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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$699,999
1107 1/2 Fiesta Street #B
Austin, TX -
$999,999
1107 1/2 Fiesta Street #1
Austin, TX -
$3,600
2813 Castro Street #1
Austin, TX -
$749,000
3133 Govalle Avenue #B
Austin, TX -
$629,000
3403 Neal Street #B
Austin, TX -
$950,000
913 Tillery Street #A
Austin, TX -
$1,100,000
913 Tillery Street #B
Austin, TX -
$1,200,000
920 Shady Lane
Austin, TX -
$1,169,000
2401 E 8th Street
Austin, TX -
$925,000
908 Chote Avenue
Austin, TX -
$875,000
610 Allen Street
Austin, TX -
$3,500,000
2310 Webberville Road
Austin, TX -
$3,500,000
2316 Webberville Road
Austin, TX -
$649,000
3101 Lyons Road
Austin, TX -
$2,950
1105 Fiesta Street #B
Austin, TX -
$3,900
3000 Neal Street
Austin, TX -
$900,000
2709 Lyons Road
Austin, TX -
$579,000
3301 Bengston Street
Austin, TX -
$525,900
2220 Webberville Road #325
Austin, TX -
$1,500,000
708 Northwestern Avenue
Austin, TX -
$4,300
3612 Thompson Street #A
Austin, TX -
$950,000
2909 E 5th Street
Austin, TX -
$1,125,000
4708 Milburn Lane #1
Austin, TX -
$595,000
2716 Zaragosa Street
Austin, TX -
$2,700
1000 Muse Lane #10
Austin, TX
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$699,999Lot Size3,921 sqft
Home Size938 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$999,999Lot Size2,590 sqft
Home Size1,692 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$3,600Lot Size6,534 sqft
Home Size1,592 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$749,000Lot Size3,921 sqft
Home Size1,868 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$629,000Lot Size3,485 sqft
Home Size992 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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$950,000Lot Size7,841 sqft
Home Size1,494 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$1,100,000Lot Size7,841 sqft
Home Size1,703 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$1,200,000Lot Size25,265 sqft
Home Size1,750 sqft
BedsN/A
BathsN/A
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$1,169,000Lot Size6,099 sqft
Home Size1,851 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$925,000Lot Size12,633 sqft
Home Size2,030 sqft
Beds5 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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$875,000Lot Size12,197 sqft
Home Size1,294 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$3,500,000Lot Size5,663 sqft
Home SizeN/A
BedsN/A
BathsN/A
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$3,500,000Lot Size5,663 sqft
Home Size2,880 sqft
BedsN/A
BathsN/A
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$649,000Lot Size6,534 sqft
Home Size2,518 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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$2,950Lot Size6,534 sqft
Home Size937 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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$3,900Lot Size3,921 sqft
Home Size2,150 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$900,000Lot Size5,228 sqft
Home Size1,540 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$579,000Lot Size5,663 sqft
Home Size1,088 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths1 Bath
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$525,900Lot Size5,663 sqft
Home Size923 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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$1,500,000Lot Size7,406 sqft
Home Size2,448 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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$4,300Lot Size5,228 sqft
Home Size1,966 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$950,000Lot Size6,970 sqft
Home Size884 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
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$1,125,000Lot Size16,989 sqft
Home Size1,950 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths4 Baths
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$595,000Lot Size6,099 sqft
Home Size922 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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$2,700Lot Size2,178 sqft
Home Size1,253 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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