The Opportunity
Redevelopment of an old industrial site into a 1,589-space near-airport parking facility serving Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) in Austin, TX.
The Green Courte team looked at the site of an old concrete plant and saw tremendous potential for both development and environmental impact. The Parking Spot, Green Courte’s near-airport parking operating company, already operated one facility near AUS, and this land presented an opportunity to better serve customers approaching from the east side of the airport. This was a chance to enhance the company’s presence and operating capabilities in the market and create a productive piece of land from an unproductive site.
Green Courte set to work assembling several vacant, adjacent tracts and combined them with the parcel beneath the plant. In 2015, the team reached an agreement with sellers to acquire the land that would become the Austin East facility.
The Transformation
In collaboration with local agencies, the Green Courte team navigated various complex environmental challenges to remediate and restore the land. One example is the recycling and repurposing of concrete spoils left on-site to create a water management system, eliminating the need to haul the concrete off-site to a landfill. The new system filters and drains rainwater to the adjacent Colorado River.
More than 50% of the total land area was earmarked for preservation as green space, and the development team adhered to local guidelines and arborists’ recommendations to preserve hundreds of heritage oak trees throughout the site. The land that was developed was part of a forward-looking, sustainable surface parking design concept. The new Austin East facility features canopies with high solar reflective index coating to mitigate the urban heat island effect, electric vehicle charging stations, and efficient LED lighting. The project was such a sustainable design success story that it was designated as a demonstrator site for Parksmart, the sustainable parking certification of Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI).
