The Arboretum's Renovation Plan Is Already Running in the Juliet Kitchen Parking Lot

Every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the parking lot outside Juliet Kitchen at Great Hills Trail and Jollyville Road turns into something besides parking. The Arboretum Food & Artisan Market sets up there with more than 50 vendors a week. They sell organic vegetables, local meats, baked goods, coffee, flowers and plants, dog products, jewelry and home goods. A shopping center known for its cow sculptures and a long run of retail turns into a neighborhood market for four hours, and then the cars come back.

That weekly market matters more this fall than it used to. The Arboretum now has a new owner, and the owner's stated plan for the 197,105-square-foot center describes a lot of what already happens in that parking lot. The openings this season point the same way.

What Asana Partners Said It Would Build

Asana Partners announced its purchase of The Arboretum on Feb. 4, 2026. A month earlier, Edens had announced it bought Gateway Shopping Center, across Research Boulevard. Community Impact reported in March that both centers were heading for a revamp.

The Arboretum plan, as reported, includes:

• Common areas rebuilt to host live music, pop-up retail and community programming
• Outdoor dining patios
• Better connections and wayfinding across the property
• New storefront signage and other upgrades

Site work was slated to begin in summer 2026, with completion projected by early 2027. In late August, the Austin Business Journal reported that the plan was "now in motion." The early-2027 date is still a target, not a finished result. Until the work is done, read this year's changes as the first steps of a plan, not the completed version.

Every piece of that list points at reasons to stay longer. Patios slow a visit down. Live music and pop-ups give people a reason to come at a particular hour. Wayfinding helps someone parked at one end reach the other end on foot. A Saturday market does all of this in a parking lot with folding tables.

The Small Spaces Are Filling First

Before any common-area work is finished, the clearest signs of change are inside individual storefronts. Two state filings and one restaurant announcement show what kind of tenant is moving in. Each filing lists AP Arboretum, LP as the property owner.

• JETSET Pilates, Suite 124. A filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation describes a $275,000 build-out of 2,571 square feet, scheduled to start May 15 and finish Sept. 1, 2026. Community Impact reported that the studio began preview classes Sept. 11 and planned a grand opening for Oct. 3.
• PEACHY, Space 129. A separate TDLR filing covers a $450,000 tenant fit-out of 1,523 square feet with new walls, finishes, fixtures and paint. Work was scheduled to run from Sept. 1 to Oct. 30, 2026. The filing doesn't say what kind of business PEACHY will be.
• Tumble 22, 9761 Great Hills Trail, Suite B. The chicken restaurant plans to open Nov. 7. Its menu includes The O.G., a crispy or grilled chicken sandwich with coleslaw, bread-and-butter pickles and mayo, plus tenders, bites and bone-in chicken. Community Impact reported that the first 75 guests on opening day get a free O.G. sandwich every month for a year.

The sizes matter. Put JETSET's 2,571 square feet and PEACHY's 1,523 together and you get about 4,100 square feet, or roughly 2% of the center's 197,105 square feet. Neither is a department store. PEACHY's build-out works out to nearly $300 per square foot, which is a lot to spend on a small room and fits a tenant that cares about how the space looks and feels.

Each of these businesses depends on repeat visits. A Pilates studio sells a class schedule, so members come back every week. Tumble 22's opening promotion gives its first 75 guests a reason to return once a month for a year. A shopping center planning event space and patios gains from tenants whose customers are already on a regular rhythm, and the fall openings fit that pattern.

Across Research Boulevard, the Big Box Is the Hard Part

Gateway shows the same split from the other side. Edens planned gathering areas and public-space improvements there too, along with filling vacancies that include the former Saks Off 5th. Work was expected to begin in 2026.

The newest arrival at Gateway is Miniso, which opened Aug. 8 at 9607 Research Blvd., Suite 450. The opening came later than first planned. When the Austin American-Statesman announced the store in March, it forecast an April 30 soft opening and a May 9 grand opening. The Statesman also reported that Miniso moved into the former Factory Mattress space, not the old Saks Off 5th.

Gateway's page on the Edens website currently lists one available space of 49,662 square feet, without naming a new tenant. That single space is about 12 times the combined size of the JETSET and PEACHY suites. Across both centers, the small spaces are getting new tenants quickly, while a store-sized space waits for a tenant that can fill it.

For someone who lives in Great Hills, this means the change on the ground this fall is mostly a new studio, a new restaurant and a new shop. The larger transformation both owners described depends on construction that is set to finish next year at The Arboretum, and on a decision about a nearly 50,000-square-foot space at Gateway.

The Evenings Arrive Before the Patios Do

The Arboretum is planning common areas built for live music and community programs. The market organizer, Penny V Productions, is already adding evening events in the same lot. Here's the calendar from now into early 2027. The market dates are the ones currently posted on the organizer's site, and the rest come from the state filings and Community Impact:

1. Every Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Arboretum Food & Artisan Market, Juliet Kitchen parking lot, 10000 Research Blvd.
2. Thursday, Oct. 29, 4 to 8 p.m. Halloween Market in the same lot, an after-work version of the Saturday market.
3. Friday, Oct. 30. Scheduled finish for the PEACHY build-out in Space 129.
4. Saturday, Nov. 7. Tumble 22's planned opening at 9761 Great Hills Trail, Suite B, the day the first 75 guests can claim the year of monthly sandwiches.
5. Thursday, Dec. 10, 4 to 8 p.m. Holiday Market in the Juliet Kitchen lot.
6. Early 2027. Projected completion of Asana's common-area, patio and wayfinding work.

Both special markets fall on Thursday evenings, a different time slot from the Saturday morning routine. If the market moves into the redesigned common areas when they open, the plan's mention of live music and community programming would just be official space for evening events that are already on this fall's calendar. The opening dates above are plans and could move, as Miniso's did across Research Boulevard. The organizer's website and each business's own channels will have the latest dates.

The Arboretum's changes will touch everyday errands and Saturday mornings across Great Hills well before the construction ends. At the Ruth & Evonne Team, we follow these changes up close because they shape day-to-day life in the neighborhood. If you'd like to talk about what the Research Boulevard changes could mean for your home or your plans, Request a Personalized Consultation.