Kucera Pushing Dirt on Mixed-Use Infrastructure

AUSTIN-Dirt is flying Kucera Cos.’ mixed-use Austin Airport Centre project. Airport Fast Park, based in Ohio, is working on an off-site parking facility and Kucera is putting in an internal roadway called Spirit of Texas Drive.

Austin-based Kucera has begun marketing the project through Carter Breed, a Kucera broker. “We’re getting an awful lot of interest from people who see dirt moving, finally and want to get into it,” he tells GlobeSt.com.

The mix could include hotels, full-service and fast-food restaurants, gas stations and office, warehouse and service-center space. Breed says negotiations are under way with a major hotel developer for a parcel on the site. The 110-acre property is just across Texas Highway 71.

Spirit of Texas Drive leads from the development into the airport’s air cargo operation. The Fast Park facility is on 25 acres on the north side of the development.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport opened about 28 months ago on the site of the former Bergstrom Air Force Base. There wasn’t much reason for commercial development outside the base, but that changed with the presence of an airport. “There’s not too much right in the immediate vicinity of the airport that’s of the scale and quality of what we’re going to be putting on the ground,” Breed says, “so a lot of people are trying to get in line to make sure they get their presence right there outside the airport.”

So far, the slow state of the Austin economy hasn’t affected the project. “While the rest of the economy in Austin is slowing down a little bit, we haven’t noticed much of a hiccup at all in our marketing efforts,” he says. “The airport is a major driver of demand in the immediate submarket.