Image: Lincoln Ventures / Pappageorge Haymes / TBG Partners
A six-story East Austin apartment project by local developer Lincoln Ventures is set to rise atop a triangular piece of land at 2700 East Fifth Street, bringing 625 residential units, a co-working space spanning two floors, and a 2,400-square-foot retail cafe and “urban grocery store” to the site, according to the developer — a bright future for an odd piece of land with a long backstory, including a previous vision for offices at this site by Pearlstone Partners that now appears defunct in light of this new plan.
The property’s unique layout is created by the curving path of the rail line running along the tract’s north end, giving the site that whale-shaped look we love since trains can’t quite make the tight turns of a road — in fact, current city site plans call the project “The Right Angle,” which might end up being its official name but certainly points out the irony that the land in question only contains one normal corner.
A rendering of the building shows its “flat side” facing East Fifth Street, but you can just barely make out the curve along the top caused by the rail line at the north end of the tract. Click for a larger view. Image: Lincoln Ventures / Pappageorge Haymes
Owing to its size and the odd layout of its property, the building distinguishes itself from the average “one-plus-five” apartment building by placing the majority of its parking underground, with two above-ground levels taking up a smaller space on the far right side of the tract near Pleasant Valley Road. The project also takes advantage of vertical mixed-use parking reductions to lower its required number of spaces from 960 to 576, which is likely part of why the building doesn’t need such an obtrusive garage structure. 576 spaces for 625 units plus retail ain’t bad, although we still have some nefarious ideas to get that number even lower.
An overhead floor plan of the project’s ground level shows its curved shape on the north end, accommodating the rail line crossing over the top of the site. Image: Lincoln Ventures / Pappageorge Haymes / TBG Partners
Lincoln Ventures, which announced it closed on the 2700 property late last month, is also known locally for numerous student housing projects in West Campus along with the ambitious 80 Rainey tower. With its Rainey Street project offering some pretty impressive street-level amenities and preserving two bungalows at the site, we’re interested to see how the developer amenitizes a lower-rise project outside of the student housing world — that “urban grocery store” sounds promising even if it’s a small retail space, since events like last year’s (and this week’s) freeze really show off the benefits of neighborhood-level grocery offerings.
A view of the interior courtyard and entrance at the 2700 project. Image: Lincoln Ventures / Pappageorge Haymes / TBG Partners
We’re always happy to see live-work units in these buildings, especially since recent events have shown us there’s a lot of utility in working from home if you do it right — the latest plans indicate nine one-bedroom units and 14 two-bedroom units in this category, all facing East Fifth Street. Ten percent of the building’s full unit count will be designated affordable housing, meaning more than 60 residences.
A view of the project’s interior courtyard and main entrance — its retail space, apparently providing some kind of neighborhood grocery, is visible on the left. Image: Lincoln Ventures / Pappageorge Haymes / TBG Partners
Lincoln’s developing the project in partnership with Boston-based investors ELV Associates, with design from Chicago firm Pappageorge Haymes Partners that’s also behind the 80 Rainey tower’s looks. The building will feature interior design from Michael Hsu Office of Architecture, civil engineering from Wuest Group, and landscape architecture from folks at TBG Partners. At the moment, Lincoln says it plans to break ground on the project by the second half of 2022, with an estimated opening date around summer 2024.
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