The future of a roughly 10-acre former rail yard between East Fourth and East Fifth Streets will emerge as part of East Austin’s “new normal” within a few short months. Formerly known as Plaza Saltillo after its nearby MetroRail station, but now shortened to the snappier and slightly less confusing Saltillo, this ambitious project by local developers Endeavor Real Estate Group is best described with many hyphens — master-planned, transit-oriented, mixed-use — not to mention long-awaited, being essentially the product of city planning efforts and assorted real estate speculation dating back about two decades, give or take.
Keeping that in mind, after more than two years of construction since its official groundbreaking in June 2017, we’re ready for Saltillo to get over the finish line already — and we imagine the folks at Endeavor feel the same way, since they provided us with a few nice points of data explaining just how close we are.
“Saltillo experienced a great amount of progress in 2019 and should come to full fruition in early 2020. It’s gratifying, humbling and amazing to see the community’s vision take full shape and form.”
— Jason Thumlert, Principal, Endeavor Real Estate Group

An aerial view of the nearly-finished Saltillo site now, in late 2019. Image: Endeavor Real Estate Group
As of December 2019, residents of Saltillo have moved into three of its four residential blocks, with occupants soon expected at the apartment block closest to I-35 — together, the four residential blocks contain approximately 800 total apartment units. Three of its retail stores are already open for business — shoutout to the new JuiceLand over there — with five more retail openings expected this month. Another five businesses should open at Saltillo by early 2020, per Endeavor, and that doesn’t even count the big-name tenants: Target and Whole Foods, both of which began finishing out their respective spaces in the development earlier this fall.
The opening dates for those larger stores aren’t set for the moment, but sometime in 2020 seems like a good bet. Even with all these big names, the elephant in the room at Saltillo is its single office tenant, a tech company and eyeglass manufacturer called “Google,” which announced earlier this year it would take down 100 percent of the development’s approximately 150,000 square feet of office space contained within the seven-story blue glass building you can see in the photos above. Frankly, we think the entire development should be as tall as that office building, but don’t get us started.
As the largest master-planned development this close to the city’s downtown core, there are high hopes resting on the success of Saltillo as a new urban node for East Austin — a center around which more well-designed, transit-accessible projects should rise if all goes well, incentivized by both the literal bonuses of the area’s transit-oriented development plan, and the more squishy human benefits of dense, walkable, and attractive public environments. Other promising growth in the district seems to imply that Saltillo’s already doing its job, but we’ll find out soon enough.
East Austin Homes For Sale
-
$1,099,000
2606 E 14th Street #1
Austin, TX -
$1,150,000
2729 Lyons Road
Austin, TX -
$1,950,000
2107 Garden Street
Austin, TX -
$825,000
2102 New York Avenue
Austin, TX -
$695,000
2106 New York Avenue
Austin, TX -
$699,900
908 Brass Street #2
Austin, TX -
$1,498,000
1215 Maple Avenue
Austin, TX -
$820,000
68 Mildred Street
Austin, TX -
$1,919,900
2114 Haskell Street
Austin, TX -
$724,900
800 Embassy Drive #401
Austin, TX -
$710,000
1220 Taylor Street
Austin, TX -
$899,990
902 Willow Street #2
Austin, TX -
$1,299,900
902 Willow Street #1
Austin, TX -
$1,699,000
2008 E 17th Street
Austin, TX -
$490,000
3101 Govalle Avenue #303
Austin, TX -
$1,200,000
3201 & 3203 Govalle Avenue
Austin, TX -
$499,000
1803 Ulit Avenue
Austin, TX -
$309,000
2220 Webberville Road #225
Austin, TX -
$975,000
1308 Walnut Avenue
Austin, TX -
$925,000
1212 Poquito Street #1
Austin, TX -
$850,000
2509 E 5th Street
Austin, TX -
$650,000
2907 E 5th Street
Austin, TX -
$850,000
2909 E 5th Street
Austin, TX -
$699,000
1001 Walter Street #2
Austin, TX -
$899,000
1001 Walter Street #1
Austin, TX
-
Lot Size6,304 sqft
Home Size1,572 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size6,273 sqft
Home Size1,872 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size6,722 sqft
Home Size2,119 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
Lot Size7,972 sqft
Home Size1,616 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size7,963 sqft
Home Size1,092 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size3,594 sqft
Home Size1,029 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size4,200 sqft
Home Size2,243 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
Lot Size3,494 sqft
Home Size1,106 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size6,752 sqft
Home Size2,658 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
Lot SizeN/A
Home Size1,214 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size3,276 sqft
Home Size994 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size3,050 sqft
Home Size1,100 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size3,568 sqft
Home Size1,634 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size5,036 sqft
Home Size3,034 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
Lot Size1,586 sqft
Home Size1,040 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size22,869 sqft
Home Size1,560 sqft
BedsN/A
BathsN/A
-
Lot Size5,703 sqft
Home Size1,160 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size5,838 sqft
Home Size527 sqft
BedsN/A
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size6,047 sqft
Home Size2,124 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size7,798 sqft
Home Size1,625 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
Lot Size4,500 sqft
Home Size1,552 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size6,787 sqft
Home Size652 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size6,787 sqft
Home Size884 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size5,628 sqft
Home Size1,090 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size5,637 sqft
Home Size1,939 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
Leave a Reply