsibility to steward how we will serve our mission of evangelization, reconciliation and ecumenical and interfaith relations for the next hundred years in this growing University of Texas neighborhood,” said Fr. Charles Kullmann C.S.P, Pastor of St. Austin Parish.    

The Parish will retain the church and related improvements, while the balance of the campus is available for redevelopment for both market uses and the remaining parish ministries. Approximately two acres of land will be available for redevelopment which may include the existing parking facility at the northwest corner of West Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and San Antonio Street. Preliminary studies show the property could include an extensive amount of new development under the University Neighborhood Overlay (UNO) zoning ordinance passed in 2004 to encourage a densification of the West Campus area.

Parish programming requires approximately 100,000 square feet to be incorporated back into the new development for new school and Parish facilities.

“Extensive development around the site, such as the new Dell Medical School, redevelopment of the state office complex and the North Congress Avenue park project, are examples of the vibrancy happening in this urban setting,” said Peter Jansen, regional director, Public Institutions and Education Solutions, CBRE.

Mr. DeJernett, Mr. Jansen and Charles Cirar are representing the Parish in the solicitation process.

Proposals are due to CBRE by May 15, 2018.