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The Domain is a high-density office, retail, and residential center in northwest
Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
, United States that has been described as being "Austin's second downtown." It primarily consists of
5-over-1 5-over-1 or over-1s, also known as a one-plus-five or a podium building, is a type of multi-family residential building commonly found in urban areas of North America. The mid-rise buildings are normally constructed with four or five wood-fr ...
construction. The initial phase of the project was completed in March 2007. It is owned and operated by Endeavor Real Estate Group,
Cousins Properties Cousins Properties Incorporated is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in office buildings in Atlanta, Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte, Austin, Texas, Austin, Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Tampa, Florida, Tampa, ...
,
Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Indian ...
, and Stonelake Capital Partners. It is bordered on the west by
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...
, on the west and north by
Loop 1 Loop 1 is a freeway that provides access to the west side of Austin in the U.S. state of Texas. It is named Mopac Expressway (or, according to some highway signs, Mopac Boulevard) after the Missouri Pacific Railroad (or "MoPac"). Local residen ...
, on the south by Braker Lane, and on the east by Burnet Road. As of April 2022, The Domain has more than 5,000 apartment units and about 3.5 million square feet of office space.


Site history

On December 10, 1966, IBM unveiled its intentions to build a 200,000 sqft manufacturing plant for the
IBM Selectric typewriter The IBM Selectric (a portmanteau of "selective" and "electric") was a highly successful line of electric typewriters introduced by IBM on 31 July 1961. Instead of the "basket" of individual typebars that swung up to strike the ribbon and page ...
on the land that currently houses The Domain. The plant opened on July 31, 1967 with 500 employees. In July 1989, after three decades of expansion in Austin, IBM announced its intentions to build 1 million sqft of office space east of Burnet Rd on the property now known as Broadmoor. By this time IBM occupied 543 acres and had more than 7,000 employees in Austin, the majority of which worked on the
IBM PS/2 The Personal System/2 or PS/2 is IBM's second generation of personal computers. Released in 1987, it officially replaced the IBM Personal Computer, IBM PC, IBM Personal Computer XT, XT, IBM Personal Computer/AT, AT, and IBM PC Convertible, PC Co ...
. In December 1999, IBM sold off 235 acres of land that would eventually become The Domain for US$60 million and leased back more than half of the 2.5 million sqft office space that the property by then had. An additional 70 acres came from Multech (whose land had been purchased from IBM in 1997). Buying the land was Endeavor Real Estate Group with the financial assistance from
Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. It was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, who had previously worked together at Lehman ...
and JER Partners. The initial plan had been to create a campus for the dot-com industry but those plans fell through when the
dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Interne ...
burst. In 2003, the Simon Property Group and the Endeavor Real Estate Group entered into a collaborative partnership to develop Phase I of The Domain's retail area. 2004 saw the demolition of Century Oaks Park, a multi-purpose recreational facility for IBM employees and their families, and the start of construction on the initial Domain: Phase I. Additional land for The Domain was reclaimed from vacant IBM manufacturing and administrative buildings, as well as driveways and parking lots that were once part of the original IBM campus. The developers were granted tax subsidies in 2003 from the City of Austin and
Travis County Travis County is located in Central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat and most populous city is Austin, the state's capital. The county was established i ...
. Total developer compensation is a maximum of a net present value of $25 million. The developer keeps 80 percent of the city's sales tax for the first five years and 50 percent for the next 15 years. Plus, 25 percent of the property tax is rebated back to the developer for the entire 20-year period. The city of Austin expects to take in about $40 million in sales and property taxes over the 20 years of the incentive agreement.


First phase

The first phase of the project, The Domain, opened on March 9, 2007, and includes of restaurants, office space, upscale retail stores, apartments, and a hotel. The retail portion of the project has attracted many retailers and restaurants new to the Austin market. An .
Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...
and a
Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...
anchor (with Macy's fulfilling an earlier commitment by
Foley's Foley's was a regional chain of department stores owned by Federated Department Stores (1947–1988, 2005–2006), later owned by May Department Stores (1988–2005) and headquartered in Downtown Houston, Texas. On August 30, 2005, the divisi ...
), along with 70 specialty stores, including an
Apple Store The Apple Store is a chain of Retail, retail stores owned and operated by Apple Inc. The stores sell, service and repair various Apple products, including Macintosh, Mac desktop and MacBook laptop personal computers, iPhone smartphones, iPad ta ...
, a
Barneys New York Barneys New York is an American brand founded in 1923 by Barney Pressman that operated full-line department stores from 1923 until 2020. Authentic Brands Group acquired Barneys' intellectual property in 2019, and has licensed the brand to Saks F ...
CO-OP store,
Burberry Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry and headquartered in London, England. It designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats, leather accessories, and footwear. It is l ...
,
Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing and beauty products, beauty retailer. Founded in 1977 by a Stanford graduate student and his wife, Roy Raymond, Roy and Gaye Raymond, the company's five lingerie stores were sold to Les Wexner i ...
, Tiffany & Co., BCBG
Max Azria Max Azria (January 1, 1949 – May 6, 2019) was a French-American fashion designer who founded the contemporary women's clothing brand BCBG MAX AZRIA. He was also the designer, chairman, and CEO of the BCBG Max Azria Group,Mustafa, Nadia (Fall 2 ...
, Calypso Christiane Celle, Anne Fontaine,
Lacoste Lacoste S.A. (; ) is a French designer sports fashion company, founded in 1933 by tennis player René Lacoste, and entrepreneur André Gillier. It sells clothing, footwear, sportswear, eyewear, leather goods, perfume, towels and watches. The ...
, Lilly Pulitzer, Betty Sport, and a
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
store. The shopping center notably is also one of the short list of locations containing outlets for two new store concepts — Abercrombie & Fitch Co.'s RUEHL 925, targeting affluent young professionals, and
American Eagle Outfitters American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer headquartered at SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc ...
' adventure-oriented
Martin + Osa Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * Mart� ...
. Both of those stores had closed as of late 2010, and have become locations for Anthropologie (in the former Ruehl location), and Lids (in the former Martin + Osa location). Restaurants include
McCormick & Schmick's McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants Inc. is an American seafood restaurant chain, formerly based in Portland, Oregon. As of December 2024, the company operates 20 locations & 1 catering service in the United States and 4 Canadian locations ...
, Fleming's, Daily Grill, Jasper's, Kona Grill, The Steeping Room, and
California Pizza Kitchen California Pizza Kitchen, Inc. (CPK) is an American casual dining restaurant chain that specializes in California-style pizza. The restaurant was started in 1985 by attorneys Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax in Beverly Hills, California, United ...
.


Second phase and additional expansion

After the Simon Property Group acquired the property that would become The Domain II (Domain Crossing) they bought Endeavor's portion of The Domain I. This second phase, located directly south of The Domain, opened in 2016. Domain Crossing added an additional of retail stores, restaurants, and apartments, as well as a theater - Gold Class Cinema - and other entertainment options. Simon Property Group announced that a , three-story
Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an American department store chain with approximately 267 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The company a ...
would open during spring 2009 in the primary portion of the project.
Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...
signed a letter of intent for a two-story, store to open in The Domain's phase III.
Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...
also signed a letter of intent for Phase III.
Whole Foods Whole foods are foods that are unprocessed and unrefined. Examples of whole foods include grains such as oatmeal and rice, fruits, vegetables, dried beans, nuts, seeds, unprocessed meats, and fish. Depending on the context this may sometimes refe ...
opened a square foot location in The Domain in January 2014. Simon Property Group opened up a "great lawn venue" in Phase 2 that hosts live bands from 6 to 9pm on weekends, and food trucks.


Third phase

The Domain's third phase consists of 1.4 million square feet of retail, residential and hotel space. Included in this space is Endeavor's final retail phase in The Domain, including Domain NORTHSIDE and Rock Rose, a district mostly populated by local businesses. Some specific tenants include CB2, AT&T, Nordstrom, Apple, Restoration -Hardware, Archer Hotel Austin, Salvation Pizza, The Dogwood, Sainte Genevieve, Viva Day Spa, East Side King, Lavaca Street Bar, Kung Fu Saloon and Birds Barbershop. Phase 3 will bring the total number of residential units to over 3,000 units, with the ultimate goal to bring the total number to 5,000. Dallas-based TIER REIT, Inc. (NYSE: TIER) owns and operates the majority of the office space offered at The Domain, including Domain 2 (115,000 square feet), Domain 3 (179,000 square feet), Domain 4 (153,000 square feet), Domain 7 (222,000 square feet) and a 50% interest in Domain 8 (291,000 square feet), which was delivered in 1 Q'2017 at 98% leased. In addition, TIER REIT owns over 18 acres of fully entitled land at The Domain that can accommodate an additional 1.3 million square feet of future office space. On June 23, 2017, TIER REIT announced that it was commencing development on Domain 11, a 16-story Class A office development. Construction is scheduled to begin shortly, with a late-2018 targeted delivery date. The building will encompass approximately 324,000 square feet. Austin-based Endeavor Real Estate Group owns the Domain 1 and Domain 5 office buildings. Endeavor continued to own Domain NORTHSIDE until mid 2019 when it sold Domain NORTHSIDE to Northwood Retail, whilst Simon had acquired phases 1 and 2 in 2008. In 2018 Northwood Retail partnered with
Invesco Invesco Ltd. is an American independent investment management company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with branch offices in 20 countries. Its common stock is a constituent of the S&P 500 and trades on the New York Stock Exchange. Invesco oper ...
to assist with management of The Domain.


Office Space

In 2011, Stonelake Capital Partners purchased 33 acres in the southeast corner of The Domain that would eventually become The Domain South End. This section of The Domain contains the lone holdover in The Domain from the properties days as an IBM campus
Domain 45
and Domain Tower's 2, 3 and 4, zoned as
Class A office space An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...
. At 24 stories and 308 feet tall, Domain Tower 2 is currently the tallest building in The Domain Cousins Properties owns 11 office buildings in The Domain, most notably, the 18-story Domain 9


Neighboring Properties

Catty-cornered from The Domain is the
Q2 Stadium Q2 Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium located in the North Burnet section of North Austin, Texas, United States. It is the home of Austin FC, a Major League Soccer (MLS) team that began play in 2021. The stadium hosted its first event on June ...
, which was completed in 2021. McKalla station is a
Capital MetroRail CapMetro Rail is a hybrid rail (light rail with some features similar to commuter rail) system that serves the Greater Austin area in Texas and is owned by CapMetro, Austin's primary public transportation provider. The Red Line is CapMetro's f ...
station that provides rail service to the Q2 Stadium. Opposite Burnet from The Domain is the new 66 acre Uptown ATX, a $3 billion project being built whose first phase is currently under construction and will add 341 apartment units, 348,000 square feet of office space and 15,000 square feet of retail space. This property used to consist primarily of IBM buildings and will be serviced by the planned Broadmoor station. Opposite Braker from The Domain is the 475-acre J. J. Pickle Research Campus.


Opposition

Austin businessman and civic activist, Brian Rodgers, leader of Stop Domain Subsidies, sued the City of Austin and Endeavor Real Estate Group in 2004, claiming Endeavor purposely misled the city in order to receive what he argued amounted to $65 million in tax subsidies. The suit was settled out of court, with the settlement allowing the City of Austin to back out of deal with no penalties. Eventually, the local newspaper verified that the original claim that the subsidy was only $25 million was false and that, according to their figures, it could amount to $57 million. Stop Domain Subsidies launched a petition drive in 2007 to put an initiative on the city ballot to stop the city from granting any city tax subsidies for developments with retail uses. The charter amendment, which would have prevented the city from giving tax incentives to retail projects, appeared on the ballot for the November 2008 election as Proposition 2, but was ultimately narrowly defeated at 48%. In the run-up to the election, in September 2008, a
political action committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...
named Keep Austin's Word was started by Betty Dunkerley, a former member of the Austin City Council. The group, named to resemble the slogan "
Keep Austin Weird ''Keep Austin Weird'' is a slogan coined by Red Wassenich in 2000 while giving a pledge to "The Lounge Show", a quirky, eclectic radio show on an Austin radio station KOOP Radio. He began printing bumper stickers in July 2000 and operated the we ...
", was primarily funded by the developers of The Domain, including Simon Properties, the largest mall developer in the United States. Then Austin Mayor, Will Wynn, appeared on TV ads paid for by the Keep Austin's Word PAC, to the tune of nearly $400,000, urging that Austin "keep its word." Another citizen's petition drive in 2012 in Austin passed, replacing Austin's all at-large voting system to single-member districts (geographic representation) and Austin's independent citizens commission (ICRC) to draw the lines. The ICRC remains the only one as of 2021 in Texas.


Major stores


Current

*
AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
(opened October 2016) *
Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an American department store chain with approximately 267 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The company a ...
(opened 2009) *
Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...
(opened 2007) *
Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...
(opened 2007) *
Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...
(opened September 2016)


Former stores

As part of their Chapter 11 proceedings,
Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...
closed their bookstore at The Domain in April 2011. Martin+Osa, Ruehl No. 925, Oakville Grocery, Sony Style, Orange Cup and Bettysport all operated locations at the Domain at one time.


See also

*
Microdistrict A microdistrict or microraion is a residential complex—a primary structural element of the residential area construction in the Soviet Union and in some post-Soviet and former socialist states. Residential districts in most of the cities a ...


References


External links


The Domain official site

Simon Property Group: The Domain

North Burnet Planning Area Map (PDF)

Stop Domain Subsidies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Domain, The Simon Property Group Residential buildings completed in 2007 Shopping malls in Austin, Texas Shopping malls established in 2007