Rainey’s rising. Image: Genesis Real Estate Group
Ever since the Villas on Town Lake condos at 80 Red River Street finally came down earlier this year, we knew it was only a matter of time until we’d see a progress update on The Travis, an apartment tower planned atop the former condo site by Dallas developer Genesis Real Estate Group.
Genesis purchased the 2.3-acre property, located near the shore of the lake on the west end of the booming Rainey Street District, back in 2017, but plans were vague — besides the name “The Travis,” we knew the building would be 45 floors in height or more, with a possible second tower rising later on the site. Now, thanks to a rendering recently uploaded to the Genesis website, we’ve got our first view of its design:
A view of the Travis apartment tower, directly adjacent to the Hotel Van Zandt & Shore Condos. Image: Genesis Real Estate Group
Recent city filings for the address mention Dallas firm GDA Architects, the folks behind the Fifth & West condos on the opposite side of downtown, as involved with the project — and though we haven’t heard an official confirmation, it’s a fair bet we’re looking at their design in the above image, since Genesis has worked with them on a couple of tower developments before.
The site also includes a brief new description of the building — which, we noted, uses the word “luxury” twice:
Our upcoming luxury living multifamily development project, The Travis, will be Austin’ s tallest exclusive use apartment tower with 50 stories and 414 units. Located near Lady Bird Lake and just a block from Austin’s famous Rainey Street District, The Travis will be a state-of-the-art luxury building right in the heart of Downtown Austin.
— Genesis Real Estate Group Site
414 new apartments is certainly nothing to sneeze at, especially since the developer’s hoping to fit a second residential tower at this same address sometime in the future. It’s worth noting that only in the last year or so, we’ve seen designs for three new buildings all hovering around 50 stories in height show up in the Rainey Street District alone — 44 East Avenue, 90 Rainey Street, and now this.
They don’t all look exactly the same, mind you, but there are a few similarities:
The design of upcoming Rainey Street District towers, including the Travis (left), 90 Red River (center), and 44 East (right). Images: Genesis Real Estate Group / Nelsen Partners / Page
To some extent, these designs are driven by Austin’s current development code — which is actually part of why the city’s looking to loosen up a couple of its existing restrictions on tall, skinny towers, good news for those of us who like efficient use of downtown space. This “tower and podium” residential architecture is common in rapidly-growing cities like Vancouver, so it’s funny that Joe Houssian, owner of Canadian development firm Intracorp behind the 44 East tower, told the Austin Business Journal earlier this year that our city reminds him of Vancouver 20 years ago! (He also said Austin had a much better music scene, so he’s fine.)
Other than this new image and the description from Genesis’ site, we don’t have much else to run with on this project at the moment, though coverage from last year states the developer hopes to break ground on the tower sometime in 2019. Anyway, it’s nice to get a peek at what’s next for this corner of downtown, which is now experiencing a growth spurt the likes of which the neighborhood’s never seen before — especially in terms of height. For Rainey Street, it seems, 50 floors is the new normal.
Rainey Street Condos For Sale
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$535,000
40 N Interstate 35 #3D3
Austin, TX -
$449,000
40 N Interstate 35 #6B2
Austin, TX -
$800,000
603 Davis ST #1702
Austin, TX -
$1,575,000
603 Davis ST #2101
Austin, TX -
$585,000
54 Rainey ST #718
Austin, TX -
$819,774
603 Davis ST #2002
Austin, TX -
$865,000
54 Rainey ST #1206
Austin, TX -
$1,090,000
40 N Interstate 35 #8B1
Austin, TX -
$467,000
40 N Interstate 35 #5D4
Austin, TX -
$499,000
54 Rainey ST #607
Austin, TX -
$409,900
603 Davis ST #1708
Austin, TX -
$410,000
603 Davis ST #1908
Austin, TX -
$469,700
40 N Interstate 35 #2D1
Austin, TX -
$559,000
54 Rainey #518
Austin, TX -
$1,593,000
54 Rainey ST #1222
Austin, TX -
$540,000
54 Rainey ST #913
Austin, TX -
$599,999
603 Davis ST #603
Austin, TX -
$621,583
70 Rainey ST #2405
Austin, TX -
$770,700
70 Rainey ST #1707
Austin, TX -
$1,225,234
70 Rainey ST #1201
Austin, TX -
$465,000
40 N Interstate 35 #4A4
Austin, TX -
$629,000
603 Davis ST #1009
Austin, TX -
$525,000
54 Rainey ST #PH09
Austin, TX -
$3,299,000
40 N Interstate 35 #PA1
Austin, TX
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$535,000Lot Size1,219 sqft
Home Size1,533 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$449,000Lot Size1,132 sqft
Home Size1,459 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$800,000Lot Size304 sqft
Home Size1,597 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$1,575,000Lot Size304 sqft
Home Size2,101 sq ft
Beds3 beds
Baths3 baths
-
$585,000Lot Size436 sqft
Home Size1,164 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$819,774Lot Size304 sqft
Home Size1,597 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$865,000Lot Size348 sqft
Home Size1,341 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$1,090,000Lot Size2,090 sqft
Home Size2,651 sq ft
Beds4 beds
Baths3 baths
-
$467,000Lot Size1,045 sqft
Home Size1,360 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$499,000Lot Size304 sqft
Home Size1,164 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$409,900Lot Size175 sqft
Home Size923 sq ft
Beds1 bed
Baths1 bath
-
$410,000Lot Size130 sqft
Home Size923 sq ft
Beds1 bed
Baths1 bath
-
$469,700Lot SizeN/A
Home Size1,533 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$559,000Lot Size304 sqft
Home Size1,164 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$1,593,000Lot Size609 sqft
Home Size2,418 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths3 baths
-
$540,000Lot Size304 sqft
Home Size1,164 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$599,999Lot Size217 sqft
Home Size1,175 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$621,583Lot SizeN/A
Home Size837 sq ft
Beds1 bed
Baths1 bath
-
$770,700Lot SizeN/A
Home Size1,128 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$1,225,234Lot SizeN/A
Home Size1,697 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$465,000Lot Size958 sqft
Home Size1,234 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$629,000Lot Size261 sqft
Home Size1,286 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$525,000Lot Size304 sqft
Home Size1,164 sq ft
Beds2 beds
Baths2 baths
-
$3,299,000Lot Size4,878 sqft
Home Size6,639 sq ft
Beds4 beds
Baths5 baths
