Image: Shady Grove / Facebook
After the widely-mourned closure of longtime Barton Springs Road restaurant and live music venue Shady Grove in 2020 not long after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the possibilities of the site’s redevelopment didn’t go undiscussed in local circles. But despite its current tax appraisal value of more than $7 million, not to mention a location in the heart of one of Austin’s most popular entertainment and dining districts, four years later the main restaurant property located on more than an acre at 1624 Barton Springs Road remains in a state of gradual decay — the City of Austin’s Code Department issued a notice just last month to longtime owners Gordon and Dorothy Neelley that weeds at the site were starting to impede the sidewalk.
The site’s lengthy vacancy can be partially attributed to a slowing real estate market, but even with its prime location any redevelopment here will likely be a tricky process — not simply because all the former Shady Grove customers probably won’t think much of its replacement, but due to the site’s namesake grove of mature pecan trees, many of which are protected by city ordinance and would either need to be avoided by a new building’s footprint or transplanted at great cost. (Transplanting pecan trees is more challenging than other varieties due to their unusually deep taproots.)
But even with these challenges, it appears someone is finally thinking seriously about the redevelopment of the Shady Grove site. An unknown developer has submitted a concept study for a new building at the property for assessment by the City Arborist, to determine the potential impact on the site’s heritage trees — we’ve also gotten our hands on it, of course. Keep in mind that this is an extremely abstract feasibility study for what could be built here, not some kind of detailed roadmap for development. Even so, we figured the public might like to see what could potentially rise here.
Image: City of Austin / Rhode Partners
The concept, assembled on behalf of our mystery developer by prominent local architecture firm Rhode Partners, outlines an approximately 423,000-square-foot multifamily residential building rising eight floors to a maximum height of 85 feet, with a three-level parking podium and a 4,589-square-foot retail space on the ground level with a patio facing Barton Springs Road, likely suitable for a restaurant tenant. As shown in the slide above, at least eight significant trees are within this building concept’s footprint — it’s unclear if any of these trees are eligible for removal with a variance from the city, or if all eight would need to be transplanted elsewhere.
A more detailed view of the concept multifamily residential project at the 1624 Barton Springs site, showing its footprint and potential interior layout across several levels. Image: City of Austin / Rhode Partners
Further concept floor plans for the eight-story multifamily building at this site, here showing the layout of the upper levels. Image: City of Austin / Rhode Partners
It’s obviously a pretty vague set of clues, with no indication of an expected timeline or even which developer is behind the idea in the first place. But after four years of vacancy and counting at the former home of Shady Grove, it’s interesting to get an inside look at what it could take to build something at this property — we don’t even want to know what it costs to transplant up to eight huge pecan trees, but we’re hoping the site can at least hold onto some of the shade.
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