Gonzales Street is quiet, for now. It’s a sleepy path of single-family homes in far East Austin just north of the East Seventh Street bridge’s span over Tillery Street, and the elevation of Seventh Street in this area insulates nearby homes from most major traffic. The abundant trees on the un-and-underdeveloped lots at the intersection of Gonzales and Tillery Streets lend the block an oddly rural stillness, which helps to circumvent its actual geography barely more than two miles from downtown.
Since this is Austin, the Govalle neighborhood that claims Gonzales Street at its center might be described as “the next big thing,” or “the crest of the wave” — the watershed point on a vertical swath of high-density real estate development slowly chewing its way eastward through aging single-family homes and light industrial warehouses, leaving behind apartment complexes and mixed-use midrises as it goes.
It’s here in Govalle, at the site of a former Gonzales Street lumberyard, that we find a new benchmark for the eastern spread of density: The Guthrie, a four-story multifamily development planned by Oden Hughes and Argyle Residential at 3300 Gonzales Street.
The project — which gets its name from the lumberyard previously at the address a la The Arnold, The Chicon, The Leslie, and so on — will contain 310 apartment units, with 12 units at a secondary Guthrie II development at 3215 Gonzales Street, just across the road from the main site.
It’s not really the design of the building that grabs me. Judging by the available renderings, plans and elevations, it just sort of looks like the Triangle — in fact, it’s designed by the same architects. But two things are particularly noteworthy here:
• The units at the Guthrie II are designed as live/work space, with a commercial ground floor and two floors of living space up top. This is a feature for these types of buildings you just don’t see very often — it’s usually ground floor retail with apartments up above, and never the twain shall meet. Super interesting, even if the lack of current pedestrian traffic in the neighborhood means these spaces will inevitably end up as law offices or something.
• If I’m keeping score correctly, the Guthrie is the first multifamily development of its size to arrive in this section of Austin’s far east side by something like half a mile, at least on the East Seventh Street corridor and surrounding areas.
Further east on Gonzales Street, MX3 Homes has several projects in play, which makes me wonder if parts of East Austin closer to the highway are finally getting too expensive even for developers. Putting up 300-plus residential units is certainly a bold way to anchor future development in a slightly more remote section of the zip code.
Between this Guthrie project, the East 5th Condos, and the Rail Spur Building located a bit further down Tillery Street, we’re seeing some genuine action in this bit of Govalle. The neighborhood remains one of my favorite parts of the city, but I’m not necessarily crossing my fingers for the area to receive the East Sixth treatment.
More density is inevitable, but awareness of your surroundings and neighborhood context is often overlooked by multifamily developers. Govalle has a quieter vibe that lends itself to industrial adaptive reuse projects like the Rail Spur Building or Austin Bouldering Project’s repurposed produce factory over brand new midrise development — which often seems to deliver buildings with no sense of time, place, or anything else, for that matter.
Govalle neighborhood homes for sale
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$745,000
1008 Muse LN #14
Austin, TX -
$765,000
2906 Kuhlman Ave #A
Austin, TX -
$750,000
2905 Prado ST
Austin, TX -
$829,000
3500 Neal ST
Austin, TX -
$649,500
2901 Glen Rae ST #B
Austin, TX -
$649,000
1101 1/2 Linden ST #2
Austin, TX -
$799,000
1124 Linden ST #A
Austin, TX -
$925,000
2519 Gonzales ST
Austin, TX -
$949,000
1101 1/2 Linden ST #1
Austin, TX -
$999,999
2226 Webberville RD
Austin, TX -
$899,000
1123 1/2 Gunter ST #2
Austin, TX -
$975,000
3303 Kay ST
Austin, TX -
$699,990
3401 Neal ST #B
Austin, TX -
$665,000
3205 Bengston ST
Austin, TX -
$655,000
2813 Castro ST #2
Austin, TX -
$959,000
2906 Webberville RD #1
Austin, TX -
$1,400,000
3012 Stokes DR #1
Austin, TX -
$1,700,000
3201 Holton ST
Austin, TX -
$599,000
606 Springdale RD
Austin, TX -
$650,000
3002 Webberville RD
Austin, TX -
$839,000
2415 E 8th ST
Austin, TX -
$399,900
3202 Kay ST
Austin, TX -
$405,000
2220 Webberville RD #201
Austin, TX -
$449,900
3309 Kay ST
Austin, TX -
$500,000
1007 Cherico ST
Austin, TX
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Lot Size2,614 sqft
Home Size1,627 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size8,987 sqft
Home Size1,946 sqft
Beds5 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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Lot Size6,744 sqft
Home Size1,483 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size10,921 sqft
Home Size1,262 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size3,533 sqft
Home Size1,034 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size7,297 sqft
Home Size1,054 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size4,640 sqft
Home Size1,644 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size5,097 sqft
Home Size1,812 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size7,297 sqft
Home Size1,860 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size3,002 sqft
Home Size1,600 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size5,445 sqft
Home Size1,485 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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Lot Size7,205 sqft
Home Size1,724 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size2,788 sqft
Home Size1,066 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1.5 Baths
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Lot Size5,681 sqft
Home Size1,154 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size3,128 sqft
Home Size1,010 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size4,008 sqft
Home Size2,032 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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Lot Size7,188 sqft
Home Size2,242 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
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Lot Size7,188 sqft
Home Size2,794 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4.5 Baths
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Lot Size6,970 sqft
Home Size1,238 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size7,497 sqft
Home Size1,128 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
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Lot Size6,491 sqft
Home Size1,613 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size5,611 sqft
Home Size936 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths1 Bath
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Lot SizeN/A
Home Size650 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
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Lot Size5,768 sqft
Home Size1,040 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
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Lot Size9,122 sqft
Home Size1,144 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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