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AUSTIN – A project to turn a shuttered Austin school into a community center focused on building local businesses will receive $12.25 million after a City Council vote.
Alderpeople on Wednesday approved tax-increment financing for the Aspire Center. The center will replace Emmett Elementary School, 5500 W. Madison St., as a business-focused community center that will provide local residents with retail space and resources to start businesses, job training and more.
The center is part of the Asprey Initiative, which focuses on investing in buildings and infrastructure in the West Side neighborhood to revitalize its housing stock, schools, businesses and more.
Emmet — which has been closed since 2014 — said on its website that the center could create 50 permanent and local jobs over five years and “help 500 Austinites increase their incomes and 250 more get financing for businesses or property purchases.”
The Aspire Initiative was created by Austin Coming Together and the Westside Health Authority to build on the Austin Quality of Life Plan.
Credit: googlePlanners said the project could include facilities such as a cafe, financial services center and grocery store, and would have facilities and equipment for workforce training in areas such as manufacturing and technology.
“A training center for advanced manufacturing, that would have taken some action from the community in the plan. … They want to get that training and they want it at a high level. And having a state-of-the-art facility designed to be able to manage that type of program is something we’d like to see,” Austin Arrivals co-director Darnell Shields said earlier.
Other projects in the Aspire Initiative address housing, health and education in neighborhoods.
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