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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$525,000
3206 GOODWIN Ave
Austin, TX -
$650,000
2906 E 4th ST
Austin, TX -
$475,000
1105 1/2 Brass ST
Austin, TX -
$1,150,000
738 Pedernales ST
Austin, TX -
$505,000
2220 Webberville RD #228
Austin, TX -
$399,000
2515 Gonzales ST
Austin, TX -
$2,794,432
680 Ramos ST
Austin, TX -
$749,900
505 Tillery ST #4
Austin, TX -
$425,000
3101 Govalle Ave #103
Austin, TX -
$950,000
4703 Milburn Lane
Austin, TX -
$1,165,000
3012 Stokes DR #2
Austin, TX -
$749,341
1125 Tillery ST #1B
Austin, TX -
$894,528
1125 Tillery ST #2A
Austin, TX -
$680,000
3710 Govalle Ave #U1
Austin, TX -
$599,900
3010 Webberville RD #2
Austin, TX -
$699,999
4811 Bolm Road
Austin, TX -
$1,203,000
904 Linden Street
Austin, TX -
$284,900
1119 Gunter Street #B
Austin, TX -
$299,900
1119 Gunter Street #C
Austin, TX -
$775,000
1103 Cherico Street #2
Austin, TX -
$700,000
2907 E 5th Street
Austin, TX -
$700,000
2909 E 5th Street
Austin, TX -
$182,201
2220 Webberville Road #222
Austin, TX -
$725,000
3503 Kay ST #2
Austin, TX -
$1,500,000
3503 Kay ST #1
Austin, TX
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$525,000Lot Size5,663 sqft
Home Size1,198 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
$650,000Lot Size6,787 sqft
Home Size816 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
$475,000Lot Size3,660 sqft
Home Size747 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
$1,150,000Lot Size5,350 sqft
Home Size2,265 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
-
$505,000Lot Size5,838 sqft
Home Size923 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$399,000Lot Size5,154 sqft
Home Size600 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
$2,794,432Lot Size8,800 sqft
Home Size3,716 sqft
Beds5 Beds
Baths7 Baths
-
$749,900Lot Size2,431 sqft
Home Size1,751 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
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$425,000Lot Size1,586 sqft
Home Size1,040 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$950,000Lot Size19,123 sqft
Home Size2,074 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$1,165,000Lot Size3,028 sqft
Home Size1,706 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths3.5 Baths
-
$749,341Lot Size7,545 sqft
Home Size1,368 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$894,528Lot Size7,889 sqft
Home Size1,466 sqft
Beds3 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
-
$680,000Lot Size3,010 sqft
Home Size894 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1.5 Baths
-
$599,900Lot Size6,273 sqft
Home Size1,016 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
-
$699,999Lot Size3,115 sqft
Home Size944 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2 Baths
-
$1,203,000Lot Size5,881 sqft
Home Size2,372 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths4 Baths
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$284,900Lot Size8,495 sqft
Home Size480 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
$299,900Lot Size8,495 sqft
Home Size480 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
$775,000Lot Size7,833 sqft
Home Size1,088 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths3 Baths
-
$700,000Lot Size6,787 sqft
Home Size652 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
$700,000Lot Size6,787 sqft
Home Size884 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths1 Bath
-
$182,201Lot Size19,672 sqft
Home Size398 sqft
BedsN/A
Baths1 Bath
-
$725,000Lot SizeN/A
Home Size1,100 sqft
Beds2 Beds
Baths2.5 Baths
-
$1,500,000Lot Size8,769 sqft
Home Size2,580 sqft
Beds4 Beds
Baths3 Baths
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