Crews placed the highest beam of the new Pflugerville City Hall under construction on Sept. 22, marking a major milestone in the city’s Downtown East project.

Overview: The new city hall is part of Phase 1 of the Downtown East project, which will also include a multigenerational recreation center and civic plaza. The four-story city hall, at a cost of roughly $86 million, will house city staff and public meetings, and will also include a cafe.

Downtown East is part of a long-range plan to expand the downtown area, support local business growth and provide more walkable community spaces.

An affordable housing project for Pflugerville ISD teachers is underway through its Public Facility Corporation, or PFC.

The PfISD board of trustees established a workforce housing PFC to support the project during the Sept. 18 board meeting.

Some context: PfISD’s PFC was first established in 2021. The non-profit organization can finance, acquire, construct, renovate and repair public facilities. 

The action taken: Proposition H of the 2022 bond issued $43.9 million in funds to build affordable housing for PfISD educator, and the newly-established workforce housing PFC will oversee the project. 

Austin Community College’s RiverHacks hackathon will coincide with NASA’s third annual International Space App Challenge, where teams can participate in open data challenges and network with space leaders and experts.

The gist: The ACC Center for Government and Civic Services is collaborating with The Space Workforce Incubator for Texas to host the RiverHacks hackathon and the Austin portion of the NASA International Space Apps Challenge, Oct. 4-5 at the Rio Grande campus.

The global event encourages participants to leverage free, open data from NASA and their international space agency partners to create innovative solutions for Earth- and space-related challenges.