Once-in-a-lifetime project
Growing Austin suburb branches out with $400 million hotel, convention, and retail complex
A $400 million-plus development that the mayor calls a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” will bring a convention center, hotel, and massive home furnishings store to Cedar Park.
On December 9, the Cedar Park City Council unanimously approved an agreement with Austin-based CPM Development LLC to build a 250-room hotel and 30,000-square-foot convention center complemented by retail and entertainment spots, including a huge home-furnishings store.
The 117-acre project, which still faces additional approvals from city and state officials, will be at 750 E. New Hope Dr., near U.S. Highway 183A. The site is southwest of H-E-B Center at Cedar Park and northwest of Cedar Park Regional Medical Center.
“This development is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to dramatically expand Cedar Park’s commercial tax base with a single project,” Cedar Park Mayor Corbin Van Arsdale says in a news release. “This also gives Cedar Park the hotel and convention center we’ve wanted for a long time, to help attract more visitors and provide a much-needed venue for large gatherings so that locally organized events don’t have to be held outside of our community.”
A key component of the development will be a 500,000-square-foot NFM (formerly Nebraska Furniture Mart) store, along with a 700,000-square-foot NFM warehouse. The store will be NFM’s first in the Austin area. Its only other Texas location is in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of The Colony.
NFM is owned by Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway, a corporate conglomerate whose chairman and CEO is billionaire Warren Buffett. NFM is also based in Omaha. Aside from Texas, the retailer operates locations in Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas.
Other than the hotel, convention center, and NFM properties, the project is expected to include 250,000 square foot of commercial space.
Construction on the development could start in 2024, with NFM tentatively set to open in 2025.
Cedar Park City Manager Brenda Eivens describes the development as “a transformative project that will create the greatest economic development return in Cedar Park’s history,” generating an anticipated $425 million in tax revenue over 25 years.
