If you’re interested in historic homes, you probably already know the Craftsman style. This architectural movement was one of America’s most popular for small houses or “bungalows” built between 1900 and the mid-1920s, meaning it’s well-represented in many of Austin’s central neighborhoods built around that period. This wide distribution around town makes it a no-brainer for Preservation…
Here’s the Travis, Bringing 50 Floors of Apartments to the Rainey Street District
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…
In 1977, the ‘Tree Safeway’ Kept Austin’s Grocery Stores Weird
For more than 40 years, there’s been a grocery store at 715 Exposition Boulevard in West Austin, sitting on a 2.6-acre piece of land owned by the University of Texas System. The building opened as a Safeway in 1977, briefly became an AppleTree Market (remember those?) in the late 1980s, and finally a Randalls in 1994. Earlier…
Six Reasons Austin Should Go Big On Small Apartments
Coming up on Thursday, the 2019 version of the Austin City Council will start deliberating on one of the biggest decisions of this year: where to go now that CodeNEXT is dead . City Manager Spencer Cronk asked for direction from City Council on five questions , including how much we should allow “missing middle” housing (think: small multi-unit buildings…
Two New Hotels Headed for East Avenue in the Rainey Street District
East Avenue, running parallel to Rainey Street on the southeastern edge of downtown Austin, gets a lot of attention from this site. That’s because despite its slightly lesser-known status compared to Rainey Street proper, it currently hosts many promising developments expanding the overall Rainey Street District. Everyone loves betting an on underdog, and it’s kinda started paying off —…
At Butler Shores, a New Life for Austin’s Dougherty Arts Center Takes Shape
In 2010, an architectural report prepared for Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department declared the facility housing the city’s Dougherty Arts Center had aged beyond its useful life — in fact, the much-loved community theater and gallery space near Butler Park at 1110 Barton Springs Road was “beyond repair,” according to the parks department’s own summary of the…