An organic boost to North Austin
Whole Foods breaks ground on their North Austin location
Oh happy day! The Whole Foods Market at the Domain is officially under construction. A bunch of big wigs from the Domain, City of Austin and Whole Foods (minus co-founder and CEO John Mackey) came together Tuesday morning for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the 55,000 square foot store.
As a resident of South Canada (Parmer and Mopac), I am thrilled this natural grocer is setting up shop in my backyard but bummed I have to wait until spring 2013 to start my organic shopping sprees. But as they say, better late then never.
The project has been a part of Endeavor Real Estate Group's vision for the Domain for about 5 years. The recession forced Whole Foods to delay their plans but now all players are moving forward on a project expected to create hundreds of jobs and pump more life into North Austin.
In fact, Mayor Lee Leffingwell suggested this project in addition to all the retail, dining and residential development along the North Burnet gateway is turning the area into "Austin's second downtown."
I suspect North Austin will never have the appeal of downtown but this certainly is moving us in the right direction. I am excited about the new store which Whole Foods Executive Marketing Coordinator Laura Zappi promised would have wider aisles, more food and more parking than their Gateway location which will eventually close.
Whole Foods is working on opening up two other stores including one in Bee Cave and another in South Austin next year.
Whole Foods Market began as a small grocery store about 30 years ago and now is the world's largest retailer of natural and organic foods with stores throughout North America and the United Kingdom. Their flagship store on the corner of Sixth Street and Lamar Boulevard is one of the largest stores at 80,000 square feet.