Gigantic mixed-use complex headed to East Cesar Chavez

When it comes to late-capitalist urban development (or gentrification, if you prefer), chronology is usually predictable. Without going into all the phases, variations, and nuances, let’s just say that it’s not exactly a shocker that larger, taller mixed-use and office developments have followed the influx of small-scale entertainment enterprises, boutique hotels, and techie/collegiate condos and apartments that have taken over the East Cesar Chavez neighborhood in the past several years.

One of the most recent these is the Centro complex, which, if all goes as developer Riverside Resources plans, will encompass two blocks between East Fifth and East Sixth streets. A 3.25-acre, five-story office and retail space is planned for the lots in what is now apparently the “Saltillo District,” according to a recent Austin Towers article by James Rambin.

Designed by Gensler, the complex at 1401 East Sixth Street will occupy the blocks between Navasota and Comal streets, according to Rambin, with the exception of the spaces occupied by Cisco’s restaurant and the White Horse honky-tonk on the block between Navasota and Onion streets; presumably it will be constructed around those sites, perhaps in the fashion of the buildings that loom over the nearby Liberty bar or the legendary Broken Spoke in South Austin.

Australian-based software company Atlassian will likely sign a lease for about 160,000 square feet of office space in the building planned for Centro’s first phase, Erin Edgemon reported in the Austin Business Journal Wednesday.

Edgemon also reported that the project as proposed would have 289,557 square feet of office space and 26,303 square feet of restaurant space, While the permitting process for the complex is not complete, demolition on the site has already begun, and groundbreaking is expected sometime this year.