Travis Mitchell has been talking about revamping Kyle's downtown for so long that he's progressed from doing so as a private citizen to a member of the City Council to the occupant of the mayor's office. Now in his third – and final – term leading the city south of Austin, his words are transforming into action.
Kyle, the second fastest-growing city of its size in the country, has been working publicly and privately to acquire entire city blocks downtown and revamp a dormant public process to gather input from residents about what they want. The aim is to work with private developers to have the first buildings occupied by the end of the decade.
The overall goal is create a sense of place and destination that's viewed as lacking in Kyle compared to neighboring San Marcos, Buda and Lockhart. The vision calls for a chunk of downtown — 10 blocks by 10 blocks — with 100 businesses, an expanded city hall, parking garage and much more when all is said and done.
"Kyle has had an historic problem cultivating a strong identity," Mitchell said. "We have (had a problem) — and we must be self aware enough to make that statement. So if the answer is 'Kyle suffers from an identity problem,' especially as we've been in such a state of transition and growth over the last couple decades, it becomes the core problem we need to solve in order to cultivate a sense of place" and identity.
Place making
The importance of downtowns for cultivating small businesses, creating a sense of place for residents and attracting tourism dollars is clear when you look around the Austin suburbs. Take the Georgetown and Lockhart squares, or Round Rock's Main Street, as examples, all of which are hubs for events, home to destination wineries and barbecue restaurants, and serve local residents with coffee shops and other amenities.
In Buda, adjacent to Kyle, City Manager Micah Grau labeled his city's Main Street as an asset for both businesses and residents. It's filled with local restaurants, wedding and event venues, and cafes.
Buda has made maintaining its Main Street a priority, doing so through the collaboration of its City Council, Historic Preservation Commission and economic development corporation. But Grau acknowledged the effort can be a struggle, describing it as a "push and pull" between managing the city's growth and preserving its history.
"I think everyone recognizes the gem that downtown Buda is," Grau said. "Having that place for businesses to grow, for our community to gather, is really what makes Buda, Buda."
It's a similar story in nearby San Marcos, which has a historic downtown square. City Manager Stephanie Reyes said the city has had to take a more active role in maintaining it, including steps such as engaging in public-private partnerships and establishing a tax increment reinvestment zone to balance things like rising rents and land prices against the need to cultivate local businesses and maintain the unique character of buildings and facades.
"A historic downtown like ours is really important because it also helps to make sure that we're preserving the past while honoring the present and the future," Reyes said. "Making sure that we're having that connection to the people who established us, I think that is really important for placemaking."
'Hole in a donut'
Over the last 20 years, Kyle has been at the forefront of the region's growth. The city has added large residential projects, buoying its population from 28,000 in 2010 to nearly 63,000 last year. That's prompted the addition of big lifestyle projects, more retail options and new employers.
Despite the growth, the area around its city hall has remained mostly untouched. Mitchell said that's largely the result of tension between those who live in residential homes in the core of the city — many of whom don't want to see it changed — and those who live around it and desire a downtown hub.
To illustrate the issue, he noted that the city has added $5 billion worth of taxable value, in terms of appreciation and new development over the last several years — but almost none of it has been downtown.
"They see downtown as a hole in a donut," Mitchell said. "As our city has grown in the donut and the hole has stayed, the pressure and the voice of the community at large has started to elevate where it's really clear to the council that we need to take action."
Mitchell stressed that both "perspectives are valid," so the issue has been difficult for the council to address. It has gathered input from city residents, with many calling for more unique business, family-friendly options and diverse land uses — but a downtown revitalization plan stalled last year because tangible options couldn't be agreed upon.
It's current effort stems from conversations over the last several years with officials from more than a dozen other locales around Texas. A common theme was that the key to unlocking a downtown redevelopment is to gain control of not only civic and public spaces but of city blocks as a whole.
That's the idea behind Kyle purchasing land. The city made its first buy in 2016, but has ramped that up significantly. It went into hyperdrive with the purchase of the Papa Jack's and Jack's Axes buildings in 2022 and 2023 after they were destroyed in a fire, with Mitchell calling the disaster equal parts heartbreaking and an opportunity. More purchases have been approved in the last two months, including at a recent council meeting, and the city is working to finish those acquisitions. Mitchell estimated that the purchases will end up costing about $15 million.
The biggest struggle has been deciding what do with the property. When city leaders made the first purchase back in 2016, they wanted to build their own project. But that was both too costly — $12 million to $15 million, or the entire budget of the effort — and also excessive because downtown didn't yet have other destinations to justify it.
That's where the next steps come in, Mitchell said. Because of the rising costs of materials, building just a parking garage can potentially cost as much as $100 million. Mitchell said the city's plan is to engage in public-private partnerships, where private capital would carry the financial burden of projects, in return for things like cheap ground leases. Other options include the city maintaining master leases on retail.
Mitchell stressed that the city isn't striving to turn a profit on its efforts downtown. But maintaining control — in addition to providing incentives, such as through a downtown TIRZ – would offset the costs of operation for small businesses and help facilitate their growth.
"We want a bunch of firms vying for the chance to be a part of this project, and that's how we know we have something that will work," he said.
As for the residential portions, the plan is to focus on the square around city hall, where property is mostly used for commercial purposes.
"Let's leave (the residential) part of it alone and allow for time to do its thing," Mitchell said.
A full-scale plan
Meanwhile, the city has been taking other steps to ensure the effort is successful.
In addition to land purchases, it has marched through the minutia needed to relocate a railroad crossing that runs through the area, extended transportation routes on the outskirts of the city to direct freeway traffic away from downtown, earmarked space to connect downtown to the city's Vybe Trail, and started a wet infrastructure study to see if wastewater and water lines can handle the burden of increased density.
It also has approved other big projects, such as luring a barbecue joint from San Marcos and an upscale mixed-use development from Capella Commercial LLC, that are outside of the current downtown but could be part of it eventually.
Plans for the project include an outdoor amphitheater surrounded by restaurants, retail outlets, office spaces, a hotel, town homes, residential flats and two small ponds.
In a dream scenario, Mitchell said he'd like to see downtown be occupied by local Kyle businesses, citing examples including La Ola Pop Shop, LionHeart Hobby and The Main Squeeze.
"These are decisions for future leaders," he said. "My whole framework is, by the end of my term, I want to have the foundation, the infrastructure piece set up and the funding mechanism designed so that future councils will be able to implement it and build on it in the way they see fit based on the market and changing environment in the city."
With that being said, plenty of steps remain. For instance, the new public engagement process could take more than a year after the purchases. At that point, the project would be taken to the private market for requests for proposals. Then it could be a couple more years until construction is finished and the first businesses start opening up.
"Call it a 2030 plan," Mitchell said. "What I'm trying to outline is a generation of change. As long as it takes. ... As long as you're taking the steps — following the plan, thinking strategically — eventually the downtown will become something special. I know that to be true in my heart."
There have been various attempts to brand Kyle in the past. They've included rallying around the city's moniker as the Pie Capital of Texas, as well as homages around the city to Katherine Ann Porter, a Pulitzer Prize winning author who grew up in Kyle. But Mitchell thinks revitalizing downtown will be more effective.
"To change your downtown, you have to be willing to take real, concrete, bold steps. Over time we have started to move away from this idea of creating branding moments and we have focused on, 'Let's give the people, let's give the community, something to truly celebrate,' which is a thriving downtown with lots of different businesses and opportunities," Mitchell said.
He also considers the city closer than it has ever been to actually achieving what he called a "tent-pole item," not only for him but for everyone on the City Council during his eight-and-a-half years of service.
"We've wanted to do it," Mitchell said. "We haven't been able to because we haven't been willing to seize the opportunities that were in front of us. And this council, while being criticized at times for some of what they are doing, is laying the foundation for true transformation and revitalization in the community, as well as giving us an identity."