Shady Grove residents move out to make way for condos

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- Some are calling it the end of an era as an Austin RV park that opened in the 1940s closes down Monday to make room for a $130 million condominium project.

Those living in the Shady Grove RV Park have until midnight Monday to pack up and get out.

The trailers sit on 27 lots at 1600 Barton Springs Road in South Austin. Next week the bulldozers will come in to start transforming those lots into a condo project. But along with mobile homes, residents, said, Austin is losing some of its character and history.         

They are leaving behind the wildlife and hundred-year-old pecan trees, but some of the Shady Grove residents said they are also leaving a piece of themselves behind.

"It's a very sad day we kind of feel helpless about," said Greg Engleman.

"It's sad to see," added Melissa Engleman. "It's like an Austin icon. It's really sad to see it go to condos, cause we have a lot of condos already."

Barton Place Condo developer Rick Engel said he is excited about the new project. He said it took a while for them to come up with the right style for the 270-unit development.

"Our architects kinda came up with a Hill Country-modern look," Engel said. "It is a mid-rise of six buildings, actually, with a center court yard that goes all the way through."

The condos cost from about $300,000 to $800,000.

While Greg Engleman packed up what little he had left Monday, he explained he felt betrayed by the Austin City Council. He said native Austinites are being priced out by all the new condo developments.

"There's some others that are planned right on the river, and I don't know how we can do that in good conscience, especially when we have to bulldoze the things we love about Austin to get them," he said.

For Bennie Bell, who called the park his home for more than a decade, saying goodbye to old friends and his home makes him feel as empty as Shady Grove.

Residents got to stay at the park for free in March.

As far as the new condos go, developers said they have already sold 35 percent of the units.

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