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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$624,900
1119 Gunter Street #A
Austin, TX -
$395,000
2220 Webberville Road #201
Austin, TX -
$680,000
806 MAUDE Street
Austin, TX -
$575,000
3312 Kay Street
Austin, TX -
$750,000
1006 Cherico Street
Austin, TX -
$800,000
3604 Thompson Street
Austin, TX -
$839,619
619 Tillery Street #B
Austin, TX -
$1,350,000
3602 Thompson Street
Austin, TX -
$1,425,000
3701 Govalle Avenue
Austin, TX -
$600,000
2717 Lyons Road
Austin, TX -
$1,080,000
1121 1/2 Henninger Street #1
Austin, TX -
$599,900
916 Chote Avenue #2
Austin, TX -
$900,000
1010 Fiesta Street
Austin, TX -
$649,000
3108 Garwood Street #2
Austin, TX -
$525,000
3200 Bengston Street
Austin, TX -
$795,000
1100 Brass Street #2
Austin, TX -
$620,000
901 Calle Limon
Austin, TX -
$1,295,000
901 Shady Lane
Austin, TX -
$899,900
916 Chote Avenue
Austin, TX -
$1,125,000
1103 Cherico Street #1
Austin, TX -
$939,000
2904 Webberville Road #1
Austin, TX -
$1,050,000
MLS # 2652067
Austin, TX -
$700,000
2320 Webberville Road
Austin, TX -
$396,000
3310 Kay Street
Austin, TX -
$649,000
2921 Lyons Road #2
Austin, TX
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$624,900Lot Size8,495 sqft
Home Size977 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths1 Bath
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$395,000Lot SizeN/A
Home Size650 sqft
Beds1 Bed
Baths1 Bath
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$680,000Lot Size6,099 sqft
Home Size950 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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$575,000Lot Size5,777 sqft
Home Size1,440 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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$750,000Lot Size7,506 sqft
Home Size1,092 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths1 Bath
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$800,000Lot Size7,406 sqft
Home Size1,093 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$839,619Lot Size3,050 sqft
Home Size1,796 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$1,350,000Lot Size7,406 sqft
Home Size2,324 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$1,425,000Lot Size10,943 sqft
Home Size1,295 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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$600,000Lot Size6,434 sqft
Home Size1,120 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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$1,080,000Lot Size9,423 sqft
Home Size2,028 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$599,900Lot Size6,996 sqft
Home Size1,232 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$900,000Lot Size7,484 sqft
Home Size720 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
$649,000Lot Size6,709 sqft
Home Size1,012 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$525,000Lot Size7,014 sqft
Home Size1,730 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$795,000Lot Size7,188 sqft
Home Size1,657 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$620,000Lot Size5,785 sqft
Home Size1,292 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$1,295,000Lot Size25,701 sqft
Home Size780 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
$899,900Lot Size10,150 sqft
Home Size1,126 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$1,125,000Lot Size13,848 sqft
Home Size1,893 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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$939,000Lot Size6,970 sqft
Home Size1,881 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$1,050,000Lot Size6,935 sqft
Home Size2,198 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4 Baths
-
$700,000Lot Size5,838 sqft
Home Size1,702 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths2 Baths
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$396,000Lot Size5,846 sqft
Home Size1,080 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
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$649,000Lot Size6,587 sqft
Home Size988 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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