A downtown plaza will be named in honor of a UT Law School alumnus who helped drive the growth of the technology sector in Austin after the City Council approved an ordinance on Oct. 9.
The unused stretch of road west of Red River Street from 12th to 15th streets adjacent to Waterloo Park is set to become Pike Powers Plaza, said Anne Milne, a capital improvement manager at Austin Transportation and Public Works. Pike Powers died in 2021 and previously served as a Texas legislator, lawyer and the board chair of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, according to the chamber’s website.
Mayor Kirk Watson wrote in an email that Powers was key to encouraging innovation in Austin and helping the city gain global recognition.
“(The plaza), which faces the Texas Capitol to the west, … the University of Texas to the north and the new Innovation Tower to the east, is a great and fitting example of the visionary work that Pike was able to do in making Austin a 21st-century city as an influential leader in Austin’s tech boom,” Watson said in an email.
Nan McRaven, who said she served as a vice president of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce when Powers worked there, said Powers worked to revitalize downtown Austin by bringing more restaurants and businesses and helping establish the first convention center downtown.
“Pike was not only smart … but he was also fun and interesting, and he could make a meeting enjoyable,” McRaven said. “He was a great person at bringing different viewpoints together and figuring out how to build consensus.”
Milne said she sees this plaza as a way to improve the connection between downtown Austin and UT. She said the city will launch a website and public survey for people to submit input on what they want the plaza to look like.
David Gibson, senior research scientist emeritus at the IC2 Institute, said Powers was one of the main reasons Austin won the competition to bring the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation to Austin in 1983, which he said was a turning point in the city’s rapid evolution into a world-recognized technology center.
The technology corporation was a research consortium created to help U.S. companies compete with Japan in producing semiconductors and software, Gibson said. Before the corporation came to Austin, the city had little tech presence, but its arrival brought many other companies from Silicon Valley, he said.
Gibson also wrote in a message that UT, combined with the quality of life in Austin, also played a big role in attracting and retaining talent like the corporation.
“To have him finally recognized in this major way is highly appropriate, especially in this time of division,” Gibson said. “Pike was such a unifier and supporter of collaboration or cooperation. I think it’s a great thing to do now.”