The City’s Long-Awaited St. John Housing Plan Polishes Up Its Park

Image: Lemmo Architecture

The long and winding road to the City of Austin’s development of a roughly 19-acre land assembly in the historic St. John neighborhood with mixed-income housing and park space only has a few twists and turns left. You’ll agree that’s good news considering the timeline at play here — the adjacent tracts at 7211 and 7309 North Interstate 35, once respectively occupied by a Home Depot store and a car dealership, were purchased by the city using bond funds in 2008 and 2013.

Demolition Planned for City-Owned Home Depot Site in North Austin

After sitting vacant and in a state of increasingly frustrating decay for years, the city initiated a planning process in 2017 for the site’s redevelopment as a mixed-use project including affordable housing and community space. That potential redevelopment, now codified as a public-private partnership between the city, multifamily developer Greystar, and the Housing Authority of the City of Austin, went through a few iterations — the first design concept for the site proposed a pretty uninspiring collection of apartment and retail buildings surrounded on three sides by large surface parking lots, and we definitely trashed it on Twitter a couple of times.

560 units on nearly 20 acres, so less than 30 units per acre, with 50% affordability and substantial surface parking — you could achieve significantly higher densities on this site with nothing but two-story townhomes. good luck, everyone! https://t.co/sxaldCwLpf pic.twitter.com/fqTTJyrgkY

— James Rambin (@jamesrambin) July 20, 2021

We were obviously thrilled to see that first design updated in recent years to a more thoughtful layout, still heavy with surface parking due to the financial constraints of the project making underground garages impractical, but clearly a more inspired design with a better connection to the park space at the rear of the site. 

Image: TBG Partners / City of Austin

This final version of the plan, which anticipates 526 multifamily residences with 50% of those units income-restricted as affordable housing, also relocates the project’s retail buildings away from the highway frontage, instead placing them between the site’s residential buildings and its park space. This will likely change the type of commercial tenants attracted to the property, and should create a more vibrant outdoor environment with easy pedestrian access for the adjacent neighborhood.

Image: TBG Partners / Greystar / City of Austin

In partnership with Greystar and the Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA), the Council-adopted community vision is further bolstered by the Council-initiated Community Advisory Committee and esteemed consultant teams, including Cortez Consulting, Lemmo Architecture and Design, Manhard Consulting, Meeks + Partners, Metcalfe Wolff Stuart & Williams and TBG Partners. Envisioned as a mixed-use, mixed-income property, the site will feature publicly-accessible open spaces and community-focused commercial areas. It will offer 526 units, with 50% dedicated to income-restricted affordable housing, while also expanding the current St. John Pocket Park to nearly triple its size, creating a larger open space complete with walking trails and a splash pad between St. John and Blackson Avenues.  

“This event is the result of years of advocacy from the St. John neighborhood, citywide community leaders, and the District 4 office,” explains Council Member José “Chito” Vela, District 4. “The old Home Depot site is a shining example of how community organizers, elected officials, developers, and city government can collaborate on a financially viable and locally beneficial project that will serve as a neighborhood amenity for current and future Austinites. I am thrilled and honored to celebrate the demolition of these buildings with the coalition that made it possible.” 

— City of Austin, August 8, 2023

With the project now working through the permitting process and potentially breaking ground as soon as early next year, the city is looking to finalize its design of the plan’s public park space, which will greatly expand and amenitize the existing St. John Pocket Park located at the rear of the site. A survey soliciting public feedback on the potential design and programming of this community space is now live, taking comments through July 28 — that’s this coming Sunday. It’ll seriously only take you about five minutes, so click here and go knock it out for us.