A place to work hard . . . or hardly work?

​​​​​​​​​AUSTIN – A local developer has quietly broken ground on a $400 million mixed-use project on the east side of Austin.

The 125-acre project, called Eightfold, aims to transform the former Motorola campus into a beacon of the “live-work-play” concept.

With 4.8 million sf in entitlements, the project has permits to remodel three buildings, and additional permitting is underway.

About 300 subcontractors already are on site with plans to deliver 525,000 sf by the end of the year.

The project checks off all the boxes a progressive Austinite would want in a mixed-use development: towering offices for tech companies, food halls, co-working space, a mega-modern garden, a marketplace, plus plenty of spots to bike and do yoga.

​Projecting to be a four- to six- year project, developer Adam Zarafshani says “the whole thing is to promote happiness . . . we want to create an environment where they can have all the amenities and not have to drive.”