The East Austin park improvement initiative formerly known as Holly Point but now sporting the broader (but slightly less memorable) label of Holly Project represents the first step towards upgrading the large tract of shoreline city parkland on the north banks of Lady Bird Lake commonly referred to as Holly Shores.
This area, its size exceeding a whopping 90 acres and containing individual parks including Edward Rendon Sr. Park at Festival Beach, Fiesta Gardens, the Manuel And Robert Donley Pocket Park, and Metz Park, will also eventually contain an additional nine acres of parkland on the site of the decommissioned Holly Power Plant.
![](https://towers.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/holly_point_aerial-e1562175004968.jpg)
The area currently being upgraded by the Holly Project is the peninsula containing the baseball fields directly to the right of the bridge seen at the center of the image, which carries the Hike-and-Bike Trail over the park’s lagoon area. Image: Bing Maps
The vision for improving the long-neglected Holly Shores region into one of Austin’s premiere downtown and downtown-adjacent parks is a long time coming, with the city allocating funds for the master plan’s initial conception a solid decade ago — and with the help of the Trail Foundation nonprofit and its snazzy new Corgan Canopy Fund, the first piece of the puzzle is almost in sight, with the project possibly entering the construction planning and actual permitting stage by mid-2020.
A view of some of the Holly Project area, looking roughly southwest towards the water.
The Holly Project, now in its design review and community engagement phase, will create an ADA-accessible realignment of the Hike-and-Bike Trail along the waterfront in this area (you can see in the above image that the trail’s currently set back pretty far from the water), build additional recreation spaces, and restore the wetland habitat along the shoreline itself. At a community engagement meeting held last weekend, the Trail Foundation and Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department presented two design options for the Holly Project to the public for review, and that means you folks get to take a look at them too and decide which one tickles your fancy and so forth.
Holly Project: Concept A
In addition to a scenic overlook space at the southwestern tip of the peninsula, you’ll notice another focal point of this plan is the cluster of picnic tables on a deck installed around one of the area’s large oak trees. Pay attention to these two features, because they’re the ones that get a different spin in Concept B. If you squint at the map above, you’ll see a black arrow indicating the viewpoint of the concept sketch below, which might be the single most helpful thing included here:
Hey, not bad! We wish we could get a better view of the scenic overlook area or central shade garden, but maybe that comes later. Onward to Concept B!
Holly Project: Concept B
The two big changes in Concept B are the feature at the tip of the peninsula and the shade garden/picnic table space in the center. Instead of a scenic overlook, here we’ve got a stone pergola, a word that’s very fun to say and like a lot of fun words is derived from Latin, in this case the noun pergula, which depending on context can refer to a booth, hut, arbor, overhanging roof, or oddly enough, a brothel. Anyway, fun word.
The second major difference in this configuration is the layout of its central shade garden — instead of circling its picnic tables on a deck around a single tree, it distributes them throughout the grove and does away with the deck entirely. Remember to look for the small black arrow on the above map so you can tell the perspective of the sketch below, but it’s pretty obvious what we’re looking at here:
The foundation also included a second, more detailed concept sketch for the pergola structure seen in the sketch above — plus a human for scale:
You’ll notice that neither of these concepts do anything to threaten the existing baseball fields at the site — so please don’t get mad and email us about that. Instead, channel that energy towards filling out the Trail Foundation’s brief survey on the project’s design and let them know which of these two concepts you prefer. We’re torn on a favorite, since we love the pergola from Concept B most of all but also think the elevated deck in the shade garden from Concept A is pretty cool. Kinda makes you wonder, why not do both? That’s what the survey’s for, partner.
East Austin Homes For Sale
-
$369,900
2220 Webberville RD #202
Austin, TX -
$325,000
2401 E 6th ST #3045
Austin, TX -
$925,000
2004 E 16th ST #B
Austin, TX -
$750,000
MLS # 4903096
Austin, TX -
$475,000
2235 E 6th ST #302
Austin, TX -
$389,000
2220 Webberville RD #318
Austin, TX -
$415,000
1603 Poquito ST
Austin, TX -
$520,000
2235 E 6th ST #204
Austin, TX -
$375,000
2401 E 6th ST #5072
Austin, TX -
$815,000
603 Vermont RD
Austin, TX -
$898,000
720 Pedernales ST #A
Austin, TX -
$1,350,000
3705 Govalle Ave #1
Austin, TX -
$1,750,000
1602 Garden ST
Austin, TX -
$460,000
3101 Govalle Ave #220
Austin, TX -
$625,000
1411 Walnut Ave
Austin, TX -
$599,000
908 Tillery ST
Austin, TX -
$1,600,000
2605 E 4th ST
Austin, TX -
$795,000
2410 Bryan ST
Austin, TX -
$675,000
3009 Garwood ST #1
Austin, TX -
$1,400,000
602 Allen ST
Austin, TX -
$699,000
2304 Santa Maria ST
Austin, TX -
$650,000
2004 E 9th ST #A
Austin, TX -
$399,000
800 Embassy DR #507
Austin, TX -
$1,675,000
2115 Pennsylvania Ave
Austin, TX -
$990,000
1305 Cedar Ave
Austin, TX
-
Lot Size5,838 sqft
Home Size665 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size1,015 sqft
Home Size642 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size4,792 sqft
Home Size1,864 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size3,002 sqft
Home Size1,950 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
-
Lot Size654 sqft
Home Size747 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size5,838 sqft
Home Size682 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size2,984 sqft
Home Size849 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size832 sqft
Home Size940 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size1,155 sqft
Home Size730 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size12,607 sqft
Home Size2,747 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size3,437 sqft
Home Size1,944 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
-
Lot Size4,683 sqft
Home Size2,359 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size7,314 sqft
Home Size2,822 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
-
Lot Size1,220 sqft
Home Size800 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size6,199 sqft
Home Size1,307 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size7,170 sqft
Home Size2,000 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size5,794 sqft
Home Size2,318 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size4,727 sqft
Home Size1,496 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
-
Lot Size6,861 sqft
Home Size1,090 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
-
Lot Size10,899 sqft
Home Size966 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size3,002 sqft
Home Size1,274 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size3,128 sqft
Home Size1,511 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size231 sqft
Home Size575 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size4,844 sqft
Home Size2,765 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4.5 Baths
-
Lot Size5,790 sqft
Home Size2,368 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
Leave a Reply