The new destination will “serve as a gateway to Texas A&M University and Historic Downtown Bryan,” according to the City of Bryan.

KBTX News 3 at Six

KBTX 3
By Rusty Surette and Donnie Tuggle
Published: Sep. 12, 2023 at 2:01 PM GMT-7

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - The City of Bryan on Tuesday shared its first rendering of a new mixed-use destination.

Set to reshape the city for generations to come, the area will include commercial and residential spaces along South College Avenue, across from Hensel Park, and within walking distance of Century Square and Northgate.

City leaders say the new development aligns with future community growth and shapes the Bryan gateway from University Drive and Texas A&M.

‘We’re very proud of what the vision looks like. We think we can add housing, we can add offices. We can have retail, and commercial. Everything will be in one spot,’ said Bryan Mayor Bobby Gutierrez. ‘It’s just a continuation of a lot of good things, a lot of good people have been putting into it for many years,’ said Bryan Mayor Bobby Gutierrez.

Real estate developer Bill Lero anticipates an unprecedented demand for developments like this in the City of Bryan. ‘This is one of those hundred-year projects, you know we’ve got to look forward,’ said Lero. ‘We’re going to have the quality workforce that’s going to demand an area to work and to be entertained in these types of projects.’

City leaders say the new development aligns with future community growth and shapes the Bryan gateway from University Drive and Texas A&M. Currently, this area is a residential neighborhood with single-family homes. The city says it’s secured a large number of properties for the new development and is actively pursuing the acquisition of additional ones.

‘There’ll be some other properties that we’ll have to come down to make the whole thing come together, and at that point, we’ll hopefully have our partners lined up to take those down from the commercial development side, and we can see this vision become a reality,’ Gutierrez added.”

With regard to the timeline, the city says that developments of this magnitude may take several years to reach a shovel-ready status and they hope to release more details soon.

The city’s full statement is below:

“At the Sept. 12 Bryan Commerce and Development, Inc. meeting, the City of Bryan’s partners unveiled a redevelopment vision for a mixed-use destination featuring top-tier commercial and residential real estate that will also serve as a gateway to Texas A&M University and Historic Downtown Bryan.

The proposed redevelopment is located on South College Avenue across from Hensel Park, within walking distance of Century Square, and behind the Northgate Entertainment District. It is 2,200 feet from Texas A&M’s campus and less than 4 miles from Historic Downtown Bryan and Travis Bryan Midtown Park.

The City of Bryan has partnered with Lero & Associates, Inc. to acquire property, utilities and entitlements, and plan the development in order to secure a master developer to assist in creating a high-density, mixed-use community. To visualize the redevelopment, the city has partnered with OMNIPLAN, a highly qualified architecture firm.

The project will utilize one of Bryan’s most viable redevelopment opportunities, align with future growth of the community, and continue to incorporate strategic partnerships to create a captivating and prosperous master-planned development.

Developments of this magnitude can take years to have a shovel-ready site with all preliminaries completed.

Further details will unfold as the project progresses.