As Austin’s inevitable growth chugs along, one of the more interesting side effects of the city’s sky-high land values is a need for clever, compact architecture, in order to maximize the value of small and challenging pieces of property. These are scraps of land you wouldn’t necessarily, as a developer, choose to build upon if you had more choices — but it’s Austin, so you often don’t.
My favorite example of this phenomenon for a while was the planned 32-story apartment tower on East Avenue designed by Rhode Partners, which must contend with a small .36 acre site that also exists inside a floodplain, has only one available curb cut for a driveway, and is surrounded by parkland that can’t be developed. Adversity drives creativity, so I’m excited to see that building take shape, but I think I’ve got a new favorite tough nut to crack — the upcoming mixed-use apartment project at 1212 East Seventh Street:
Designed by local firm Mark Hart Architecture, which is perhaps better known for its student housing projects in West Campus, this 5-story development finesses seven apartment units and a ground floor commercial space into a 0.146-acre plot comprised of addresses 1210 and 1212 East Seventh Street.
You can already tell it’s kind of a weird space from the street — the property is a long, skinny piece of land bordered by office buildings on either side, with the elevation change of the area making the lot inaccessible to drivers from East Seventh Street.
Instead, access to any garage component must use the alley behind the site on its north end. That’s what this project does, using its second floor entirely for parking, with the seven apartment units spread out between the three floors above that.
I said this building is five stories tall earlier, which is true from East Seventh Street. But technically, due to the change in grade on the site, the ground floor is described in the building’s plan as a basement, with only four stories rising above that. If you’re looking at it from the alley side, the parking garage is actually the ground floor. It’s easier to understand if you just look at the plans.
Another detail of this project I find unique for the area is its unit mix: five two-bedroom units and two three-bedroom units. Higher bedroom counts are notable in areas like East Austin where you tend to see more studios and lower bedroom counts overall.
Mark Hart, principal at the firm that bears his name, told me he’s not sure what the future holds for the building’s ground floor commercial space. He’s not ruling out a retail presence at the site, which would be great for the area’s mixed-use growth, but considering the relative lack of foot traffic in the area there’s a good chance the space will become offices of some kind. Still, it’s better than nothing, ain’t it?
Part of the reason I’m interested in this development is its attempt to fit a decent amount of apartment units into a location that wouldn’t necessarily require it. This isn’t just speculation — a previous plan for the site would have seen only two three-story condos built at these addresses:
I’m sure the comparatively massive square footages of these two residences would have been great for their buyers, but I’m always going to pull for infill projects with higher unit counts. The only hidden agenda I’m sneaking into these articles is in favor of denser, smarter, and taller development in the city — and this building appears to hit the high notes.
East Austin Homes For Sale
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2704 Canterbury ST #B
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1005 Holly ST
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1131 1/2 Poquito ST #A
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1174 Oakgrove Ave
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$550,000
1305 E 6th ST #4
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41 Waller ST #210
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$1,650,000
1906 Holly ST
Austin, TX -
$575,000
3614 E Thompson ST
Austin, TX -
$1,195,000
1304 E 2nd ST
Austin, TX -
$1,850,000
708 Northwestern Ave
Austin, TX -
$545,000
1305 E 6th ST #2
Austin, TX -
$1,498,000
800 Embassy DR #605
Austin, TX -
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1805 E 3rd ST #2
Austin, TX -
$1,000,000
2509 Hidalgo ST #A
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$1,095,000
3007 Garwood ST #1
Austin, TX -
$485,000
800 Embassy DR #321
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$150,487
1615 E 7th ST #205
Austin, TX -
$355,000
2401 E 6th ST #6089
Austin, TX
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Lot Size5,376 sqft
Home Size3,214 sqft
Beds5 Beds
Baths4.5 Baths
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Lot Size6,744 sqft
Home Size2,254 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths0.5 Bath
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Lot Size8,482 sqft
Home Size1,071 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size8,482 sqft
Home Size2,546 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
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Lot Size2,579 sqft
Home Size1,016 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size8,251 sqft
Home Size1,248 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size4,722 sqft
Home Size1,372 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
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Lot Size1,129 sqft
Home Size703 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
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Lot Size7,798 sqft
Home Size1,600 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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Lot Size5,707 sqft
Home Size910 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size7,968 sqft
Home Size1,386 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size1,338 sqft
Home Size1,142 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1.5 Baths
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Lot Size1,225 sqft
Home Size936 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
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Lot Size6,752 sqft
Home Size3,500 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
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Lot Size4,792 sqft
Home Size1,388 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size6,556 sqft
Home Size1,918 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size7,536 sqft
Home Size2,448 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size1,338 sqft
Home Size1,142 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1.5 Baths
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Lot Size806 sqft
Home Size1,978 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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Lot Size6,347 sqft
Home Size1,250 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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Lot Size3,355 sqft
Home Size1,874 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size6,569 sqft
Home Size2,081 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4 Baths
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Lot SizeN/A
Home Size755 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
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Lot Size606 sqft
Home Size464 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
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Lot Size697 sqft
Home Size730 sqft
BedsN/A
Baths1 Bath
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