[Urbannizer]

Rainey rising: Plans emerge for 30 stories of offices, apartments in booming district

A 30-story mixed-use tower could further elevate the rapidly transforming Rainey Street Historic District on the east side of downtown Austin.

The 91 Red River project would bring 347 apartments plus some office space and retail to Red River Street between Davis and Driskell streets in downtown Austin. The site is basically squeezed between The Fairmont and Van Zandt hotels.

City documents outlining the project's current plans indicate the 340-foot tower would contain 348,634 square feet of multifamily space, 72,997 square feet of office space and 10,454 square feet of retail.

The tract, which is zoned Central Business District, sits on a 32,188-square-foot lot.

Endeavor Real Estate Group LLC is the project's developer. Will Marsh, a principal at the Austin-based firm, said Endeavor purchased the property in two parts over the last decade, with the southern half of the property acquired more recently.

"It’s been our intention all along... to assemble that half-block for a high-rise development,” Marsh said Monday.

Marsh declined to disclose the project's potential cost.

Ziegler Cooper Architects is leading the design and Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. is the engineer, according to city documents. Dwg is the landscape architect, according to the Towers blog, which first reported about new renderings of the project.

Marsh said Blum Consulting Engineers Inc. is handling the project's mechanical, electrical and plumbing components, Structural Consultant Associates Inc. is the structural engineer and Rogers-O'Brien Construction Company Ltd. is the general contractor.

The tower would be 30 stories tall under current plans. It would feature eight floors of parking, including a basement garage.

The ground level would feature the retail space, as well as residential and office lobbies. Above the parking, plans call for three floors of leasable office space topped by apartments and amenity lounges.

The development team is seeking additional entitlements to raise the floor-to-area ratio under the city's downtown density bonus program. The Austin Design Commission is scheduled to review the project at a Monday night meeting for compliance with the city's Urban Design Guidelines.

A working group of commissioners concluded that the project was substantially compliant with those guidelines, but noted concerns about "possible traffic impact on already congested thoroughfares and sound mitigation for tenants."

After the full Design Commission reviews the project, the city's Planning & Zoning Department can approve or deny the density bonus request.

Marsh said they hope to break ground at the end of this year or the "very beginning" of next year.