2 New Towers Approved In Downtown Austin

The Austin City Council voted March 26 to approve entitlements for a proposal to build two tower structures near the University of Texas at Austin campus downtown, the Austin Business Journal reported.

The towers, located on West MLK Boulevard between Nueces and Rio Grande streets, are part of a redevelopment project by Austin-based Rundog Real Estate Group. 

The entitlements approval comes after the Austin planning commission voted to advance requested zone changes for the project in January and the city council approved the rezoning request in February.

Plans include 287 rooms, 61 condo units and about 5K SF of retail space for the north tower and 318 apartment units and another 5K SF of retail space for the south tower, ABJ reported.

The project had a contract deadline of March 31 to be granted the entitlements, which were through the Downtown Density Bonus Program. As part of the program, developers who receive zoning exemptions are expected to contribute to the city’s affordable housing fund. The new towers are forecast to add $3.3M to the fund.

Rundog faced some pushback about the height of the towers when pitching the project. Austin city staff had recommended the council prohibit the buildings from reaching more than 200 feet, a notion based on land use patterns in the University Neighborhood Overlay district, where the maximum height allowed is 300 feet. However, the towers are not actually within the UNO district.

The University of Texas, University Area Partners and Judges Hill Neighborhood Association also made postponement requests for the project because of the height of the towers.

No timeline has been set for the project. 

Last summer, Hunt Cos. received approval for a three-tower, mixed-use development on Riverside Drive in Austin featuring more than 1.3M SF of office space, about 900 residential units, a 513-room hotel and retail space.