Burnet Road Apartment Plan Bringing Hundreds of Homes to Brentwood

A view of the apartment project from Burnet Road. Image: Urban Foundry Architecture

A rezoning case headed to Austin’s Planning Commission next week could bring 350 new homes to an approximately 2.44-acre site just off Burnet Road in the Brentwood neighborhood of Central Austin. The plan for the building at the site, which is linked to local real estate firm Narrow Road Group and architects Urban Foundry, would replace a collection of vacant commercial buildings and residences with an apartment structure rising approximately eight floors facing the intersection of Burnet Road with Clay Avenue. The laundry list of addresses involved with the project includes 5341, 5337 and 5339 Burnet Road; 5401, 5403 and 5407 Clay Avenue; 1705 Houston Street; and 5400, 5402, 5404, 5406 and 5408 William Holland Avenue.

An aerial view of the land assembly set to be redeveloped. Image: James Rambin / Google Maps

The 90-foot height of the structure is permitted by the project’s participation in the city’s VMU2 density bonus program, which allows vertical-mixed use buildings on major transportation corridors like Burnet Road to rise past the typical height limit of 60 feet in exchange for affordable housing units in the project — while the exact numbers aren’t released yet, the 12 percent affordability requirement of the VMU2 program could add 40 or more income-restricted apartments at the site, affordable to households earning up to 60 percent of the Austin area’s Median Family Income.

The rezoning case headed to next week’s meeting of the Planning Commission requests vertical mixed-use zoning for the part of the land assembly closer to Burnet Road, with the eastern part of the tract closer to the adjacent neighborhood seeking MF-6 multifamily zoning — it looks like the half of the building closer to single-family homes doesn’t rise quite as high due to compatibility restrictions. City staff appear to support the requested zoning, for what it’s worth:

The site is an excellent location for multifamily use, since it is served by multiple Capital Metro bus stops and routes (include a MetroRapid route) and Burnet Road is an Imagine Austin Corridor, ASMP Transit Priority Network Roadway, and a Core Transit Corridor . . . These zoning categories will help activate the Burnet Rd. corridor making it more welcoming to other modes of transportation besides automobile. There are other development restrictions such as compatibility that reduce the redevelopment potential of this site and warrant more intense zoning which may be able to be built out in portions of the site. 

— City of Austin Staff Comments, Brentwood Multifamily

While this rezoning seems like a pretty straightforward case on a major corridor and a great example of the VMU2 program’s ability to subsidize affordable housing units in exchange for extra height and density, you have to keep in mind that each of these buildings planned anywhere near existing neighborhoods represents a controversy to someone. Backup documents for the rezoning case include correspondence from nearby residents related to the project, and the notion that new residents of the apartments will somehow not count as members of the community is on full display:

Adding these units proposed will only create more strain to the local neighborhoods and the HEB. There will no longer be a sense of community and we will be victims of losing our voice. I live and work in the area and it’s a shame what is happening to Burnet road. Adding these complexes is a terrible idea for the community. Especially, for those of us who call this area our home. Another example of developers destroying a part of Austin’s history and culture.

With neighbors like these, is it any wonder Austin’s in a housing crisis? This kind of absurd overreaction to the existence of renters in multifamily housing is exactly why it’s great news that City Council is currently looking to relax limits on housing in locations just like this. The city, for the record, cites the VMU2 zoning program used to achieve this project’s height and density as its most successful affordable housing initiative, and allowing these kinds of projects in more places around town will unlock hundreds more income-restricted homes along corridors like Burnet Road — that’s a good thing, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.