East Austin Developments

[Urbannizer]

East Austin Creative Office Plan Looks for a Little Extra Height in Govalle

A potential office building development at an East Austin industrial site in the Govalle neighborhood is headed to tomorrow’s meeting of the city’s Planning Commission, seeking a change of use from industrial to commercial and a Planned Development Area (PDA) rezoning for the roughly 1.42-acre property at 4927 East Fifth Street.

The change, which is recommended by city staff and on the agenda of tomorrow’s Planning Commission meeting, would allow an office project here to rise to a maximum height of 75 feet on an eastern portion of the tract near the corner of East Fifth Street and Spencer Lane, with roughly 64 percent of the remaining land on the western side of the tract limited to 60 feet in height. The site is surrounded on all sides by other commercial properties, making this land a relative slam dunk for office use — and it’s only the latest of several developments proposed in even this immediate area of Govalle, with both the Eclectic at Fifth Street mixed-use project and the potential redevelopment of the Borden Dairy Company only a few blocks removed from here.

[drummer]

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[ATX2030]

Originally Posted by agsatx88

I thought most of this land in un-developable because it is the Colorado River floodplain. I know of a lot of dirt from construction projects around town gets dumped here. That said it looks like there are a couple of site plans in this area.

1312 Dalton Lane:
https://abc.austintexas.gov/public-s...ertyrsn=605218

811 Dalton Lane:
https://abc.austintexas.gov/public-s...rtyrsn=3090613

Thanks for doing some digging but I don't think this activity is related to those site plans.

[drummer]

Originally Posted by agsatx88

I thought most of this land in un-developable because it is the Colorado River floodplain. I know of a lot of dirt from construction projects around town gets dumped here. That said it looks like there are a couple of site plans in this area.

1312 Dalton Lane:
https://abc.austintexas.gov/public-s...ertyrsn=605218

811 Dalton Lane:
https://abc.austintexas.gov/public-s...rtyrsn=3090613

It definitely seems like a lot of it would be in the flood plain due to the relatively minimal change in elevation around the river below Longhorn Dam. That said, there are also a lot of former quarries, etc., that show up on that map because they likely go below or are equal to the average river level anyway. It would be a lot to prep that whole area for large-scale development, but it could be done. Check out the flood plain here:

https://maps.austintexas.gov/FloodPro/

Originally Posted by ATX2030

Thanks for doing some digging but I don't think this activity is related to those site plans.

Yeah, it seems like it would be across the street from the second address he provided since it came from the Whittlesey camera.

[Urbannizer]

1300 E 5th



Juno



Charmers Court East





1515 E Cesear Chavez

[Urbannizer]

T3 Eastside


Harvey Builders via LinkedIn

[drummer]

I almost didn't recognize that area....density with rail running through it. Obviously the towers in downtown were recognizable but man...if only we had more rail.

[eguidry]

The old Texaco building by Saltillo that's going to be a Cosmic Coffee has an Instagram showing some progress photos https://www.instagram.com/cosmicsaltillo

[papertowelroll]

Originally Posted by drummer

I almost didn't recognize that area....density with rail running through it. Obviously the towers in downtown were recognizable but man...if only we had more rail.

As mediocre as the Red Line route is, I think at this point it could actually be a decent light rail pathway if they could just improve the station density (requires electric trains probably).

Imagine if we had stations at places like Webberville, Rosewood, Cherrywood, 51st, and Anderson Lane to go with the new stations at Q2 and Broadmoor.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by papertowelroll

As mediocre as the Red Line route is, I think at this point it could actually be a decent light rail pathway if they could just improve the station density (requires electric trains probably).

Imagine if we had stations at places like Webberville, Rosewood, Cherrywood, 51st, and Anderson Lane to go with the new stations at Q2 and Broadmoor.

Station density doesn't have anything to do with electrification which would be a waste of money IMO. A number of stations still need to be extended to support higher capacity (longer) trains including Plaza Saltillo which is still single track. You can look at the new downtown station as an example of what the longer station would look like. Long term it would be great to replace those trains with hydrogen but I'm sure those things are built to last a few decades.

[H2O]

Originally Posted by freerover

Station density doesn't have anything to do with electrification which would be a waste of money IMO. A number of stations still need to be extended to support higher capacity (longer) trains including Plaza Saltillo which is still single track. You can look at the new downtown station as an example of what the longer station would look like. Long term it would be great to replace those trains with hydrogen but I'm sure those things are built to last a few decades.

The relationship between station spacing and propulsion has to do with timing. Dwell time at stations is actually the factor that slows transit the most. The more stations there are, the slower the overall trip. This line was intended to serve commuters from as far away as Leander (32 miles). Adding a lot of stations closer to the ultimate destination (Downtown) makes the trip less time competitive with other modes of transportation. Electric propulsion compensates by allowing quicker starts out of the station. The Red Line trains are actually Diesel/Electric Multiple Units (D/EMU), they are electric propulsion powered by online diesel generators rather than an external electrical source. As such, they are not as slow as a DMU, but heavier and slower than an EMU. Because they are partially electric propulsion, they could be retrofitted with pantographs if the corridor was electrified. That would make them quieter and lower emissions, and possibly make them a little quicker as well.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by H2O

The relationship between station spacing and propulsion has to do with timing. Dwell time at stations is actually the factor that slows transit the most. The more stations there are, the slower the overall trip. This line was intended to serve commuters from as far away as Leander (32 miles). Adding a lot of stations closer to the ultimate destination (Downtown) makes the trip less time competitive with other modes of transportation. Electric propulsion compensates by allowing quicker starts out of the station. The Red Line trains are actually Diesel/Electric Multiple Units (D/EMU), they are electric propulsion powered by online diesel generators rather than an external electrical source. As such, they are not as slow as a DMU, but heavier and slower than an EMU. Because they are partially electric propulsion, they could be retrofitted with pantographs if the corridor was electrified. That would make them quieter and lower emissions, and possibly make them a little quicker as well.

Some small speed benefit from electrification, but that probably wouldn't be the reason to do it. Emissions benefits would probably be greater. They're clean-ish diesel but like all diesels have particulate emissions (plus C02).

Long term battery improvements might allow for only partial pantographs or even quick charging at stations.
Way down the list from most other government vehicles to electrify though. I'd do garbage trucks first.

They'd probably get a greater trip time improvement by speeding up the existing stretches in the city that are pretty slow and increasing the Lakeline to Leander segment top speed closer to 100.

They'd probably need more crossing improvements for both of those, and probably more track superelevation for the later (separated from the freight?). Another option would be an express or semi-express service from Leander skipping some stations (especially lakeline). But you'd almost certainly need double tracking and maybe some third passing sidelines.

Lots of stuff to spend money on, a lot of which will be worth it long term.

First up is the grade separation at Lamar. I think a grade separation (depression) under 183 could also be a benefit. If done right, this could also provide a grade separated bike/pedestrian crossing of 183 or even a station serving the bottom part of the domain/crossroads area.

Originally Posted by papertowelroll

Imagine if we had stations at places like Webberville, Rosewood, Cherrywood, 51st, and Anderson Lane to go with the new stations at Q2 and Broadmoor.

I've come to favor 183 over Anderson lane for any potential new station in that area (even though I'm closer to the later). Way more opportunity for redevelopment and density (the commercial fronting Anderson is _really_ shallow there).


Anyway, probably should move the Transportation channel for anything more on this.

[papertowelroll]

Originally Posted by H2O

The relationship between station spacing and propulsion has to do with timing. Dwell time at stations is actually the factor that slows transit the most. The more stations there are, the slower the overall trip. This line was intended to serve commuters from as far away as Leander (32 miles). Adding a lot of stations closer to the ultimate destination (Downtown) makes the trip less time competitive with other modes of transportation. Electric propulsion compensates by allowing quicker starts out of the station. The Red Line trains are actually Diesel/Electric Multiple Units (D/EMU), they are electric propulsion powered by online diesel generators rather than an external electrical source. As such, they are not as slow as a DMU, but heavier and slower than an EMU. Because they are partially electric propulsion, they could be retrofitted with pantographs if the corridor was electrified. That would make them quieter and lower emissions, and possibly make them a little quicker as well.

Yep, this is what I meant. In terms of acceleration, the red line is SLOW compared to trains in many other cities. Interesting info about the propulsion tech, I didn't know that they were hybrids.

[drummer]

Good points all around. My comment was less about the rail (as much as I like it - and my tangential comment is most certainly to blame for moving the discussion in that direction... ) but more intended to be about the growing maturity of this area. It's pretty amazing to see what has taken place there, and it's expanding beyond the Saltillo development. But it does make a strong case for TOD.

[chinchaaa]

Could we add more stations but maintain an express line for commuters?

[freerover]

Originally Posted by chinchaaa

Could we add more stations but maintain an express line for commuters?

We really can't do shit until we double track completely from Downtown to at least Uptown. That's what the big limiter is in terms of operations. That's a surprisingly expensive project but we are making progress piece by piece. A redevelopment at Hancock with an infill station there would help bridge the long stretch between MLK and Kramer where it's almost completely single track.

[Urbannizer]

Former East Austin Factory Site Seeks Rezoning for Residential Development

A repurposed industrial complex in East Austin is now seeking rezoning from the city for a 200-unit residential development. According to an application filed yesterday on behalf of owner Jesus Turullols of real estate firm Austin Phoenix Management, the approximately 1.8-acre property at 501 Pedernales Street requires a zoning change from a commercial to vertical mixed-use designation to develop the site with approximately 200 homes and 10,000 square feet of retail space.

[corvairkeith]

[Urbannizer]

It’s Hotels on Hotels on Both Sides of Seventh Street in East Austin

1612 East Seventh Street

A five-story boutique hotel with 132 rooms is planned on a roughly half-acre collection of adjacent properties assembled by local investor John Hernandez at the northwest corner of East Seventh and Concho Streets, according to permit activity dating back to 2021 and a site plan filed last month.

The plan, which contains addresses from 1604 to 1612 East Seventh Street, would rise to a maximum height of 60 feet thanks to its location just inside the northern boundary of the Plaza Saltillo transit-oriented development zone. Many details of the building’s design are unclear at the moment, along with the identity of the developer or hotel itself, but the project’s representatives at land use firm Drenner Group have indicated the building will include some form of street-level retail, along with approximately 89 underground parking spaces.

1603 East Seventh Street

This much smaller proposal for a hotel atop a 0.15-acre tract at 1603 East Seventh Street actually showed up all the way back in 2020, which was sort of a historically bad time to build a hotel — but with only five rooms, there’s perhaps less risk involved, with the project really seeming more like a short-term rental property permitted as a hotel rather than a full-blown hospitality operation. Although it’s been three years since the plan’s appearance, we believe with the number of permits filed for the project in just the last month that a groundbreaking could be imminent.

[drummer]

Originally Posted by corvairkeith

Man, the curves look even better next to that concrete behemoth.