Avoiding an Expanding Highway’s Gravitational Pull at the Frio Apartments

A view of the Frio apartment project planned for 1010 Concordia Avenue. Image: Wilson Capital / LK Architecture

The redevelopment of the 22-acre former campus of Concordia University at the eastern edge of the Hancock neighborhood is one of Austin’s lesser examples of the planned unit development (PUD) process — “the deal so bad, a guy went to jail!” Although it’s taken a bit longer than we expected for this large collection of tracts just west of I-35 to build out since the approval of the area plan in 2007, the recent completion of residential projects like the Troubadour and Aura Thirty2 apartments have created an interesting pocket of density in the region, even if the retail environment leaves something to be desired. (To be fair, there’s a nice little neighborhood market.)

Now it appears one of the last large open tracts of land inside the PUD is finally gearing up for development, a mere 16-ish years since the first plan for the Concordia site took shape — but Austin’s gotten a little taller since then, so the 1.13-acre plot at 1010 Concordia Avenue that was originally saddled with a 65-foot height limit has been amended over the years to a new maximum of 120 feet, allowing its new owners at local real estate firm Wilson Capital to construct an 11-story apartment building containing approximately 256 residences. The plan, known as the Frio Apartments, is now in the permitting stage with the city, with developer Taylor Wilson indicating that the project is on track to break ground by the end of the year.

An exterior view of the Frio project, looking southwest from I-35. Image: Wilson Capital / LK Architecture

A view of the Frio project’s lobby area. Image: Wilson Capital / LK Architecture

A view of the interior resident lounge space at the Frio project. Image: Wilson Capital / LK Architecture

There’s an interesting wrinkle to this particular project’s design by Wichita-based studio LK Architecture due to the site’s location directly facing the I-35 frontage road — plans by the Texas Department of Transportation to widen the highway through this region have subjected the property to a right-of-way acquisition along its eastern frontage, carving a wedge-shaped chunk out of the site’s buildable area and reducing the potential unit count of the project by nearly 50 apartments, according to our own calculations. In response, Wilson Capital is now seeking an amendment to the area’s PUD agreement which would raise the maximum buildable height of the property to 160 feet, allowing the new building here to recoup the homes lost to the highway.

The wedge-shaped area at the bottom part of this floor plan for the Frio building shows the region that will be left for the future widening of I-35 — look closely, and you’ll see it’s labeled “TXDOT RIGHT OF WAY RESERVE.” Image: Wilson Capital / Kimley-Horn

The grassy wedge seen on the Frio building’s eastern frontage at the bottom of this image is the section of the site carved out by TxDOT’s future expansion of I-35. Image: Wilson Capital / LK Architecture

It’s unclear if the city will approve that extra height, with the application for the amendment still in review — anyway, the version of the Frio building seen in the renderings included here is the 120-foot design. (The developers say the exterior color of the building is subject to change, and we’ll wait and see if the height changes too.)

Image: Texas Department of Transportation

Like detecting the invisible presence of a black hole in interstellar space by observing its effect on surrounding matter, it’s terribly fascinating to see the impact of a yet-to-be-widened highway on the built environment of our city. When you look at TxDOT’s own schematics for punching up to 20 lanes of I-35 through this area, demolishing more than 100 local businesses along the way, does it feel like you’re seeing progress? Depending on how long it takes TxDOT to kick off work in this area, the wedge taken out of the completed Frio building will serve as a visible reminder of what’s coming — doesn’t it just make you want to go and rethink the whole darn thing?