Austin | W MLK & Nueces | 434 & 407 Feet | 36 & 34 Floors | Proposed

[Urbannizer]

Jack Brown Cleaners Site Pivots to Housing in Northwest Downtown

A rezoning case headed to Austin’s Planning Commission next week indicates a longtime industrial tract in the far northwest corner of downtown is preparing to redevelop as high-rise housing. Located at 615 West MLK Jr. Boulevard between Nueces and Rio Grande Streets, for decades the roughly 0.68-acre tract has hosted the central laundry facilities of the local Jack Brown Cleaners chain.

Documents prepared for the Planning Commission’s inaugural meeting of 2023 scheduled for January 10 describe a request by the Brown family partnership that owns the property for a rezoning from commercial services to a downtown mixed-use/vertical mixed-use zoning category in order to redevelop the site for a multifamily building. With the tract’s proximity to West Campus directly north of MLK Jr. Boulevard, it’s easy to forget that this property is a full-fledged occupant of the downtown area — meaning under the DMU-V zoning sought by the applicants, a building here could rise to a maximum height of 120 feet, likely 10 floors or more, thanks to the new density bonuses of the city’s vertical-mixed use program.