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Pro-Development Mayor Puts City on Notice

AUSTIN-Mayor Kirk Watson's resignation notice has real estate professionals lamenting the loss and hopeful that his replacement is as pro-development. Watson has bridged the gap between environmentalists and developers, something no one wants to lose.

By Tim Green | Updated on August 14, 2001

AUSTIN-Kirk Watson, in his four years as Austin’s mayor, generated more change than a $100 bill tendered for a 5-cent piece of gum. The city’s downtown, for example, looks a lot different now–with new office buildings and a new city hall complex under construction–than it did several years ago.

“He’s made progress that nobody’s been able to make in the past two or three decades and that’s going to help steer Austin for the next two decades,” says Fred Higgins, a broker at NAI/Commercial Industrial Properties Inc. “He has really brought to the surface a sense of purpose of keeping our city centralized.”

At the same time, Watson unfurled a blanket of stability by brokering, if not peace, then at least a truce in the age-old Austin war between environmentalists and developers. “Since Kirk’s been here, it’s been a lot more stable and people have known the rules and that you develop in the environmentally sensitive areas at your own risk,” real estate lawyer David Armbrust tells GlobeSt.com. “I think he’s helped clarify where the dividing line is between what’s an acceptable area and what’s not.”

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