Hotel Proposed for 12th and Red River in Downtown Austin

Another new hotel is proposed for Downtown Austin, and is now going through the permitting process. This one is especially newsworthy given that the location at the northeast corner of 12th Street @ Red River is in the heart of where many hope to establish an “Innovation District” – a district that will be anchored to the under-construction medical center.

Seeing potential additional growth in the northeast sector of downtown is good, seeing as housing supply is currently completely absent. All the cranes in downtown are a little deceptive (as we’ve said before). Downtown Austin’s commercial property market is finally catching up with the housing boom of 2006 and we’re seeing more commercial buildings like hotels and offices being built.

This particular hotel, if it comes to fruition, will be called Waterloo Park Tower (or Waterloo Towers Hotel, we’ve seen both names mentioned), and is currently working its way through the permitting process with the City of Austin, having recently submitted the site plan for approval.

The .436-acre tract of land at 12^th and Red River currently hosts the Brick Oven Pizza restaurant, which is still operational, and has been at the site for over 30 years.

Summary of what we know about the hotel proposal:

Site: .436-acres (19,020 sf)
Proposed Building Footprint: 11,168 SF
260 Hotel Rooms with “associated parking”
3,700 sf restaurant use on ground level
Access / Entry point on 12^th Street
22 Stories, up to ~150,000 sf

Austin’s Capitol View Corridors (CVCs) where building height is limited

The forums have been abuzz about the proposed height and size of the development, and given the location and proximity to the Capitol, we were personally a little surprised this height would fly. However, after a precursory check with the Capitol View Corridors map, it is indeed allowed. But they just narrowly are out of the restricted zones. Well done, Waterloo Towers Hotel.

To get a sense for what 22 stories could look like in that area, we created a crude massing of the property using a 13 foot floor-to-floor ceiling height, yielding a height of 286 ft. As you can see, there’s nothing currently that tall in the area.

AustinTowers’ crude massing to show how tall 22 stories could be

The ABJ reported on this proposed tower at the end of 2012 (in the context of the land owner requesting a zoning change for the lot along with the adjoining tract at 1209 Red River from CS-1 to CBD – which was granted), and now it’s one step closer to happening.

However, the ABJ reported in 2012 that there’s still a long way to go, and that, as of their report, a developer or financial backer had yet to be confirmed for the project. And we didn’t see any mention of another party that would be the developer in the submitted plans.

Without a hotel operator attached to the project, this process is intended to entitle the property and then find the backing to get it built.

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