A Defunct Post Office Ponders Its Future Under Hyde Park’s All-Seeing Eye
https://austin.towers.net/defunct-post-office-ponders-future-under-hyde-parks-all-seeing-eye/
The closing of the Hyde Park neighborhood’s “beloved” post office at 4300 Speedway sent shockwaves through one of Austin’s most charming and change-averse districts last year, with the possibility of the 1967 building’s demolition and replacement by something a few floors taller sparking a public discourse over whether the property’s owner and potential developer Blake Thompson of local firm State Street Properties could potentially stand trial in The Hague for the crime of gentrifying a neighborhood where the median listing price for a home approached $850,000 a few months ago.
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The Historic Landmark Commission approved the post office modifications at its meeting late last month, but the new development across the street might take more effort, requiring rezoning by City Council from its existing residential designation — and the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association strongly opposes this potential zoning change, preferring the hypothetical housing that could someday rise at the parking lot versus the idea of commercial or retail use here now. Adding dense housing to one of the city’s most restrictive neighborhoods is a noble goal, but we’d note that the current zoning constraints on the property would only permit roughly 12 units at the site. Coverage of the project in the fledgeling Hyde Parker Magazine has a better idea:
The owner could build the apartment building with the existing zoning that he has right now or, if he provided affordable housing on site, would be allowed to build up to 60” using an affordable housing option called the Affordability Unlocked ordinance. The Affordability Unlocked ordinance supersedes the exclusionary zoning rules imposed on the site by the NCCD.
— Hyde Parker Magazine, March 2022
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