Bartlett’s plans second Austin restaurant at former Threadgill’s Riverside building, with opening targeted for 2028

A long-vacant South Austin landmark is slated to become the next home for a legacy restaurant brand

Bartlett’s, the American grill known for steaks and classic comfort dishes at its long-running North Austin location, is planning a second restaurant in the former Threadgill’s building on West Riverside Drive. The project would revive a prominent, decades-old restaurant site near Lady Bird Lake that has remained dormant since Threadgill’s South Austin closure in 2018.

The planned Bartlett’s would occupy the building at 301 W. Riverside Drive, a location closely tied to Austin’s restaurant and music history. Threadgill’s operated there for more than two decades, and the site sits near the former Armadillo World Headquarters area, a focal point of Austin’s live music scene in the 1970s.

Partnership structure and operating plan

The South Austin Bartlett’s is being developed as a partnership between Bartlett’s owner Trey Wolslager and McGuire Moorman Lambert Hospitality (MML), an Austin-based restaurant group known for operating multiple high-profile concepts in the city. Under the current plan, the partners will jointly operate the new restaurant, with MML handling service and culinary operations and Wolslager overseeing financial management.

The existing Bartlett’s on Anderson Lane is expected to continue operating under its current management, with no operational changes announced in connection with the South Austin expansion.

What the new location is expected to include

The South Austin restaurant is planned as an adaptive reuse of the Riverside building and is expected to be designed around the structure’s original footprint. The concept is slated to preserve the “classic American restaurant” positioning that has defined Bartlett’s for decades, while adding features associated with larger modern dining rooms and indoor-outdoor layouts.

• A live-fire grill and a menu centered on American chophouse staples such as steaks, pork chops, and roasted chicken
• Rotating specials intended to change more frequently than the core menu
• Design work planned by the architecture and design firm Olson Kundig
• A roughly 9,000-square-foot buildout with an open kitchen, prominent bar program, and indoor-outdoor elements
• Approximately 110 on-site parking spaces as described in project planning

Timeline and broader context in Austin dining

The opening is currently targeted for early 2028, placing the project on a multi-year development track that will likely include design, permitting, and construction phases. The prolonged timeline also reflects the complexity of repurposing an established structure rather than building a new restaurant from the ground up.

Bartlett’s has a long local history: the restaurant operated for years under the Houston’s name before becoming Bartlett’s in 2010. The planned Riverside expansion represents the brand’s first announced move toward operating multiple Austin locations.

With a projected early-2028 debut, the Riverside project would mark one of the highest-profile restaurant reuses of a prominent closed Austin dining landmark in recent years.