‘We want it to be experiential’: Keller looks ahead to more redevelopment in Old Town
Inside Cathie Jackson’s little yellow bookstore on Bates Street in Old Town Keller, shelves of books stretch high toward low ceilings.
The shop, Catherine Anne’s Books, has been in business for around two years on the charming — albeit outdated — strip in one of the oldest parts of the city. She says there’s nearly 1,000 books in here, most of which come from Jackson’s own personal collection, though she often times comes to work to find boxes of books on the doorstep.
Their topics range from fiction and education to art and Texas history. They rarely see eyes on spines and finger flicks across pages.
Business is slow and sales are rare, Jackson said, but with new development coming to the area, she’s hopeful that will change.
The Keller City Council approved nearly $4.3 million in road, drainage and other infrastructure improvements to seven stretches of road on the east side of Keller’s Old Town at the end of March.
Sarah Hensley, the city’s assistant community development director and the project’s manager, said that development on the first phase completed in 2017, which included upgrades down Lamar Street with interchangeable statue installations. As soon as that was done, the city began work on designing for the other half of Old Town.
Once the roundabout at Elm Street and Bear Creek Parkway is finished in May, the city hopes to begin redesigning and revamping Bates Street into a festival area for special events. Bates will eventually feature hookups for 14 food trucks, removable ballards to stop traffic at each end of the road and bookending arched street signs that say “Old Town Keller.”
The city plans to add a median to busy Main Street near where Bates Street begins and also a signalized crosswalk so people can stop traffic to safely get to both sides of Old Town. There will also be additions to landscape and decorative benches (the city put out a call for local artists to contribute). Officials anticipate finishing out construction on Bates Street in June 2023.
Elm, Pecan, Olive, East Vine, East Hill and Taylor streets will also eventually be redone, though there’s no plan in the works quite yet, Hensley said. Loose preliminary designs for those roads are set, but city’s awaiting more direction from council for what it wants to see and possible funding sources, Hensley said. Plans could include installing pedestrian walkways from Vine to Bates and from Bates to Olive, which could lend room for cafe tables and more string lights.
Development across Old Town, and across Keller itself, has been mainly focused on creating family-friendly spaces. On Old Town Keller’s west side where redevelopment is complete, city officials are already seeing people stop in to eat and shop around. Rachel Reynolds, the city’s communication and public engagement manager, said the issues the city’s trying to address are parking and access for pedestrians so they see the same traffic on the east side of Old Town as they do on the west.
Redevelopment on the west side added hundreds of parking spots, Reynolds said. Depending on the time of night and what’s happening in the area, all the spots fill up. The idea is to increase accessibility and aesthetics.
“We want it to be experiential,” said Julie Smith, Keller’s community development director.
Officials in the community development department hope the changes could drive more development business-wise to the area.
“Addressing some of the infrastructural challenges, I think, removes barriers to that development, because now the developers aren’t trying to figure out how they’re going to manage a drainage issue or an access issue,” said Smith. “The city can take care of that.”
The incoming changes are also ones that business owners hope bring much-needed traffic.
Peggy Harrison with the Wild Rose Heritage Center on Bates Street thinks the area will probably be a mess until construction is done. She thinks the Heritage Center may need to close down for a bit, but the museum had done it before with the pandemic and it was something they knew they could survive.
Harrison looked forward to the new amenities to the neighboring park, which she said turns into a duck pond when it rains. She foresaw only positive effects for the museum.
“We’re a very well-kept secret,” Harrison said with a chuckle. ”People don’t know we’re here.”
Rick Figueroa, who owns The Station Patio Icehouse, originally wanted to open his restaurant in Richland Hills — until he came to Keller.
Keller was in the middle of development in Old Town when Figueroa saw the spot where a train rolled by once every 45 minutes. It was perfect for the concept he was going for — a train station with an Austin feel. The Station officially opened in September 2018 and sees heavy traffic on the weekends. The restaurant will soon add more updates like more TVs, fire pits and lounge seating on the patio.
Figueroa is mostly looking forward to the incoming crosswalk between the east and west sides. After all, that new connectivity means more business for him.
