An aerial view of the assembly of properties now bound for demolition, and presumably redevelopment, along Walsh Street between West Fifth and West Sixth Streets. Image: Google Maps / James Rambin
We don’t mean to brag or nuthin’, but we’re usually pretty good at knowing what’s going on around downtown, development-wise. It’s our job, more or less. So it’s a fun little change of pace when something big is going down and we have no idea why — finally, the thrill of the unknown! That’s the case this week over in Old West Austin near downtown, where a major demolition is now planned for a roughly 1.2-acre assembly of adjacent properties on the east side of Walsh Street between West Fifth and West Sixth Streets. This would entail the removal of three houses currently used as commercial space at 503, 505, and 507 Walsh Street; along with an office and warehouse building located at the corner of Walsh and West Sixth Street.
A view of the three houses now slated for demolition on Walsh Street.
It’s pretty rare for this sort of demolition to come up without any public information regarding what’s planned for the space — typically some variety of city permit is already floating around by this stage describing what sort of development is coming up next. That’s not the case this time around, but the good news is we might only have to wait one day to find out what’s up. The certificates of appropriateness for these demolitions are now on the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission, a necessary step because the homes on Walsh Street set to be removed are all more than a century old. (Likely not historic, though.)
A view of the commercial building at Walsh and West Sixth Street also planned for demolition.
These properties are all owned by various LLCs associated with longtime local real estate firm Griffith Properties, a family operation connected with former Austin City Council member Beverly Griffith. Local land use law firm Armbrust & Brown is bringing the demolition items to the HLC on behalf of the property owners, with any development partner still unknown for whatever project is presumably in store here.
Here’s a First Look at the Fifth & Walsh Offices, Rising West of Downtown Austin
We’ll hopefully find out more at tomorrow’s meeting, but the possibility for development here is interesting just the same — the potential for growth down the West Fifth and Sixth Street corridors through the area west of downtown is obvious, and sharp-eyed readers may recall this Walsh Street site is south of the block-sized Sixth and Blanco project and directly east of Endeavor Real Estate Group’s planned Fifth & Walsh office project. It’s unclear if that latter plan will survive the current lack of demand for new office space, but it wouldn’t be too hard for the development to pivot to a residential use. All the cool kids are doing it!
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