Former East Austin Factory Site Seeks Rezoning for Residential Development

A view of the former Holloway site from Pedernales Street. Though the buildings are likely not eligible for historic preservation, the hand-painted wall of the former factory — particularly its chain details — are notable. Image: Austin Phoenix Management

A repurposed industrial complex in East Austin is now seeking rezoning from the city for a 200-unit residential development. According to an application filed yesterday on behalf of owner Jesus Turullols of real estate firm Austin Phoenix Management, the approximately 1.8-acre property at 501 Pedernales Street requires a zoning change from a commercial to vertical mixed-use designation to develop the site with approximately 200 homes and 10,000 square feet of retail space.

The property is currently occupied by a nearly century-old collection of buildings, originally constructed in 1925 as an industrial facility and occupied for decades by the Holloway Company, a factory producing wire rope and chain. The site is now home to a number of businesses and event spaces working out of the repurposed factory and warehouse structures, including live music venue Monk’s Jazz Club. Though the property’s age and eclectic use makes it an interesting part of the Holly neighborhood, the site doesn’t appear eligible for any historic status preventing demolition.

An aerial view of the roughly 1.8-acre land assembly seeking vertical mixed-use rezoning, which contains addresses 501 Pedernales Street, 2503, 2505, 2507, and 2511 East Sixth Street. Image: Land Use Solutions

Since it won’t require a neighborhood plan amendment, the rezoning case is likely to attain city approval, especially considering the former factory site is adjacent to a number of other properties with mixed-use zoning designations — including an oddly-shaped nearby property created by the curving path of the region’s railroad line, developing with 625 homes and an “urban grocery store” by local firm LV Collective. 

The Property is surrounded by compatible land use designations including Mixed Use to the north, south, and west. The Property is surrounded by compatible zoning districts including CS-V-CO-NP to the north, CS-MU-V-CO-NP to the south, and CS-MU-CO-NP to the west. The requested Vertical Mixed Use combining district is consistent and compatible with the surrounding zoning and land uses.

— Application for 501 Pedernales Street, Land Use Solutions, LLC

Other nearby multifamily developments include the E6 apartments opened by national developer Greystar a block away at 2400 East Sixth Street in 2018, along with the Pedernales Lofts condo community built across the street in 2005 — one of the first new multifamily residential projects to be constructed in East Austin this century, and an early sign of how the district would change in the coming decades.