Swede Hill Hotel Site Seeks Rezoning for Downtown-Adjacent Apartment Tower

Image: Pinnacle Holdings

A rezoning case for an approximately 3.27-acre tract currently occupied by a DoubleTree by Hilton hotel along the I-35 frontage road directly east of downtown Austin could bring a 300-unit apartment tower to the northern edge of the Swede Hill neighborhood, according to the upcoming case agenda of next week’s meeting of the Planning Commission. It’s the second tower planned for the triangular region just west of Oakwood Cemetery where MLK Jr. Boulevard passes over the highway — you may recall that Ledgestone Development Group, owners of the Denny’s restaurant sharing some of the DoubleTree’s parking lot, are also hoping to raise a condo building an estimated 18 floors directly next door. The DoubleTree tract is instead owned by the San Diego-based Pinnacle Holdings, and despite their mutual interest in adding greater density here the neighboring projects appear unrelated for now.

Meet the Denny’s Condo Tower, Rising 18 Floors Near Downtown Austin

The DoubleTree rezoning at 1617 North I-35 would add a Planned Development Agreement designation to the site’s existing zoning and remove a number of current conditional overlays from the site, including a 60-foot height limit and other restrictions on the property’s residential density, maximum building coverage, and floor area ratio. Under the new terms of the Planned Development Agreement zoning, a building here could rise up to 280 feet, with a level of density and site coverage more appropriate for its downtown-adjacent location and nearby development context.

An overhead view of the DoubleTree site and its surrounding area, with the property seeking rezoning highlighted in yellow. The Denny’s tract, also planning a residential tower project by a different developer, is located directly south of this highlighted area and completes its little triangle between Oakwood Cemetery, the highway, and East 16th Street. Image: City of Austin

According to the rezoning application from the DoubleTree’s owners set for hearing on February 27 and recommended by city planning staff, the goal for the site is currently to keep the existing 149-room hotel here for “several years” and simply develop the 300-unit apartment tower on the northern part of the tract containing some of its approximately 1.5 total acres of surface parking, along with a small outbuilding directly north of the hotel building currently used as meeting space.

You might be wondering, gosh, why does this specific highway-adjacent area suddenly have two unrelated residential tower plans raring to go? For one, there’s the matter of the adjacent cemetery not imposing residential compatibility standards on tall buildings here, but we also suspect the upcoming expansion of I-35 is a big motivator.

The orange segment of I-35 in this schematic would be capped with park space as part of plans by the University of Texas — and if you look closely, you’ll see the location of the DoubleTree and the adjacent Denny’s labeled. Image: Texas Department of Transportation

If you pieced through KUT’s excellent explainer on the full scope of the highway widening this week, you may recall that the University of Texas wants to build a cap over the highway all the way from Dean Keeton Street to 15th Street, which would suddenly place the Denny’s and DoubleTree next to a much nicer view — there will still be frontage roads crossing the area, but the highway itself will be covered with some sort of undefined public space, a significant amenity for future apartment-dwellers. The highway project is still going to be a decade-long nightmare, of course, but if you’re looking for a silver lining…well, this is the best we’ve got.