As Austin’s inevitable growth chugs along, one of the more interesting side effects of the city’s sky-high land values is a need for clever, compact architecture, in order to maximize the value of small and challenging pieces of property. These are scraps of land you wouldn’t necessarily, as a developer, choose to build upon if you had more choices — but it’s Austin, so you often don’t.
My favorite example of this phenomenon for a while was the planned 32-story apartment tower on East Avenue designed by Rhode Partners, which must contend with a small .36 acre site that also exists inside a floodplain, has only one available curb cut for a driveway, and is surrounded by parkland that can’t be developed. Adversity drives creativity, so I’m excited to see that building take shape, but I think I’ve got a new favorite tough nut to crack — the upcoming mixed-use apartment project at 1212 East Seventh Street:
Designed by local firm Mark Hart Architecture, which is perhaps better known for its student housing projects in West Campus, this 5-story development finesses seven apartment units and a ground floor commercial space into a 0.146-acre plot comprised of addresses 1210 and 1212 East Seventh Street.
You can already tell it’s kind of a weird space from the street — the property is a long, skinny piece of land bordered by office buildings on either side, with the elevation change of the area making the lot inaccessible to drivers from East Seventh Street.
Instead, access to any garage component must use the alley behind the site on its north end. That’s what this project does, using its second floor entirely for parking, with the seven apartment units spread out between the three floors above that.
I said this building is five stories tall earlier, which is true from East Seventh Street. But technically, due to the change in grade on the site, the ground floor is described in the building’s plan as a basement, with only four stories rising above that. If you’re looking at it from the alley side, the parking garage is actually the ground floor. It’s easier to understand if you just look at the plans.
Another detail of this project I find unique for the area is its unit mix: five two-bedroom units and two three-bedroom units. Higher bedroom counts are notable in areas like East Austin where you tend to see more studios and lower bedroom counts overall.
Mark Hart, principal at the firm that bears his name, told me he’s not sure what the future holds for the building’s ground floor commercial space. He’s not ruling out a retail presence at the site, which would be great for the area’s mixed-use growth, but considering the relative lack of foot traffic in the area there’s a good chance the space will become offices of some kind. Still, it’s better than nothing, ain’t it?
Part of the reason I’m interested in this development is its attempt to fit a decent amount of apartment units into a location that wouldn’t necessarily require it. This isn’t just speculation — a previous plan for the site would have seen only two three-story condos built at these addresses:
I’m sure the comparatively massive square footages of these two residences would have been great for their buyers, but I’m always going to pull for infill projects with higher unit counts. The only hidden agenda I’m sneaking into these articles is in favor of denser, smarter, and taller development in the city — and this building appears to hit the high notes.
East Austin Homes For Sale
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$399,990
1182 Pandora ST
Austin, TX -
$1,500,000
2201 Willow ST
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33 Chalmers Ave
Austin, TX -
$1,199,000
200 Adam L Chapa Sr ST
Austin, TX -
$2,250,000
1914 E 8th ST
Austin, TX -
$865,000
1309 Cedar Ave #A
Austin, TX -
$649,900
2200 E 18th ST
Austin, TX -
$799,000
1800 Clifford Ave
Austin, TX -
$325,000
49 Navasota ST #204
Austin, TX -
$1,350,000
1117 Lawson LN #1
Austin, TX -
$799,000
1117 Lawson LN #2
Austin, TX -
$444,000
2500 Rosewood Ave #208
Austin, TX -
$1,220,000
2508 Rosewood Ave
Austin, TX -
$1,250,000
1908 E 17th ST #1
Austin, TX -
$745,000
1008 Muse LN #14
Austin, TX -
$765,000
2906 Kuhlman Ave #A
Austin, TX -
$1,100,000
1105 E 3rd ST
Austin, TX -
$750,000
2905 Prado ST
Austin, TX -
$829,000
3500 Neal ST
Austin, TX -
$1,249,000
2400 E 12th ST #1
Austin, TX -
$449,900
2400 E 12th ST #2
Austin, TX -
$649,500
2901 Glen Rae ST #B
Austin, TX -
$799,000
1124 Linden ST #A
Austin, TX -
$925,000
2519 Gonzales ST
Austin, TX -
$999,999
2226 Webberville RD
Austin, TX
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Lot Size6,142 sqft
Home Size641 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
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Lot Size6,861 sqft
Home Size2,457 sqft
Beds5 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
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Home Size2,291 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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Home Size1,876 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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Lot Size5,633 sqft
Home Size3,500 sqft
Beds5 Beds
Baths4.5 Baths
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Lot Size3,006 sqft
Home Size1,584 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size5,881 sqft
Home Size1,072 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size10,106 sqft
Home Size1,518 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size305 sqft
Home Size448 sqft
BedsN/A
Baths1 Bath
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Lot Size6,713 sqft
Home Size2,502 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
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Lot Size6,713 sqft
Home Size1,086 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size16,000 sqft
Home Size619 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
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Lot Size3,699 sqft
Home Size1,913 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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Lot Size6,099 sqft
Home Size2,349 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
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Lot Size2,614 sqft
Home Size1,627 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size8,987 sqft
Home Size1,946 sqft
Beds5 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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Lot Size5,838 sqft
Home Size1,617 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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Lot Size6,744 sqft
Home Size1,483 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size10,921 sqft
Home Size1,262 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size6,565 sqft
Home Size2,315 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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Lot Size6,565 sqft
Home Size501 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
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Lot Size3,533 sqft
Home Size1,034 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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Lot Size4,640 sqft
Home Size1,644 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size5,097 sqft
Home Size1,812 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
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Lot Size3,002 sqft
Home Size1,600 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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