Looking at an aerial view of the State Capitol Complex, with the 1301 Lavaca Street site circled in red. They’re close to each other! Image: Bing Maps
Dallas-based tax services company Ryan LLC and local lobbying firm McWillams appear to be developing a tower of sorts at the corner of 13th and Lavaca Streets in downtown Austin, a location situated about as close to the State Capitol Complex as you can get before actually being there. This is at least the case presented by recent city documents concerning plans for an 120-foot building containing eight floors and a rooftop terrace at 1301 Lavaca Street, the former home of downtown bar Charlie’s, which closed in 2011 — the site’s now only occupied by a vacant lot.
1301 Lavaca Street in 2009 (top) and 2019 (bottom). Image: Google Maps
The bar building itself didn’t actually come down until about a year ago, but soon after it closed, the roughly 0.17-acre property was purchased by an entity associated with Ryan LLC and its founder and CEO G. Brint Ryan. Development plans stayed quiet until this year, but a new city site plan for the property filed by its owners back in August provides us with a look at the small, slightly strange tower imagined here, its design by local architecture outfit Page:
Northern and southern-facing views of the 1301 Lavaca tower. Images: Ryan LLC / Page / City of Austin
Eastern and western-facing views of the 1301 Lavaca tower. Images: Ryan LLC / Page / City of Austin
Unlike a lot of architectural illustrations, these views of the future building actually include the exterior signage for the companies that will presumably occupy at least some of it: Ryan LLC and McWilliams. Both companies have office space elsewhere downtown at the moment — McWilliams actually currently operates out of the building at 1220 Colorado Street, literally one block south of the 1301 Lavaca Street site, making for an easy move. This new tower would likely provide a snazzy new headquarters for both firms.
The current McWilliams office space is just south of the 1301 Lavaca Street property.
(Per the McWilliams site, head honcho Andrea McWilliams currently serves on the PAC Board of Ryan LLC, and the two outfits seem very friendly.)
But what really makes this building interesting is the usage described in the site plan: “Offices with residences.” We thought at first that this would indicate some kind of office/hotel hybrid, in keeping with CEO Ryan’s previous work in the hospitality industry, but once we got our hands on the physical plans we realized it’s stranger than that — the building described here contains a single 6,600-square-foot residential unit, occupying the entire top eighth floor with a rooftop terrace above. In other words, Ryan LLC appears to be developing potentially the coolest penthouse downtown, with roughly 39,000 square feet of office space below as a bonus.
On the left, tables describing various uses at the 1301 Lavaca project. On the right, a site plan of the project’s ground floor — we’re including this for the folks that like this sort of thing, and we know you’re out there! Images: Ryan LLC / Page / City of Austin
But wait, there’s more! These plans also indicate that the building will contain no on-site parking, something you don’t see very often in an office project for obvious reasons. It’s highly possible the occupants will come to an agreement with surrounding parking structures to house their workers, but there’s no additional information provided at this time. Considering the building’s limited height based on the site’s proximity to the Capitol, getting rid of parking allows the structure to maximize its use of space without spending the extra dough to dig its garage below grade, so it kinda makes sense. Kinda.
Between its parking situation and the single, enormous residence upstairs, this building is a genuine mystery unlike any other downtown project at the moment, and a mystery it shall remain until representatives of either Ryan LLC or McWilliams are willing to comment on its many quirks (for now, they aren’t biting). These plans state that the building is at a 50 percent design stage, so we could see some changes before it breaks ground. Still, after sitting vacant for eight years it’s nice to see something going on at this corner, especially something kind of weird. Though we can think of a few ways a lobbying firm might want to use it, the massive penthouse is certainly not typical — but as established fans of this kind of thing, we’ll take all we can get.
Latest Downtown Austin Condos For Sale
-
$499,000
MLS # 5882107
Austin, TX -
$2,300,000
200 Congress Ave #38SW
Austin, TX -
$675,000
222 West Ave #2211
Austin, TX -
$575,000
44 EAST Ave #3804
Austin, TX -
$5,600,000
301 West Ave #5604
Austin, TX -
$13,000,000
200 Congress Ave #50T
Austin, TX -
$739,000
603 Davis ST #1304
Austin, TX -
$800,000
505 W 7th ST #313
Austin, TX -
$5,150,000
70 Rainey ST #3203
Austin, TX -
$579,000
360 Nueces ST #1318
Austin, TX -
$535,000
54 Rainey ST #910
Austin, TX -
$1,090,000
84 East Ave #1509
Austin, TX -
$838,000
84 East Ave #2404
Austin, TX -
$2,995,000
210 LAVACA St #2610
Austin, TX -
$740,000
48 East Ave #2004
Austin, TX
-
$499,000Lot Size57 sqft
Home Size565 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
$2,300,000Lot Size131 sqft
Home Size1,785 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$675,000Lot Size197 sqft
Home Size689 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1.5 Baths
-
$575,000Lot SizeN/A
Home Size538 sqft
BedsN/A
Baths1 Bath
-
$5,600,000Lot SizeN/A
Home Size3,514 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
-
$13,000,000Lot Size349 sqft
Home Size5,050 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths4.5 Baths
-
$739,000Lot Size175 sqft
Home Size1,252 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$800,000Lot SizeN/A
Home Size709 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
$5,150,000Lot SizeN/A
Home Size3,685 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
$579,000Lot Size101 sqft
Home Size760 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
$535,000Lot Size192 sqft
Home Size756 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
$1,090,000Lot Size17,163 sqft
Home Size1,176 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$838,000Lot Size17,154 sqft
Home Size892 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
$2,995,000Lot Size6,321 sqft
Home Size2,846 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
$740,000Lot SizeN/A
Home Size893 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
Leave a Reply