Blink and you'll miss it — Austin is changing in 2025.

It seems like there's always a new building, park, or route underway in Austin and there is no shortage of projects on the horizon for 2025. Here are a few we're paying extra close attention to.

Austin Convention Center

The city will celebrate SXSW in the existing Austin Convention Center for the last time in 2025, as demolition of the structure is expected to begin in April this year. Construction on the new convention center — which is slated to be double the size and cost around $1.6 billion — should wrap in early 2029.

Waterline

Waterline is set to hold the 1 Hotel Austin, residential and office space, and ground floor food and beverage space. | Rendering courtesy KPF

This mixed-use Downtown tower — which has been under construction since mid-2022 — isn't set to open until 2026, but it is scheduled to top out in August this year and complete its presence in the Austin skyline. Once finished, Austinites can expect to see a new hotel, retail, restaurants, and 352 apartments with access to 20,000 sqft of outdoor amenities.

Joan Means Khabele Bathhouse

Work on the Joan Means Khabele Bathhouse began in June 2024. | Photo by ATXtoday

After a summer of visiting Barton Springs Pool while under construction, the bathhouse is set to reopen this summer. The structure was renamed after activist and scholar Joan Means Khabele, who was one of the first Black students to enroll at Austin High School in 1956. Improvements to the bathhouse will include new plumbing, structural repairs using some of the original building's brick pavers, and entry rotunda restoration.

The Row

Austin's urban sprawl continues with The Row, formerly called Velocity, at the corner of SH 71 and SH 130, near the Tesla Gigafactory. Upcoming phases that are slated to break ground early this year will focus on providing 6,250 sqft of restaurant space and 122,000+ sqft of retail space. One of its residential phases, a 307-unit multifamily development called Del Via, is set to begin leasing units in February.

The Confluence

The Confluence has three lattice bridges like this one in the plans. | Rendering courtesy Waterloo Greenway Conservancy & Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc.

Also known as Phase II of Waterloo Greenway, The Confluence will form a completely off-street trail from 4th Street to Lady Bird Lake along 13 acres of Waller Creek and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. After that, construction on the final phases — Palm Park and The Refuge — will follow.

I-35 Capital Express project

This rendering shows what Cesar Chavez Street could look like with new "caps" over I-35. | Rendering via TxDOT

The fabric of Austin is changing as the I-35 Capital Express Project trucks on, and the Central Project broke ground in October. Meanwhile, crews are currently working on the MLK Jr. Boulevard bridge, and construction on the drainage tunnel + pump station and Lady Bird Lake segment will begin this year. We'll be watching this project for a while, as some aspects of the overall plan won't be finished until 2033.

Which developments are you interested in hearing more about? Give us a shout.