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.

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
-
$1,215,000
904 Linden Street
Austin, TX -
$485,000
800 Embassy Drive #321
Austin, TX -
$284,900
1119 Gunter Street #B
Austin, TX -
$299,900
1119 Gunter Street #C
Austin, TX -
$325,000
1601 Miriam Avenue #112
Austin, TX -
$1,100,000
1192 Navasota Street
Austin, TX -
$550,000
1305 Walnut Avenue
Austin, TX -
$435,000
2413 E 8th Street
Austin, TX -
$775,000
1103 Cherico Street #2
Austin, TX -
$748,000
44 East Avenue W #2711
Austin, TX -
$750,000
1611 Clifford Avenue #2
Austin, TX -
$1,650,000
2008 E 17th Road
Austin, TX -
$650,000
806 MAUDE Street
Austin, TX -
$540,000
1011 Muse Lane #17
Austin, TX -
$525,000
1409 Walnut Avenue
Austin, TX -
$700,000
2907 E 5th Street
Austin, TX -
$700,000
2909 E 5th Street
Austin, TX -
$900,000
1011 Juniper Street
Austin, TX -
$699,000
1203 Maple Avenue
Austin, TX -
$1,599,990
906 E 13th Street #1
Austin, TX -
$475,000
1105 1/2 Brass Street
Austin, TX -
$750,000
3503 Kay Street #2
Austin, TX -
$182,201
2220 Webberville Road #222
Austin, TX -
$1,600,000
3503 Kay Street #1
Austin, TX -
$989,000
1409 Holly Street #A
Austin, TX
-
Lot Size5,881 sqft
Home Size2,372 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
Lot SizeN/A
Home Size755 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size8,495 sqft
Home Size480 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size8,495 sqft
Home Size480 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size2,261 sqft
Home Size640 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size2,963 sqft
Home Size2,225 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size5,642 sqft
Home Size624 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size5,114 sqft
Home Size1,248 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size7,833 sqft
Home Size1,088 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size44 sqft
Home Size707 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size6,264 sqft
Home Size1,026 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size5,053 sqft
Home Size3,034 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
Lot Size6,099 sqft
Home Size950 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size1,961 sqft
Home Size1,195 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
Lot Size6,186 sqft
Home Size763 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size6,787 sqft
Home Size652 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size6,787 sqft
Home Size884 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size1,351 sqft
Home Size2,793 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths5 Baths
-
Lot Size6,565 sqft
Home Size991 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size10,124 sqft
Home Size2,649 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
Lot Size3,660 sqft
Home Size747 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot SizeN/A
Home Size1,100 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size19,672 sqft
Home Size398 sqft
BedsN/A
Baths1 Bath
-
Lot Size8,769 sqft
Home Size2,580 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
Lot Size6,491 sqft
Home Size1,604 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
Leave a Reply