The identity of the Fortune 100 company that has quietly driven the city’s push to fast-track approvals for the Dog’s Head development is finally public: Amazon.
Austin Assistant City Manager Eric Johnson revealed at the City Council’s work session Tuesday that Amazon’s robotics division is the anchor tenant Dog’s Head developers have been trying to lure to the proposed 2,600-acre, mixed-use project in Southeast Austin.
Johnson had argued for months that the city’s ability to land the company depended on moving quickly through the approval process.
The urgency shaped the city’s handling of Dog’s Head. Before the project drew widespread public scrutiny, the City Council annexed the Southeast Austin land in late May. The city also signed off on a 45-year, wide-ranging agreement that allows the developer, Endeavor, to build almost anything.
Until Tuesday, the city and Endeavor had refused to name Amazon publicly due to confidentiality agreements. The disclosure answers a question that has lingered for months as residents and environmental advocates criticized the city for accelerating approvals without fully explaining what was driving the urgency.
Dog’s Head is a four-square-mile proposed mixed-used development that could bring thousands of houses, businesses, industrial plants and even data centers to the site. Residents and environmentalists have protested the project, saying the city is moving too fast and regulating the development too loosely.
Dog’s Head won’t move forward unless the City Council approves a tax increment reinvestment zone, or TIRZ, a financing tool. Under a TIRZ, Endeavor would build infrastructure, such as water and sewer lines. The city would reimburse much of that cost over time using the new property tax revenue generated within Dog’s Head. The council is expected to vote on that plan at its Thursday meeting.
Endeavor’s plans for Dog’s Head include:
6,195 single-family homes6,200 multifamily units4 million square feet of industrial space2.5 million square feet of retail space1.5 million square feet of office space1 million square feet of hospitality space.
The development would be built out between 2030 to 2057.