New mixed-use project in Austin to offer first large-scale public market

Austin, Texas -- GroundFloor Development and Prescott Group announced plans for Saint Elmo, a $120 million mixed-use project in Austin, Texas. Saint Elmo will include 225,000 sq. ft. of creative office space and feature a 40,000-sq.-ft. indoor-outdoor marketplace, seated alongside the new location for Austin’s Saxon Pub.



“The market and surrounding office spaces will focus on the unique culture of Austin, which includes some of the best food, live music and creative minds,” said Brandon Bolin, president and CEO of GroundFloor Development. “We want to build the district around what makes this city so special. The idea for Saint Elmo is to be ‘native, creative and distinctly Austin.’ There is going to be nothing like it in Texas.”



“The vision is based on markets from around the world. Pike Place in Seattle, Torvehallerne in Copenhagen and Mercado San Miguel in Madrid are inspirations for the project. Regional markets of similar scale would be Union Market in Washington D.C., The Source in Denver and on a smaller scale the new Krog Street Market in Atlanta. Saint Elmo is committed to creating an artful and beautiful place where people will enjoy Austin’s local culture,” said Matthew Roy Spillers of Spill-Lab Productions and managing partner of Saint Elmo Public Market.



Bolin and Spillers, both Austin residents, are partners in the Saint Elmo Public Market Company, which will oversee the management and tenant curatorial process for the market. Bolin was inspired to pursue the project after discovering the 9.5-acre site that currently houses the Office Furniture NOW! Warehouse, which was originally a factory that housed school buses for Austin. The developer has subsequently added 2.5 acres to the site. In November of last year, Austin City Council approved the rezoning request for the project.



“The build-out for the public market will highlight the old building’s details [such as high transom windows that allow in the generous amounts of sunlight],” said Matthew Roy Spillers.



“The creative office space will have direct access to the public food market and surrounding spaces,” said Brian Leslie, managing director of Prescott Group. “The project will feature attractive green space, walkable gardens, rooftop access and event venue space throughout.”



The creative office space will be tailored for companies driving music, entertainment, media, technology and other innovative industries. Ground-floor retail space will highlight vendors who wish to showcase their goods and services. Saint Elmo is also working with some of Austin’s most prominent music non-profits, subsidizing free office space.



JLL Capital Markets has been selected to arrange the capital for the project. On the leasing side, Peloton Commercial Real Estate has been selected as the broker of the office space and CBRE has been selected as the broker of the public market.



Saint Elmo is slated to begin construction mid-2016 with an opening set for first quarter 2018.