
Looking at the Texaco depot and its adjacent pedestrian path from East Fourth Street. Image: Clayton & Little
As the 10-acre site of Austin’s first rail yard settles into its new identity as the Saltillo mixed-use development, other than the tracks themselves there are few reminders left of this area’s century-long history as an industrial and shipping hub enabling much of the city’s economic growth in the 20th century.
The Texaco Depot buildings found at 1300 and 1302 East Fourth Street are the last remaining evidence of this era in the district, and considering their current exterior appearances these twin storage structures built for the Texas petroleum giant around 1912 have obviously seen better days. In the years since the buildings were used as storage for oil products and Texaco delivery trucks, they’ve served as tire warehouses, art studios, and music venues — but these days, they’ve been empty for a while.
But a plan to rehabilitate these historic properties as a restaurant and bar space, an unknown new concept by local outfit Cosmic Coffee & Beer Garden, secured the approval of the city’s Historic Landmark Commission earlier this month — and the preservation-minded architects at celebrated Austin firm Clayton & Little are also on board, instantly putting our interest level through the roof. Let’s take a look:

A view of the renovated buildings from the same angle as the image above. Image: Clayton & Little / Ten Eyck Landscape
Documents for the project’s appearance at the Commission presented on behalf of Clayton & Little, Cosmic Coffee co-founder Patrick Dean, and local landscape architects Ten Eyck use the name “Cosmic” and “Cosmic Coffee,” and you can actually see a little bit of their logo on the fence in the rendering above. Still, it seems there’s something interesting planned here beyond simply a second location for the coffee shop, since the plans included in the presentation to the Commission frequently use the word “taqueria” to label the two renovated buildings.

A straight-on view of the renovated structures, with some of their restaurant features like a rooftop patio visible. Image: Clayton & Little / Ten Eyck Landscape
According to these documents, the plan will clean, preserve, and repair the existing exterior materials of the structures, taking special care to maintain the site’s historic Texaco signage. Other than necessary repairs and some new doors and windows, the exterior will be left mostly intact — the project’s biggest changes are the addition of a new roof deck, a glass-roofed outdoor pavilion and other patio space, fences, and what’s described as a “water tower.”
You can spot that last bit in several of the images seen below, located at the back of the structures — it also contains stairs and an elevator to the rooftop deck.

Looking at the renovated buildings from East Fourth Street, you can see its connection to the pedestrian rail crossing running between East Fourth and East Fifth Streets — plus the curious water tower/elevator structure in the backyard. Image: Clayton & Little / Ten Eyck Landscape
(Besides the necessary elevator function, we don’t know exactly what the water tower part is about, but Cosmic Coffee does a lot of this “permaculture” stuff at its first location, including rainwater catchment for irrigation and koi-studded biofiltration ponds — you gotta figure this is somehow more of the same.)

Looking south across the rail line at the site’s current conditions. Running between the rails and the rear of this project is the Lance Armstrong Bikeway. Image: Clayton & Little

Looking south at the finished project from the same perspective as above. Image: Clayton & Little / Ten Eyck Landscape
The surrounding Saltillo development has already provided a pedestrian rail crossing just to the west of the Texaco site, and the project here will embrace that along with its easy access to the adjacent Lance Armstrong Bikeway — you can see how close together everything is in the before/after images above and below.
Cosmic founder Paul Oveisi provided us with some extra info on what’s in store:
Yes, Cosmic is opening a new concept at 1300 and 1302 E. 4th Street. We’ve been fortunate to work with Endeavor Properties who has been most gracious in allowing us to restore this historic site. We are in the planning and design process right now working with a stellar team including Clayton & Little Architects, Ten Eyck Landscape Architects, Franklin Alan and Space Squared. We hope to make an announcement on the concept later this year.
With its certificate of appropriateness application secured, the only thing standing in the way of this project is, well, the extremely uncertain state of the post-pandemic local economy, which is taking down restaurants left and right. No matter how long it takes, what we can see from these plans looks like an inspiring work of industrial adaptive reuse worth celebrating in the context of Austin’s forever-changing East Side.
East Austin Homes For Sale
-
$600,000
MLS # 7758294
Austin, TX -
$650,000
1809 Haskell Street
Austin, TX -
$2,486,000
911 E 13th Street
Austin, TX -
$1,950,000
1900 Holly Street
Austin, TX -
$624,900
1119 Gunter Street #A
Austin, TX -
$395,000
2220 Webberville Road #201
Austin, TX -
$649,000
1610 Sanchez Street
Austin, TX -
$680,000
806 MAUDE Street
Austin, TX -
$1,500,000
2104 Riverview Street #1
Austin, TX -
$950,000
2104 Riverview Street #2
Austin, TX -
$795,000
1302 Clifford Avenue
Austin, TX -
$1,380,861
1606 HARVEY Street #1
Austin, TX -
$1,749,000
3008 E 18th Street
Austin, TX -
$1,150,000
1013 Juniper Street
Austin, TX -
$1,970,000
2309 E 5th Street
Austin, TX -
$575,000
3312 Kay Street
Austin, TX -
$599,000
2011 Haskell Street #B
Austin, TX -
$1,500,000
1307 E Cesar Chavez Street
Austin, TX -
$1,000,000
1311 E 3rd Street
Austin, TX -
$525,000
1601 E 5th Street #214
Austin, TX -
$750,000
1006 Cherico Street
Austin, TX -
$2,000,000
1604 Miriam Avenue
Austin, TX -
$499,000
1183 Graham Street
Austin, TX -
$650,000
68-B Comal Street
Austin, TX -
$839,619
619 Tillery Street #B
Austin, TX
-
Lot Size4,500 sqft
Home Size1,010 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size3,755 sqft
Home Size1,064 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size10,106 sqft
Home Size3,966 sqft
Beds5 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size6,752 sqft
Home Size2,673 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths5 Baths
-
Lot Size8,495 sqft
Home Size977 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot SizeN/A
Home Size650 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size6,264 sqft
Home Size1,463 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size6,099 sqft
Home Size950 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size3,485 sqft
Home Size2,298 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
Lot Size3,050 sqft
Home Size1,192 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size7,406 sqft
Home Size1,056 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size5,188 sqft
Home Size2,762 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths5 Baths
-
Lot Size4,949 sqft
Home Size2,300 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size1,743 sqft
Home Size2,836 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths5 Baths
-
Lot Size3,599 sqft
Home Size2,855 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
Lot Size5,777 sqft
Home Size1,440 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size4,356 sqft
Home Size850 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size6,665 sqft
Home Size1,832 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size6,556 sqft
Home Size1,235 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size1,460 sqft
Home Size1,225 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size7,506 sqft
Home Size1,092 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size11,326 sqft
Home Size2,887 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size5,541 sqft
Home Size672 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size5,385 sqft
Home Size918 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size3,050 sqft
Home Size1,796 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
Leave a Reply