The context: Real estate investment firm Asana Partners acquired the 197,105-square-foot shopping center, The Arboretum, earlier this year. The center features dining, retail and health and wellness tenants.

What’s new: Construction is slated to start in the spring, beginning with a 14,000-square-foot retail section. The new building is expected to be built out in late 2027, with retailers opening by fall 2028. Other planned updates include:

• New outdoor dining patios and improved pathways
• New play structures for children
• Expanded seating and new signage
• Updates to the primary courtyard lighting

Community-focused programming events will start in late 2026, with year-round programming planned for next year.

Stay tuned: The retail center is growing with new tenants. A JETSET Pilates location opened on Sept. 11, and Peachy, a skincare concept, is opening in spring 2027 near Pottery Barn.

The Texas Education Agency is reviewing a complaint about how signatures were gathered for petitions to close Burnet and Webb middle schools, the agency told Community Impact on Oct. 26. The petitions aim to keep the state from taking over Austin ISD.

What we know: The Webb Middle School PTA alleges outside individuals pressured some families to sign, according to a complaint it posted on Facebook. Superintendent Matias Segura said in an Oct. 19 letter that initial counts reached the 50% threshold at both schools. No signature totals have been released.

TEA did not say whether the review could affect AISD’s Dec. 1 deadline to submit validated petitions. If the petitions are valid, the commissioner is required to order the closures, but TEA’s rule allows the addition of other interventions.

What’s next: AISD will verify signatures after the Oct. 30 enrollment count. A Burnet and Webb family engagement plan starts in early November, Segura said.

More than 4.5 million Texans cast ballots in the first seven days of early voting in the Nov. 3 election, state data shows.

The overview: From Oct. 19-25, 23.8% of Texas' 19 million registered voters had voted in-person or by mail, according to voter turnout data submitted by counties and reported by the secretary of state. This is slightly below early voting turnout at the same point in 2018 and several percentage points above turnout in 2022.

Some context: Turnout this fall follows voter enthusiasm during the March primary election, when more Texans voted early than in recent primaries. In total, about 4.5 million people—or one-fourth of voters registered at the time—cast ballots in Texas' March election, setting a primary turnout record.

At the polls: Registered voters can visit any polling place in their county through Oct. 30, the last day of early voting. Election Day is Nov. 3. Texans can read Q&As with dozens of candidates, find local polling sites and print a custom sample ballot at communityimpact.com/voter-guide.