Graduate Hotel Planned in Downtown Austin’s Growing Northwest Corner

A view of the current structure at 1800 Guadalupe Street, which secured its demolition permit after a sheepish Historic Landmark Commission admitted much of its historic looks actually date back to the 1980s. Image: AJ Capital Partners / City of Austin

It’s always a great day here on the blog when our idle speculation actually predicts the future, so we’re thrilled to announce that after months of connecting the dots around the roughly acre-sized property at 1800 Guadalupe Street, we can now confirm with an outrageously cool sense of self-assuredness that Nashville-based real estate firm Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners plans to build the latest location of its Graduate Hotels collection at this northwest downtown tract, within hollering distance of the University of Texas — that’s the whole point of this boutique brand, which runs more than 30 hotels near major universities across the country.

Plans for the project dating back to late last month are now in review with the city, and a look at some drawings of the 18-story building designed by Chicago-based architects Hartshorne Plunkard has us more enthusiastic than usual — the structure, heavy on the masonry and arched casement-style windows, resembles a taller version of the firm’s designs for other Graduate projects in Nashville and Auburn. With glass curtain walls generally the theme around here, we’re thrilled to see another tower bringing brick to the table in the northwest corner of downtown. It’s a trend now!

A view of the Graduate Hotel’s main elevation, facing south towards West 18th street. Image: AJ Capital Partners / HPA 

Another interesting wrinkle of the Graduate plan seen on these latest city documents is its inclusion of a number of multifamily residential units alongside hotel rooms — the project’s site plan officially calls the building “Graduate Hotel / Memoir.” While it’s unclear if this means the hotel is offering short-term rental units as part of an ongoing effort to compete with Airbnb, or full-fledged condos more in the vein of something like the Four Seasons Residences, the term “Memoir” hasn’t been used in relation to previous Graduate Hotel projects as far as we can tell.

A view of the hotel’s northern-facing side, with most of that big blank wall covered by the ever-popular Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers next door. Image: AJ Capital Partners / HPA 

Although details like this aren’t yet public, the hotel part of the plan seems pretty straightforward — we don’t have a firm room count at the moment, but the building will contain a ground-level restaurant and bar space adjacent to its lobby, both opening to West 18th Street. An internal parking garage on the first five floors will contain 240 spaces, but this feature appears well-hidden by the rest of the structure. The building’s landscape architects are local firm TBG Partners, and the plan for the project’s streetscape includes the planting of 25 new trees surrounding the hotel. 

Here’s how the building looks on its narrower side facing Guadalupe Street to the east. Image: AJ Capital Partners / HPA 

Although this is obviously subject to change, city filings for the building include an estimated construction start date of June 2024. Who knows, maybe between then and now the Graduate folks will notice how good all of our opinions are and give us the first renderings of the hotel? The least they could do is subscribe to our newsletter.