An Office Breaks New Ground for Infill on a Densifying West Fifth Street

A view of the office project’s main entrance facing West Fifth Street. Image: Manifold Real Estate / Studio8 

Though limited in height and oddly packed with multi-story storage facilities for a major corridor literally seconds away from downtown, there’s a lot of room remaining for medium-density development along the stretch of West Fifth Street running west of North Lamar Boulevard — and a three-story office project breaking ground earlier this week from local developers Manifold Real Estate shines a light on that potential in a manner nobody can really complain about considering the neighborhood already boasts a three-story CubeSmart, for some reason.

A photo taken at the 1608 site earlier today, showing construction already underway on the office project. That’s Donn’s Depot in the background. Image: Zapalac/Reed Construction Company

Located at 1608 West Fifth Street, the former home of a drive-through bank sandwiched between beloved Tex-Mex joint El Arroyo and dive bar Donn’s Depot, the as-yet-unnamed development is the first major office growth we’ve seen around here in a while. Per its developers, the 45,600-square-foot building contains four floors of underground parking — sort of a welcome design necessity when your height is this limited — and the project is currently 75 percent leased, according to Manifold’s press release announcing the start of groundbreaking earlier this week:

“This project embraces Austin’s history, while still maintaining a modern aesthetic to complement the evolving skyline,” said Paul Detke, principal at Studio8. “The building embodies a conscious commitment to industrial finishes linked with a contemporary style, which we hope will become a cornerstone for this western gateway to downtown Austin.”

The design and massing include a cantilever overhang, which focuses on maximizing the square footage of the site, while retaining a modern and conservative style. With floor plate sizes ranging from 13,000 to 16,000 square feet, pre-leased tenants include Wealth Advisory Services of Raymond James, Studio8 Architects, OakPoint Real Estate and Corridor Title.

— Manifold Real Estate Press Release, September 29, 2020

According to the developers, the 1608 building should require approximately 14 months of work from local contractors Zapalac/Reed Construction Company, with final delivery currently scheduled for winter 2021.

Another perspective of the project from West Fifth Street. Image: Manifold Real Estate / Studio8 Architects

Take a hike down West Fifth Street’s history courtesy of Google Street View and you’ll see how slowly this street has developed compared with the breakneck speed of downtown proper, or even East Austin for that matter — it is worth pointing out that if this building were going up east of I-35, it would be five floors tall instead of three, though in this case it’s Capitol View Corridors limiting that height instead of exclusionary zoning alone. Maybe start calling it Austin’s West Village?

An interior rendering of the 1608 office project. Image: Manifold Real Estate / Studio8 Architects

To get an idea of how things grew on this street over the last 13 years, you can flip all the way back to the map’s 2007 imagery, where you’ll see the Fifth Street Commons mixed-use apartment building under construction at 1611 West Fifth Street, still one of the more notably dense buildings in this area. The Pressler Apartments at 507 Pressler Street date back to 2009, and one of the area’s latest additions at 1301 West Fifth Street, the Clark apartments — formerly known as the Marquis on Fifth, in an article from the ancient days of 2017 when I tried calling this area “Clarksville” before getting a million emails peevishly correcting me — opened its doors last year.

An aerial view of the region with the 1608 office project tract circled in red. Image: Bing Maps

There are a lot of remaining sites appropriate for this sort of infill along West Fifth Street, and if the City of Austin ever executes its vision for the Lamar Beach Master Plan we’ll probably see more of the same around here. For the record, this project isn’t doing anything to harm Donn’s Depot next door — but the beloved dive bar is still in trouble after pandemic-related shutdowns, so maybe toss a couple of bucks their way.

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