A rendering of the Guthrie development planned at 3300 Gonzales Street. Photo courtesy of Argyle Residential.
Gonzales Street is quiet, for now. It’s a sleepy path of single-family homes in far East Austin just north of the East Seventh Street bridge’s span over Tillery Street, and the elevation of Seventh Street in this area insulates nearby homes from most major traffic. The abundant trees on the un-and-underdeveloped lots at the intersection of Gonzales and Tillery Streets lend the block an oddly rural stillness, which helps to circumvent its actual geography barely more than two miles from downtown.
A swing hanging underneath the Seventh Street bridge near the intersection of Tillery and Gonzales Streets. Photo courtesy of Hatch Workshop / Red Swing Project.
Since this is Austin, the Govalle neighborhood that claims Gonzales Street at its center might be described as “the next big thing,” or “the crest of the wave” — the watershed point on a vertical swath of high-density real estate development slowly chewing its way eastward through aging single-family homes and light industrial warehouses, leaving behind apartment complexes and mixed-use midrises as it goes.
The site of the former Guthrie Lumberyard at 3300 Gonzales Street. Photo by James Rambin.
It’s here in Govalle, at the site of a former Gonzales Street lumberyard, that we find a new benchmark for the eastern spread of density: The Guthrie, a four-story multifamily development planned by Oden Hughes and Argyle Residential at 3300 Gonzales Street.
A north-facing elevation of the Guthrie project. Photo courtesy of Steinberg Design Collaborative.
The project — which gets its name from the lumberyard previously at the address a la The Arnold, The Chicon, The Leslie, and so on — will contain 310 apartment units, with 12 units at a secondary Guthrie II development at 3215 Gonzales Street, just across the road from the main site.
A southern elevation of the Guthrie II, designed as a live/work building. Photo courtesy of Steinberg Design Collaborative.
It’s not really the design of the building that grabs me. Judging by the available renderings, plans and elevations, it just sort of looks like the Triangle — in fact, it’s designed by the same architects. But two things are particularly noteworthy here:
• The units at the Guthrie II are designed as live/work space, with a commercial ground floor and two floors of living space up top. This is a feature for these types of buildings you just don’t see very often — it’s usually ground floor retail with apartments up above, and never the twain shall meet. Super interesting, even if the lack of current pedestrian traffic in the neighborhood means these spaces will inevitably end up as law offices or something.
• If I’m keeping score correctly, the Guthrie is the first multifamily development of its size to arrive in this section of Austin’s far east side by something like half a mile, at least on the East Seventh Street corridor and surrounding areas.
A map of the sites for the Guthrie and Guthrie II developments. Photo courtesy of Google Maps.
Further east on Gonzales Street, MX3 Homes has several projects in play, which makes me wonder if parts of East Austin closer to the highway are finally getting too expensive even for developers. Putting up 300-plus residential units is certainly a bold way to anchor future development in a slightly more remote section of the zip code.
Another rendering of the Guthrie project. Photo courtesy of Argyle Residential.
Between this Guthrie project, the East 5th Condos, and the Rail Spur Building located a bit further down Tillery Street, we’re seeing some genuine action in this bit of Govalle. The neighborhood remains one of my favorite parts of the city, but I’m not necessarily crossing my fingers for the area to receive the East Sixth treatment.
More density is inevitable, but awareness of your surroundings and neighborhood context is often overlooked by multifamily developers. Govalle has a quieter vibe that lends itself to industrial adaptive reuse projects like the Rail Spur Building or Austin Bouldering Project’s repurposed produce factory over brand new midrise development — which often seems to deliver buildings with no sense of time, place, or anything else, for that matter.
Govalle neighborhood homes for sale
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$925,000
1010 Cherico ST
Austin, TX -
$499,000
902 Mansell AVE
Austin, TX -
$700,000
2703 Francisco ST
Austin, TX -
$410,000
305 Linden ST
Austin, TX -
$464,900
910 Gullett ST #2
Austin, TX -
$699,900
910 Gullett ST #1
Austin, TX -
$450,000
1101 Euphoria BND #37
Austin, TX -
$487,000
3002 E 3rd ST
Austin, TX -
$495,000
2407 E 8th ST #2
Austin, TX -
$375,000
906 Chote AVE
Austin, TX -
$469,500
2737 Webberville Rd #2
Austin, TX -
$650,000
2737 Webberville Rd #1
Austin, TX -
$420,000
3007 Kuhlman AVE
Austin, TX -
$437,500
1106 Tillery ST #2
Austin, TX -
$625,000
2910 Govalle AVE #1
Austin, TX -
$465,000
3614 E Thompson ST E
Austin, TX -
$479,990
3500 Gonzales ST #2
Austin, TX -
$749,900
3500 Gonzales ST #1
Austin, TX -
$750,000
2407 E 8th ST #1
Austin, TX -
$625,000
1105 Linden ST
Austin, TX -
$479,900
1012 Muse LN #16
Austin, TX -
$548,900
2801 Goodwin AVE #A
Austin, TX -
$635,000
2910 Garwood ST #A
Austin, TX -
$525,000
2717 E 3rd ST #A
Austin, TX -
$350,000
2803 Castro ST
Austin, TX
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$925,000Lot Size7,841 sqft
Home Size2,528 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$499,000Lot Size8,059 sqft
Home Size1,414 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$700,000Lot Size6,142 sqft
Home Size1,806 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$410,000Lot Size3,921 sqft
Home Size1,293 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$464,900Lot Size9,453 sqft
Home Size1,089 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$699,900Lot Size9,453 sqft
Home Size2,159 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$450,000Lot Size2,614 sqft
Home Size1,627 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$487,000Lot Size5,968 sqft
Home Size1,260 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$495,000Lot SizeN/A
Home Size861 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$375,000Lot SizeN/A
Home Size1,106 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$469,500Lot SizeN/A
Home Size1,099 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$650,000Lot SizeN/A
Home Size2,237 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$420,000Lot Size6,534 sqft
Home Size852 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
$437,500Lot Size7,231 sqft
Home Size1,100 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$625,000Lot Size5,794 sqft
Home Size1,446 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$465,000Lot Size10,890 sqft
Home Size1,272 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
$479,990Lot SizeN/A
Home Size1,100 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$749,900Lot SizeN/A
Home Size2,300 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$750,000Lot Size5,838 sqft
Home Size1,798 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
$625,000Lot Size11,457 sqft
Home Size2,525 sqft
BedsN/A
BathsN/A
-
$479,900Lot Size2,788 sqft
Home Size1,700 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$548,900Lot SizeN/A
Home Size1,715 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$635,000Lot Size7,449 sqft
Home Size1,690 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
$525,000Lot SizeN/A
Home Size1,758 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$350,000Lot Size6,360 sqft
Home Size784 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths1 Bath
