Starbucks is planning a second Bastrop location at the upcoming Bastrop Grove retail center, positioning the coffee chain less than a mile from its existing shop on the same commercial strip. The new 2,260-square-foot store will offer both dine-in and drive-thru service, with an opening targeted for next spring.
The plans surfaced in a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, as first reported by Community Impact. Construction on the coffee shop's space is scheduled to run from January 18 through April 5, 2027. Starbucks currently operates a location at 501 Hwy. 71 W., Ste. B, in Bastrop, and the new spot will sit at 650 SH 71, putting the two stores within close range of each other along the same busy corridor.
A Shell Building Rising Next To The Hospital
Bastrop Grove is being developed near Ascension Seton Bastrop Hospital and several hotels, according to the same report from Community Impact. The hospital, located at 630 State Highway 71 West, provides 24-hour emergency care, trauma care, imaging, and specialty medical services, according to Ascension Health. That steady stream of medical staff and visitors gives the new coffee shop a built-in customer base beyond the highway traffic passing by out front.
The overall retail center is a $2,000,000, 17,378-square-foot tilt-wall shell building developed by Austin-based LVE Bastrop Grove, LTD, according to a filing tracked through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation's TABS system. Shell construction on the master building is slated to run from February 1 to October 31, 2026, ahead of Starbucks' own interior buildout. Commercial listing site LoopNet describes the finished center as a 17,000-square-foot multi-tenant property with drive-thru lanes and rear access via Agnes Street that connects to Walmart and Home Depot, with an estimated full delivery in the second quarter of 2027.
Highway 71 Keeps Filling In With Retail
Bastrop Grove is only one piece of a much larger buildout along the corridor. A commercial development analysis from Community Impact found roughly 500 acres of retail, dining, medical, and mixed-use projects planned or under construction within a 3-mile stretch of State Highway 71, including the $300 million Sendero development and Burleson Crossing East. That growth tracks with Bastrop County's population, which reached an estimated 122,500 residents this year, a 64% increase since 2010, with about 38% of new domestic arrivals coming from Travis County and Austin, per the same publication's demographic reporting.
Traffic on Highway 71 has climbed alongside that growth. A Texas Department of Transportation analysis cited by Community Impact showed average daily traffic east of SH 130 rising from 50,000 vehicles in 2015 to 55,730 in 2022, a jump that has prompted $293 million in planned overpass projects to replace signalized intersections along the corridor. Elon Musk's corporate footprint in the county, including The Boring Company's 250-acre site and SpaceX facilities, has also fueled local employment and commercial development, as Hoodline reported in 2023.
A Crowded Drive-Thru Field
The second Starbucks joins an increasingly competitive fast-casual beverage scene along Highway 71. Hoodline previously reported that Tropical Smoothie Cafe opened a 1,341-square-foot drive-thru location in nearby Burleson Crossing in November 2025, part of a wider wave of quick-service concepts staking out spots on the strip. First Watch also brought its breakfast concept to the corridor earlier this year, and Crust Pizza Co. has announced plans for Bastrop's Sendero development, adding to the density of new dining options within a few miles of each other.
The Bastrop expansion fits into a broader national push by Starbucks. Company executives said in an investor presentation reported by the Associated Press that the chain plans to open up to 175 new U.S. stores in 2026 and roughly 400 in 2028, with a focus on smaller-format, drive-thru-heavy locations in growth markets across the central and southern United States. Texas has already served as a testing ground for that strategy: the company opened its first 3D-printed drive-thru store in the country in Brownsville in April 2025, underscoring the state's role in the chain's fast-track expansion plans.
