You are here: Home >> Northwest Austin >> Community Corridor >> Riata

Riata

Attention: open in a new window.

Tuesday, 07 August 2007

Quite possibly no other area in Austin exemplifies “high tech” like the Riata area. This 400-acre area has the largest concentration of high tech employees – more than 8,000 – in the Austin area, with more than two million sq. ft. of office space. This corridor is also home to the largest multi-family development in the city.

History

Texas Instruments comes to Austin

In the mid-1960s, Texas Instruments was looking to make a significant investment in Austin. Vic Mathias, then head of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, told them about a site in far northwest Austin, but the TI executives didn’t have time to drive to it. Vic and a colleague at the Chamber went out to the site with a large white bed sheet and the TI executives flew over in their jet to see where the property began. Vic then drove to the other side of the 400 acres, held the sheet out again, and the jet flew over to see the other side of the tract. After making a few passes to survey the land from above, the TI executives called within hours to put the land under contract for Texas Instruments.

Much of what is pictured here constitutes the original Texas Instruments land purchase.

Residential

1 — Riata Resort Apartment Community

The Riata Resort Apartment Community is the largest multi-family development in the city, and it was the largest multi-family transaction in Austin history. Construction began in 1996 and eight villages were completed in 2001. Today, there are more than 2,100 apartment homes, ranging from entry-level to luxury living. Residents enjoy miles of jogging trails, a nine-hole putting green, car washing stations, nine swimming pools, and racquetball, volleyball and basketball courts.

A new and final phase of the Riata community is in the planning stages and would include an additional 288 luxury apartment homes, as well as a dog park, two bocce ball courts, a lap pool and a pub-like entertainment area that will include the latest console games, a media room, pool tables and more. Construction should be complete by early 2008. For more information, visit www.riata.com or call 437-1000.

Commercial property

Riata Crossing and Riata Corporate Park

Riata Crossing and Riata Corporate Park constitute the largest multi-tenant office project in Austin, with a combined one million square feet of office space. The buildings were leased as quickly as they could be built, primarily to tech and Fortune 500 companies. Today, approximately 6,000 people work in the complexes.

2 — Riata Crossing features four two-story buildings. One building is leased to DR Horton, and the remaining three buildings are occupied by Apple Inc. In late 2004, Apple Inc. consolidated all its Austin offices to this area, now occupying 275,000 square feet in these three buildings. A fourth 80,000 sq. ft., two-story building broke ground on July 21 and should be completed by August 2008.

3 — Riata Corporate Park consists of nine buildings, which are 98% full. Tenants include Centex Homes, nVidia, Computer Associates, DHI Mortgage, ViaGen, Visa, Pervasive Software and ACS (Affiliated Computer Services), a Fortune 500 company that has a major contract with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

4 — With 251,400 square feet of space, Research Park Place, completed in July, could accommodate up to 1,200 employees when it’s fully occupied. For more information, visit www.researchparkplace.com or contact Max Moss at 482-5570.

5 — Riata Vista Business Park will go up on this 36-acre space, with a 140,000-square-foot office building planned to be complete summer 2008. For more information, contact Aquila Commercial at 684-3800.

Parks and Trails

6 — Lake Riata and Riata Park

Lake Riata is a man-made lake created as a retention pond for the Riata development. Before “green building” was popular, developers in the area recognized the natural beauty of the land, took care to retain and plant native plants, and filled the lake with fish and plants that would naturally filter the water. A playscape, jogging trails, seating and tennis courts were added to create Riata Park, and management of the park was turned over to the City of Austin. Combined, the park and lake cover 16 acres.