North Lamar/Burnet Development Thread

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by mumu

Burnet and Rockwood, west side of Burnet. Bunch of slabs there now from light industrial warehouses.

Very good. I agree. Great use of that lot.

There’re a couple of empty lots along that stretch of Burnet that crying out for multi family.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by mumu

Burnet and Rockwood, west side of Burnet. Bunch of slabs there now from light industrial warehouses.

Is this the one wrapping Waterloo Ice House, from that contentious zoning case about 5 years ago that has sat in limbo since then?

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by Novacek

Is this the one wrapping Waterloo Ice House, from that contentious zoning case about 5 years ago that has sat in limbo since then?

Yeah, here's the Google Earth map.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rockwo...475f6162c!8m2!3d30.3682698!4d-97.7276627

[Urbannizer]

Local Developer Proposing 330-Unit Development in Crestview Neighborhood

Austin (Travis County) — A local developer received rezoning for a proposed 330-unit apartment complex during a recent meeting of the Austin Planning Commission.

The property was converted from commercial (CO) to multifamily (MF-6) with three conditional overlays.

The conditional overlays limit the development to 75-feet in height, 40-feet in height within 200 feet of single family homes, with a 30-foot building setback from single family homes.

The commission also approved terminating a restrictive covenant that established a 20-foot building setback.

Commission staff was recommending MF-4 zoning, which would have limited the development to 60 feet, according to documents.

However, the Austin Planning Commission found that the requested MF-6 zoning was suitable for the development.

The 4.3881 acres (191,145.64 SF) property is located over two lots at 7113 and 7115 Burnet Road in the city’s Crestview neighborhood.

The working title for the development is 7113 Burnet Road.

The site is a commercial development, with a parking lot fronting Burnet Road and the largest tenant space is a former bar. The largest tenant space is the bar closest to Burnet Road.

The two story commercial development has 35,202 square feet of space, along with a 3,170 square foot warehouse.

Robert O’Farrell, the developer, owns the property through the entity CSW Cart, Inc.

O’Farrell is proposing 33 of the 330-units will be available to individuals making 60% of the median family income, according to a letter supporting the development.

[We vs us]

I drove up Burnet on my way home from work yesterday and was struck by the number of vacant buildings and buildings for lease all along the strip, from 45 St, up through Crestview, and up to the stadium. IMHO, clearly a wonderland for speculators and developers looking to bundle things together and maybe ultimately build; but sad, too, because the pandemic has very obviously killed lots of old businesses that were old, decrepit, maybe on borrowed time, maybe already on the way out.

Just like in every other corner of life, the Rona sped up processes that were already in place.

[atxsnail]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

Local Developer Proposing 330-Unit Development in Crestview Neighborhood

That adjacent grass field that Toyota uses as a new vehicle parking lot needs to go. The fast food retail pad has been empty there forever too

[atxsnail]

I noticed a filing that seems extremely preliminary for redeveloping a lot at 6221 N Lamar, in between Revelry Bar and the Shell station. The interesting part was that the filing party was associated with APTUS Engineering, which has worked extensively on income-restricted apartments in Austin (mostly, but not exclusively with Foundation Communities). 114 affordable units on N Lamar would be a pretty big deal.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by atxsnail

I noticed a filing that seems extremely preliminary for redeveloping a lot at 6221 N Lamar, in between Revelry Bar and the Shell station. The interesting part was that the filing party was associated with APTUS Engineering, which has worked extensively on income-restricted apartments in Austin (mostly, but not exclusively with Foundation Communities). 114 affordable units on N Lamar would be a pretty big deal.

This parcel goes all the way back to Burns, which would allow for rear-garage access. With the narrowness of the parcel, unless they do such rear access, I wouldn’t expect any street level retail. If they do rear access, there may be enough space for one storefront of street level retail in addition to the complex’s offices and lobby. It’d be a good spot for a Boost Mobile or another budget related small footprint retailer.

[Urbannizer]

Local Real Estate Company Proposing 300-Unit Development on Former Bowling Alley Site

Austin (Travis County) — A local real estate developer received rezoning for a 300-unit apartment complex during Tuesday’s meeting of the Austin Planning Commission.

The 4.135 acres (180,120 SF) property covers two lots, with Lot 1 converting from mixed-use (MU) and Lot 2 converting from multifamily (MF-3) to multifamily-highest density-conditional overlay (MF-6-CO) district zoning.

Lot 1 is on the west side of Grover Avenue between West Koenig Lane and Houston Street at 5700 Grover Avenue. The 34,660 square-foot Dart Bowl bowling alley, an Austin institution that closed last summer, was the former tenant.

The adjacent Lot 2 is an undeveloped site, and to the west of Roosevelt Avenue where it ends at Dart Bowl.

Hartman stated in a letter submitted to the commission that the developer is proposing constructing 300-units, most of which would be located in a four-story building that is less than 45 feet in height.

The real estate blog, Austin Towers, has identified Oden Hughes as the developer of the project. Oden Hughes is an integrated real estate company that does development, construction and investment.

[Urbannizer]

80-unit affordable housing project will replace Driscoll Motors on the NWC of W Koenig and Grover Ave.

https://www.virtualbx.com/construction-p...x-credits-benefit-70-apartment-projects/

[atxsnail]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

80-unit affordable housing project will replace Driscoll Motors on the NWC of W Koenig and Grover Ave.

https://www.virtualbx.com/construction-p...x-credits-benefit-70-apartment-projects/

Whoa that's awesome. Nice find.

[Urbannizer]

Local Philanthropic Foundation to Develop Headquarters on Dormant Bank Site

Austin (Travis County) — A local philanthropic foundation received rezoning for their new office during Tuesday’s meeting of the Planning Commission.

The property converts from neighborhood commercial to general commercial services.

A 7,329 square-foot office building, formerly a branch bank of Benchmark Bank, stand on the 0.51-acre site and will need to be razed.

The site is located on the northeast corner of North Lamar Boulevard and East Martin Luther King Boulevard intersection at 1901 North Lamar Boulevard in Central Austin.

The Sheth Sangreal Foundation is proposing to construct a 30,000 square-foot building, which would be larger than necessary for the foundation’s current needs but would allow for future expansion.

The foundation currently has a main address out of a residential area in the western portion of the city.

[atxsnail]

Apparently this is the presentation of the group selected by the Ryan Drive Working Group for the redevelopment of the A/E Ryan Drive parcel adjacent to Crestview Station.

https://ryandriveproject.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/civilitudecommunity_info_packet-low.pdf

It was the only one that leverages off-site development, which is probably how it was able to offer enough stuff to win over the members of the working group (I am not involved, though I did apply to be included). That group seems to be less NIMBY than the average Brentwood/Crestview homeowner, so it will be interesting to see if the D7 NIMBY queen herself goes along with an included zoning change to allow 130' along Lamar and near the train station. If so, it would set a nice precedent for the rest of the Justin/Lamar TOD. It definitely includes the largest package of sweeteners and amenities for neighbors. The two off-site lots to be included in redevelopment include:

• the one directly to the north of the A/E site - this is likely to be hamstrung by the shape and adjacency to single family homes if it is ever developed separately. it's still possible that they could put some market rate apartments there if they're not selected.
• the lot to the south which fronts Justin/Lamar - this is interesting as they need to upzone this to subsidize the rest of the package. the details here are sparse but they mention "market-rate units and subsidies from an up-zoned office building (with restaurants and the Austin Bouldering Project)"

Here are the basic breakdowns (and Package #s). Remember direct comparison of #s to 3423 Holdings' proposal isn't quite fair because theirs includes two other parcels. Those parcels would likely eventually include some additional housing regardless of who is selected.
https://ryandriveproject.wordpress.com/

DMA (#1) - 300 apt units (232 income restricted) + 6 sale units (4 income restricted). Includes 10k sq ft office/flex space and a small park.

3423 Holdings (#2) - 344 units (market rate counts vary by 2 options) + 9 affordable townhomes built by Habitat. This one requires a zoning change to allow 130' on sections of the lot, I think including an off-site office building they are planning at the corner of Justin/Lamar. Also includes another off-site development that would gift a building to Austin Creative Alliance. Includes a pretty large park, splash pad, and interestingly puts part of the apartment buildings on stilts over some park/pedestrian areas.

Foundation Communities (#3) - 320 units (160 income restricted). Includes a very interesting park/community learning center. The learning center would have a green roof which would slope down to ground level as an extension of the park.

NRP Group (#4) - 300 units (all income restricted 30-70% AMI). Includes a small park. Probably the most interesting aspect here is that all units are income restricted and they include 36 four-bedroom units, which is very unusual.

Ojala Partners (#5) - 350 units (80% affordability restricted 30-60% AMI). Includes some live/work units and a small park.

[atxsnail]

Originally Posted by atxsnail

Apparently this is the presentation of the group selected by the Ryan Drive Working Group for the redevelopment of the A/E Ryan Drive parcel adjacent to Crestview Station.

https://ryandriveproject.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/civilitudecommunity_info_packet-low.pdf

It was the only one that leverages off-site development, which is probably how it was able to offer enough stuff to win over the members of the working group (I am not involved, though I did apply to be included). That group seems to be less NIMBY than the average Brentwood/Crestview homeowner, so it will be interesting to see if the D7 NIMBY queen herself goes along with an included zoning change to allow 130' along Lamar and near the train station. If so, it would set a nice precedent for the rest of the Justin/Lamar TOD. It definitely includes the largest package of sweeteners and amenities for neighbors. The two off-site lots to be included in redevelopment include:

• the one directly to the north of the A/E site - this is likely to be hamstrung by the shape and adjacency to single family homes if it is ever developed separately. it's still possible that they could put some market rate apartments there if they're not selected.
• the lot to the south which fronts Justin/Lamar - this is interesting as they need to upzone this to subsidize the rest of the package. the details here are sparse but they mention "market-rate units and subsidies from an up-zoned office building (with restaurants and the Austin Bouldering Project)"

Here are the basic breakdowns (and Package #s). Remember direct comparison of #s to 3423 Holdings' proposal isn't quite fair because theirs includes two other parcels. Those parcels would likely eventually include some additional housing regardless of who is selected.
https://ryandriveproject.wordpress.com/

DMA (#1) - 300 apt units (232 income restricted) + 6 sale units (4 income restricted). Includes 10k sq ft office/flex space and a small park.

3423 Holdings (#2) - 344 units (market rate counts vary by 2 options) + 9 affordable townhomes built by Habitat. This one requires a zoning change to allow 130' on sections of the lot, I think including an off-site office building they are planning at the corner of Justin/Lamar. Also includes another off-site development that would gift a building to Austin Creative Alliance. Includes a pretty large park, splash pad, and interestingly puts part of the apartment buildings on stilts over some park/pedestrian areas.

Foundation Communities (#3) - 320 units (160 income restricted). Includes a very interesting park/community learning center. The learning center would have a green roof which would slope down to ground level as an extension of the park.

NRP Group (#4) - 300 units (all income restricted 30-70% AMI). Includes a small park. Probably the most interesting aspect here is that all units are income restricted and they include 36 four-bedroom units, which is very unusual.

Ojala Partners (#5) - 350 units (80% affordability restricted 30-60% AMI). Includes some live/work units and a small park.

Adding a few pictures from ABJ along with a link to the article







https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/...village-plans-proposed-at-city-site.html

[We vs us]

Those staggered/off center windows qualify as a bonafied trend these days, I'd say.

[clubtokyo]

This seems like a very large apartment complex? I hate to say this but if I just saw this as a 3d model with no facade I would think this is government/project housing. I’m sure it will look nice when it’s done.

[valhalla]

Of course the NIMBYs are fine with it. They know that an update to the land devlopment code is coming down the pipe in a few years. If this doesn't get built there, some highrises will be eventually.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by We vs us

Those staggered/off center windows qualify as a bonafied trend these days, I'd say.

Bonafied basic and lazy

[Urbannizer]

Local Lawyer Aiming for Three-Story Office Building in Brentwood Neighborhood

An Austin lawyer was granted a floodplain variance for the redevelopment of his law firm, at last week’s meeting of the City Council.

The entirety of the property is located within the 25-year and 100-year floodplains of the Hancock Branch Tributary of Shoal Creek.

The 0.17-acres (7,222 SF) property is developed with a 900 square-foot residential building and one detached garage, which was built in 1952, and located at 1514 W. Koenig Lane in the city’s Brentwood neighborhood.

Joe Levine is proposing a three-story office commercial building totaling 4,125 square feet of conditioned area. The first floor would be for parking and the subsequent two floors for office use.

[psychlotron]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

Local Lawyer Aiming for Three-Story Office Building in Brentwood Neighborhood

Had a moment of panic when I read "in Brentwood"...but I'm okay now that I've read the article.

The article says it's on Koenig Lane. While that's technically "in the Brentwood neighborhood", it's also on a thoroughfare of businesses.

For a moment there I thought this was happening on an otherwise-residential street. Sure looks that way in the picture!