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North Austin has transformed in the past 20 years, now housing the Museum of Ice Cream and Q2 Stadium. (Laura Figi/Austonia)
A little over a mile away, fans pack into Q2 Stadium, Austin's first professional sports stadium and home to the Austin FC professional soccer club, which is midway through its first season.
As the world tiptoes back to normalcy despite a continuing pandemic, North Austin continues to court new businesses that are making a major impact on both the city's economy and the local landscape. But with all of this change and development, how do longtime residents and business owners feel about North Austin's sustained growth?
After all, North Austin has changed significantly over the years. After some started calling the city "Silicon Hills" in the 1980s due to the influx of tech companies to the area, many of those companies settled in North Austin, with some of them opting to office at the Domain—a retail, entertainment, office and residential complex that quickly became a second city-center after it opened in 2007. Even Apple, which already has a significant presence in town, plans to mark the 30th anniversary of its first Austin office with the debut of a $1 billion campus in Northwest Austin in 2022.
(Shutterstock)
Mike Lavigne has lived in North Austin for more than 20 years and has been a resident of the Crestview neighborhood since 2002.
"We have a 12-year-old daughter and I can't think of a better place on earth to raise a child," Lavigne said. "(The neighborhood) is mixed in terms of age and economic status. It still has diversity and, most importantly, it has families."
Lavigne said that as a whole he appreciates the role that places like the Domain serve in Austin.
"We need those multiple city centers. The Domain and Mueller are the few places that have been able to take some of the stress off single-family neighborhoods," he said. "I like that there's a place for apartments and retail and all of those things that don't need to be everywhere but do better when they're together. I think that's necessary and it's a smart way to grow."
That doesn't mean, however, that Lavigne isn't concerned about the impact that the influx of chain shops, restaurants and bars in the area are having on small business owners and the "old Austin" vibe in general. As a partner in Violet Crown Clubhouse, a neighborhood hangout for Crestview and Brentwood residents that features an arcade and an ice cream shop, and as an investor in the oddly wonderful holiday-themed dive bar LaLa's Little Nugget, Lavigne can attest firsthand that the pandemic has been "a kick in the pants" for local businesses.
"There's definitely a lot of places that were epicenters for communities that are just gone and they're not going to come back. It's up to us to create new places and keep things odd and unpredictable. That's on us to do as natives," he said. "(When it comes to progress) there's no turning back now. Whether it's good or bad remains to be seen."
Austin is currently ranked nationally as the second most overvalued market in the nation, and finding homes in the North Austin area can be next to impossible. Jen Sparks, broker and owner of Kifer Sparks Agency, said that currently there are only seven homes on the market and 38 homes with pending contracts in the Domain area between Mopac and I-35 and 183 and Walnut Creek.
"The consistent growth in the Domain area by top-tier employers continues to attract highly skilled tech talent, which is in turn driving competition in the real estate market. With a large number of restaurants and nightlife options and the new Q2 Stadium, the demand for single-family homes continues to break records," Sparks said. "Although the market historically slows in the fall, I anticipate the inventory in this area will continue to remain low, which will in turn cause prices to rise."
Jenni Carter has run her vehicle inspection business, Sticker Stop, on Burnet Road for the past 15 years. She said it was "pure luck" that she found the property, which is now located less than a mile from Q2 Stadium.
"For us, the growth has been amazing. The more the area grows, the more the business grows. We have been very fortunate," she said. "When we first opened, the majority of our customers were commuters, they worked in this area. Now it seems we have a very even mix of customers that reside around the Burnet Road corridor and work here."
While Lavigne said he enjoys visiting the Domain and looks forward to attending some Austin FC games, he hopes Austinites will continue to buy local in an effort to help keep Austin, well, weird.
"I would say that if there is a cool place in your neighborhood and it's a small local business, make sure you're supporting them double," Lavigne said. "The Domain doesn't need your help, but we do. We don't get the same kind of subsidies that the big guys get. If you care and you want to keep a place, you've got to spend your money there."
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School has started for local school districts and parents want to know how they can ensure their children are safe from COVID. (Bob Daemmrich)
Austonia checked in with Dr. Stanley Spinner, vice president and chief medical officer at Texas Children's Pediatrics & Texas Children's Urgent Care, to get some advice for families as the school year begins.
What do we currently know about how the Delta variant is impacting children?
"It's certainly impacting them in increasing numbers of infection," Spinner said.
There have been more pediatric COVID cases this year than all of last year so far. Austin Public Health reports 6,468 cases this year, with the most in the 10-18 age range.
Spinner said approximately 10% of total positive pediatric cases result in hospitalizations at Texas Children's Hospital. Texas Children's Hospital has between 35-50 children who have been admitted due to COVID-19 on any given day and one-third of those cases are admitted to the ICU, he said. "We're definitely seeing more kids and sicker kids than in the previous parts of the pandemic," he said.
What should parents do to try to safeguard their children?
Spinner said protecting children requires a multipronged approach. The first thing parents should do, he said, is getting themselves and all children 12 and over in their family vaccinated. "With Delta, it's highly contagious. It's very likely they can get infected and infect their children. That's something they have total control over," he said.
He also said wearing masks is critical. "Mask wearing has become such a political issue, but it's clear that wearing a mask protects others from you but also helps protect you from others," he said. He added that families should be careful who they're spending time with. "If you know certain families are vaccinated, having your kids play with those kids and those families is going to be less of a risk." He also recommended following all CDC guidelines such as avoiding large gatherings or visiting high-traffic public areas.
Local school districts are requiring masks this year, despite Gov. Greg Abbott's order against mask mandates. (Bob Daemmrich)
What are your thoughts on sending children back to school?
"It depends on someone's level of risk," he said. "We really, really want kids back in school this year, and we want to try to make it as safe as possible for the kids. We don't want to lock them up at home and keep them from going places, because socializing is so important. I would say that as a general rule of thumb kids are better off being at school. We learned last year that there were so many problems that kids experience, not just with learning but psychosocial. For the vast majority, yes, kids should be in school. The problem is, if you're the parent of a child, you can teach your child to keep his or her mask on, maintain distance from others and keep hands washed, but you can't control what other children do." He added, too, that if a child is immunocompromised or has immunocompromised family members, that changes the equation.
How does the fall look?
In addition to preparing for an increase of COVID cases, Spinner said that hospitals are also expecting to see an increase of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). "If a school district does not mandate masking, for these kids under 12 that can't be vaccinated, I think we're in for a pretty rough next few weeks," he said.
Local school districts like Austin ISD and Eanes ISD are currently implementing masking. However, court battles in other Texas cities could stop the practice if ruled in favor of the governor's ban against mask mandates.
Spinner added that he is hopeful a vaccine will be released for elementary-age students in the next three months or so.
Pediatric research trials are underway for both the Pfizer and Moderna shot with the first doses for six-year-olds and older expected to be available by the end of the year or possibly by the beginning of this year since the FDA will need to approve it, drug reps told NPR.
What final advice do you have for parents, given Austin's COVID surge?
"I think people just need to know this is still a real threat. They need to take it seriously. Kids are not immune to this disease. They can get it, they can get really sick, and they can transmit it. This is not the time to ignore it. Everyone needs to hunker down and get serious about it before we see it get even worse."
The most up-to-date information from the CDC can be found at www.cdc.gov.
After postponing their wedding twice, Janay Green and Renondo Wilson were married in front of 15 family members and friends in Cedar Park on May 1. (Janay Green)
"My wedding day was perfect, even with the rain," said Green, 26. "I had a great support system of friends to help decorate and cook our food so the stress level was taken off our shoulders. We were able to get ready and not have to worry about small details."
Janay Green married Renondo Wilson on May 1. (Janay Green)
Following a year that put the world–and the wedding industry–on hold, Austin wedding planners say they're now bracing for a "crazy busy" summer season.
"It was almost like people were all waiting for this open door, and when that open door came, they all just rushed in," said Lorelei Starbuck, owner of Elope in Austin. "It's been really busy and really amazing."
Starbuck, who specializes in small, affordable elopements and microweddings, expanded her offerings in 2020 to include options such as drive-up weddings to help her company stay afloat. Following Gov. Greg Abbott's announcement of plans to reopen Texas and the increased availability of COVID-19 vaccinations, however, Starbuck said she's seen a major uptick in business.
Elope in Austin, which hosts many of its events at Star Hill Ranch in Bee Cave, held 30 weddings in April and has 36 on the books for May so far, Starbuck said. These numbers are on par with her spring bookings in 2019.
"Yesterday I got 14 reservation requests in one day," Starbuck said. "This is going to be a good year I'm very pleased to say. We're back on track."
Elope in Austin, wedding planning service, hosts many of its events at Star Hill Ranch in Bee Cave. (Lance Smith/Elope in Austin)
Starbuck said she's also hearing from people who want to commemorate other special life events, such as anniversaries and vow renewals. That's the case for Round Rock resident Rey Sarmiento, who plans to celebrate his 25th anniversary with his wife, Angela Sarmiento, in a ceremony at Star Hill Ranch on July 16.
"We've gone through a lot of changes with what happened last year with the coronavirus. I didn't even know if we were going to be able to do anything," he said. "It's just going to be my wife and I—it's for us. We didn't want to spend a whole lot of money, but I did want to make it something that was special."
Wedding officiant Spike Gillespie, who performed Green's wedding, said she has also seen an increase in requests recently. Gillespie, who officiates off-site weddings as well as weddings at her picturesque Tiny T Ranch in Garfield, added that the pandemic and the stress of large-scale events including guests who did not want to wear masks has prompted her to refocus her priorities. Moving forward, she said, she plans to largely dedicate to smaller, more intimate affairs.
Spike Gillespie officiated the marriage of Austinites Janay Green and Renondo Wilson. (Spike Gillespie)
"The ranch will be converted to primarily a retreat center to promote slowing down, and this summer I will be opening a second property in Smithville, much smaller, but with similar 'Be Still and Feel Better' potential," she said.
For Green, who is a pharmacy technician and lives in Killeen with Wilson, an Army mechanic, the wedding was a silver lining to a difficult year.
"We wanted to get married and we were tired of waiting," she said. "We knew (the whole) family wouldn't be able to make it so there was no point to keep putting it off. We had hesitations and I had several mini breakdowns the week of the wedding, but everything turned out perfect."
Now that they've walked down the aisle, Green said, they can turn their attention to the future.
"What I am most looking forward to with my spouse is just traveling together to create new memories," she said, adding "and expanding our family."
