MB Liquor

MB Liquor is undergoing a renovation at 311 W. 5th. Street in Austin, transforming an existing office space into a new liquor store. The project is located in the Old West Austin neighborhood within Travis County. The facility is registered under the name The Plaza at Renaissance Square. The total estimated cost for this alteration is $110,000, covering 2,110 square feet of floor area.

The owner of record is Hawkins - Khoh Partners, LLC, with Paulin Design, LLC serving as the design firm. Steve R Zoerner is the registered accessibility specialist for this filing. The work is privately funded on private land for private use. The project was registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) in November 2025, the same month that plan review was completed.

Construction was scheduled to begin in January 2026 with a planned completion date of April 2026. Although that date has passed, TDLR has not yet recorded a final inspection. Therefore, the current state of the site is not confirmed in the public record. The scheduled build window was 94 days, which is close to the county median of 98 days for similar renovation projects.

Project Context and Location

The surrounding area includes notable establishments such as The Driskill hotel, W Austin, and The Paramount Theatre. Other registered renovation projects in the immediate vicinity include West Austin Park, REI, and 501 Congress. Census estimates for the 78701 ZIP code indicate a population of about 11,114 and a median household income of $154,867.

Paulin Design, LLC has six other TDLR-registered projects totaling $3,355,000, including locations in Bellmead, Temple, and Copperas Cove. All of these other projects have completed review. The cost per square foot for MB Liquor is $52, which is below the Travis County median of $103 for renovation and alteration filings. The total estimated cost is also below the county median of $296,684 for this type of work.

City of Austin permit records show at least 25 permits on file at this street address, with the most recent issued between December 2025 and August 2026. These include mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and building permits. The Travis County unemployment rate was 4 percent in June 2026, higher than a year earlier. This project represents a specific commercial alteration within a dense urban environment, distinct from larger new construction efforts in the region.