Austin's Brackenridge Tract: $5.1 million, 350-acre tract on Lady Bird Lake

Austin Business Journal

The University of Texas System Board of Regents has officially hired Cooper Robertson & Partners LLP, a New York city master planning firm, to develop plans for the Brackenridge Tract.

The contract, which could exceed $5.1 million, was signed on April 21 by Cooper and the UT System.

At a special meeting on March 26, the board unanimously voted to select Cooper as its preferred master planner.

The regents want Cooper to create two conceptual master plans for the approximately 350-acre tract on Lady Bird Lake. The UT System hopes to utilize the tract in way that will create funding for academic programs and student services.

Cooper has said it expects to complete the master plans as early as spring 2009.

Cooper, which was founded in 1979, has worked on a number of high-profile projects for clients such as Disney Development Co., Harvard University, MIT and Yale University.

At the March meeting, Cooper said it would recuse itself from developing any future projects on the tract.

The Brackenridge tract is home to student housing, a biological field lab, the city-operated Lions Municipal Golf Course and other commercial and retail tenants. Golfers have launched a campaign to save the golf course. And West Austin residents have expressed concern that development could be disruptive to the neighborhood.

Cooper has said its first order of business is to gather community input.