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Here’s How South Austin’s Twin Oaks Shopping Center Could Redevelop

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Here’s How South Austin’s Twin Oaks Shopping Center Could Redevelop


An aerial view of the Twin Oaks shopping center. Image: Landers Brannon / Vimeo

We were pretty tickled to dig up the news last year that Dallas-based developers Trammell Crow Company and its subsidiary High Street Residential were planning a mixed-use redevelopment of South Austin’s largely vacant Twin Oaks Shopping Center at 2315 South Congress Avenue on behalf of the 10-acre center’s owners at H-E-B. Although the finer details of the plan remained a little fuzzy around the edges, it was yet another promising sign of an ongoing transformation among Austin’s laundry list of overparked strip mall shopping centers, a long-awaited cleansing process we like to call Brodie Oaksification after perhaps the best sprawl-busting plan of them all.

Here’s the Plan for Transforming South Austin’s Twin Oaks Shopping Center

A year later, the real estate market around here has cooled off a bit, and combined with ongoing land use changes and the potential decade-spanning construction timeline of Project Connect in our future, we think a lot of the people in charge of these large-scale redevelopments might hold off a few years just to see what happens. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy some slick visuals of the Twin Oaks redevelopment’s potential, with the first renderings of a possible future for the site now available in the portfolio of Minneapolis-based architecture studio ESG:

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Image: ESG / TCC

Located at a high-profile intersection in Austin, Texas, the parcel has served as a strip commercial center since the 1950s. The redevelopment will transform the site into a series of courtyard buildings with a new network of streets and sidewalks that break up the scale of the site. The site perimeter will include significant public setbacks with gathering spaces and landscaping to complement the retail, residential and workplace uses proposed. A number of existing live oak trees will be relocated to new feature locations within the site.

— ESG

Image: ESG / TCC
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The project concept shown off here, which doesn’t seem hugely different from the plans we saw last year but seems to have a slightly different arrangement of buildings, would contain a total of 300,000 square feet of residential space, 550,000 square feet of office space, and 25,000 square feet of retail. To us, that seems light on retail and way too heavy on office space considering what’s going on around here lately, but would you look at those green roofs and solar panels? (Waving keys at you)

Image: ESG / TCC

The entry in ESG’s portfolio containing these renderings describes the project’s status as “in development,” and it doesn’t include any date for when this concept was put together, so keep in mind that we could be looking at a years-old plan here. 

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Image: ESG / TCC

In fact, something about the project depicted in these images feels rooted in a more optimistic development environment from a year or more ago, particularly in its depiction of vast, beautifully curved office spaces. You hear quite a bit lately about the cultural markers of “Zero Interest Rate Policy,” and although the Twin Oaks concept isn’t quite as over the top with high-end finishes and tasteful, expensive curves as something like (RIP) The Perennial, the notion of building a half-million square feet of new office space in 2024 suddenly sounds like an impossible fantasy. Perhaps we could cut the office space in half and double the housing? Either way, we’d be happy to see it built in place of the ocean of empty parking that’s there now — it’s just unclear how long we’ll have to wait to see anything break ground here.





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Austin, TX

William Brian Moriarty Obituary

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William Brian Moriarty Obituary


In Loving Memory: William “Bill” B. Moriarty (1952–2026)
William “Bill” B. Moriarty, of Austin, Texas, passed away on April 26, 2026, at the age of 73, following an extended battle with cancer. A devoted partner, father, brother, uncle, an…



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Victim names released in fiery plane crash that killed 5 in Central Texas

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Victim names released in fiery plane crash that killed 5 in Central Texas


The names of all five people killed in the Central Texas plane crash late Thursday night have been released.

Plane crash victim names

The latest:

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According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the names of the five victims in the Wimberly, Texas crash are as follows:

  • Justin Appling (pilot)
  • Hayden Dillard
  • Seren Wilson
  • Brooke Skypala
  • Stacy Hedrick

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigators are on scene and serving as the lead investigative agencies, DPS said in their Saturday release.

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What we don’t know:

The cause of the crash has yet to be determined.

Fatal Texas plane crash

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The backstory:

Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra says first responders received the call just after 11 p.m. April 30 about an aircraft down in the Wimberley area.

The crash happened in a wooded area in the 200 block of Round Rock Road, near the area of Ledgerock Road and FM 2325, northwest of Wimberley. The NTSB says the crash happened at around 11:03 p.m. 

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A post-impact fire destroyed the plane, says the NTSB.

According to FlightAware, the plane was on its way to New Braunfels from Amarillo.

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The aircraft has been identified as a Cessna 421C that had five people on board. All five are confirmed dead.

A preliminary investigation shows the plane was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of the crash, but there is no indication of a mid-air crash. A second plane traveling in the same area landed safely in New Braunfels.

Flight tracking data shows the plane had a normal takeoff, climbing to 17,400 feet, but just before 11 p.m., something went wrong. The data showed the plane suddenly started dropped, plunging more than 5,000 feet per minute. Within minutes, radar contact was lost.

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The Source: Information in this update comes from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

TexasCrime and Public SafetyHays County



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5 killed in small plane crash near Austin, Texas

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5 killed in small plane crash near Austin, Texas


Five people were killed when a small private plane crashed and caught fire near Austin, Texas, according to state and local officials. A pickleball club identified the victims as members who were traveling to a tournament.

The crash happened at about 11:05 p.m. on Thursday in the Wimberley area, about 40 miles southwest of Austin, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety and Hays County officials. The FAA said the aircraft was a Cessna 421C.

Sgt. Billy Ray with the Texas Department of Public Safety said all five people on board were killed, including one pilot and four passengers. He also confirmed that the plane caught fire after the crash.

The Amarillo Pickleball Club identified the victims as Seren Wilson, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick, Glen Appling and Hayden Dillard. The club said they were members of its “Amarillo pickleball family” and were traveling to a pickleball tournament when the crash happened.

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“Today, the Club has received terrible news that we all must mourn in the loss of five members of our Amarillo pickleball family,” the club said in a statement. “Please keep their precious families in your thoughts and prayers.”

Fire and EMS personnel remained at the crash site through the early morning hours, according to Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra. Preliminary information indicated the aircraft was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of impact.

Becerra said there was no indication of a mid-air collision. A second aircraft that was flying nearby landed safely in New Braunfels, a city northeast of San Antonio.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.

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