Large-scale mixed-use development along the Colorado River is gaining momentum

Developers are getting closer to kicking off the first construction phase for a massive mixed-use development along the Colorado River in East Austin.

A site plan for the first phase of San Antonio-based Kairoi Residential's Bolm Riverfront District, a 115-acre mixed-use project planned at the current site of a concrete factory along Ed Bluestein Drive, is now under review with the city of Austin.

In recent years, Kairoi has focused largely on sky-high developments downtown. It recently finished Sixth & Guadalupe - Austin's tallest tower

- and it's now working on the next tallest tower in Austin and all of Texas, Waterline.

For its land in East Austin, the site plan filing is specifically for the first phase of development for the district's eastern half. There will be 410 multifamily units across four apartment buildings in the first phase, with 369 units to be leased at market rate and 41 units to be leased at or below 60% of the median family income. The initial phase will also include the renovation of an existing building for food and beverage uses.

The eastern tract will eventually feature roughly 895,000 square feet of office space, 20,500 square feet of strip retail and 49,000 square feet of restaurant space, according to a traffic analysis form.

The overall project will eventually feature retail space, multifamily housing, a hotel, and could have more than one million square feet of office space than was originally reported last April. Plans also include more than 134,000 square feet of restaurant space and a 27,000-square-foot arts theater, according to past reporting, in addition to an 8,500-square-foot music venue and a more than 37,000-square-foot civic center.

Kairoi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

To top it off, the western tract will also feature an additional 1.5 million square feet of office space, for a total of about 2.4 million square feet of office space in the entire district. For reference, that's the equivalent of about five Frost Bank Towers cropping up along the Colorado River.

The Bolm Riverfront District is not the only big mixed-use project on the drawing board for East Austin. Across Ed Bluestein Drive, to the west. Endeavor Real Estate Group has a plan to redevelop the 21-acre Borden Dairy Co. plant.