Looking north towards downtown from the self-storage facility at 1515 South Lamar Boulevard that could soon become an apartment development. Photo by James Rambin.
According to new city filings, the Security Self Storage facility located at 1515 South Lamar Boulevard might soon be storing selves instead, in the form of a 328-unit apartment project by multifamily mega-firm Fairfield Residential, which owns numerous communities around the country — though none in Austin, until now.
An exterior elevation for the 1515 South Lamar Boulevard apartment project. Image: Fairfield Residential / Looney Ricks Kiss
More elevations for the 1515 South Lamar Boulevard apartment project. Image: Fairfield Residential / Looney Ricks Kiss
For the most part, this new project, which is simply referred to in these documents as South Lamar Apartments, seems like business as usual for a “Texas donut” apartment development in 78704. It’s a five-story building designed by Memphis architecture firm Looney Ricks Kiss — what a name, am I right — with 65 studios, 190 one-bedrooms, and 73 two-bedroom units wrapped around a garage structure providing 460 parking spaces and room for 46 bikes. But there are a few interesting details related to its location that make it worth taking a look at — plus, more housing is more housing, and that’s always newsworthy!
A more detailed look at an exterior elevation for part of the 1515 South Lamar Boulevard apartment development, showing what appears to be a giant mural planned for one of its walls. Image: Fairfield Residential / Looney Ricks Kiss
The shape of the 3.9-acre property at 1515 South Lamar Boulevard where this apartment project is planned. Image: Travis Central Appraisal District
The shape of the 3.9-acre property is pretty great for a storage facility, but it’s not ideal for a vertical mixed-use building, with only roughly 100 feet of actual frontage along South Lamar Boulevard. In fact, a large portion of the site is hidden from the street behind retail strip centers to the immediate north and south.
The property’s small stretch of frontage will contain the building’s only retail space, with 1,746 square feet facing the street along with a small patio — I’ve got to assume that’s going to end up being a restaurant of some kind, though I guess we can’t rule out some kind of alfresco artisanal vape shop. Despite the lack of retail space that traditionally puts the “mixed” in “mixed-use,” the building’s maxing out its potential as a VMU-zoned project on the South Lamar Boulevard corridor, with an FAR of 2:1 and height of 60 feet.
A mural by local artist Luis Angulo on the side of the retail strip center directly south of the 1515 South Lamar site, where apartments may soon rise. Photo by James Rambin.
That VMU zoning, intended to create density along Austin’s major transit corridors, is kind of a point of contention among some of South Austin’s single-family neighborhoods, with Zilker Neighborhood Association president Jeff Jack weighing in on the topic on this very website last year. South Lamar Boulevard alone has seen a fairly consistent boom in mixed-use development along the corridor over the last decade, with nearby projects like Gibson Flats, Lamar Union, and Post South Lamar all opening their doors within the last five years.
A map of the two nearby VMU projects likely in the works on South Lamar Boulevard, located at the storage facility at 1515 South Lamar Boulevard and the Genie Car Wash at 1311 South Lamar Boulevard. Image: Google Maps
There’s still more development to come for the region, with another mixed-use project that appears to be heavily associated with Atlanta real estate firm Wood Partners in the planning stages at the 1300 block of South Lamar Boulevard, a site occupied by Genie Car Wash and a few other businesses just a stone’s throw north of the Fairfield site. Previous reports indicate the project will contain 226 multifamily units along with retail, but for now, the carwash remains — still, I wouldn’t spring for the yearly pass if I were you.
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$1,175,000Lot Size2,178 sqft
Home Size1,236 sqft
Beds2 Beds
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$349,000Lot Size2,178 sqft
Home Size579 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
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$1,200,000Lot Size5,228 sqft
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$325,000Lot Size2,614 sqft
Home Size900 sqft
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$294,500Lot Size1,743 sqft
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Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
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$275,000Lot Size436 sqft
Home Size489 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
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Home Size2,973 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$995,000Lot Size5,663 sqft
Home Size904 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
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$515,000Lot Size436 sqft
Home Size839 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
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$449,900Lot Size3,050 sqft
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Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
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$950,000Lot Size6,970 sqft
Home Size1,097 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
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$950,000Lot Size5,228 sqft
Home Size1,895 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$350,000Lot Size3,485 sqft
Home Size937 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
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$1,350,000Lot Size7,406 sqft
Home Size1,896 sqft
Beds3 Beds
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$1,485,000Lot Size11,326 sqft
Home Size2,548 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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$575,000Lot Size6,970 sqft
Home Size960 sqft
Beds2 Beds
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$1,790,000Lot Size6,534 sqft
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Beds4 Beds
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$639,000Lot Size2,178 sqft
Home Size1,604 sqft
Beds2 Beds
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$715,000Lot Size3,485 sqft
Home Size2,054 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$2,975,000Lot Size5,228 sqft
Home Size2,975 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4 Baths
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$975,000Lot Size7,841 sqft
Home Size2,365 sqft
Beds4 Beds
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$749,000Lot Size8,277 sqft
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Beds3 Beds
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$800,000Lot Size6,970 sqft
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$850,000Lot Size4,792 sqft
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Beds2 Beds
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