A view of the Linden at the corner of 17th and Guadalupe Streets. Image: Reger Holdings / Rhode Partners
The Linden, a 28-story downtown Austin condo tower project by New York development firm Reger Holdings with local design by the architects at Rhode Partners, could be only months from breaking ground at the corner of 17th and Guadalupe Streets in the formerly sleepy, now fast-growing northwestern corner of downtown. According to the developer, the tower has received approval from the City of Austin and issued a building permit, with groundbreaking currently targeted for “early 2021,” meaning we could see some activity at site before too long.
A current view of the future tower site at 1615 Guadalupe Street.
After all, the future home of the building atop the approximately 0.3-acre tract at 1615 Guadalupe Street is currently occupied by the small offices of the William Gammon Insurance Agency, and that’s going to need to come down before this project can move forward — we hope to snag some pictures of that happening, though we haven’t seen any demolition permits filed for the site at this time.
A full view of the Linden tower, looking south down Guadalupe Street. Image: Reger Holdings / Rhode Partners
According to its site plan, the finished condo community will bring 117 residences to the neighborhood, spread between 64 one-bedroom units, 32 two-bedroom units, and 21 three-bedroom units; along with 4,051 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and an additional 1,131 square feet of “art gallery” space both facing Guadalupe Street — the developer’s goals for these spaces were discussed in more detail back when the tower sought its density bonus with the city’s Design Commission. In total, the tower contains 185,676 square feet of space.
Looking south from the tower’s 10th-floor amenity deck. Image: Reger Holdings / Rhode Partners
A rendering of a penthouse unit at the Linden. Image: Reger Holdings / Rhode Partners
Another view of a living space in a unit at the Linden. Image: Reger Holdings / Rhode Partners
The tower’s design from Rhode Partners is fairly reminiscent of the recently-completed 70 Rainey condo tower on the other side of town, with its residential section perched above a nine-story podium containing both the ground-floor lobby and a 215-space parking structure above, plus an amenity deck sitting atop the parking structure on the 10th floor — it’s a common design driven by our city’s code and there are significant differences in materials and color, but the general resemblance between the two structures is still notable.
On the left, a rendering of the Linden. On the right, a photo of 70 Rainey. Images: Reger Holdings / Rhode Partners / Page
Also notable is the source of the building’s name — Linden Street was the original name of 17th Street, with all of the East-West streets in the original downtown Austin plan previously being named for different kinds of trees. You’re probably familiar with Pecan Street, the old name of Sixth Street, but the old street names this far north in downtown are a lot more obscure:
An 1872 map of the original downtown Austin plan, including the old street names for its East-West streets. Linden’s up at the top. Image: Austin History Center
In the midst of a pandemic and with plenty of unbuilt projects in a state of uncertainty, it’s nice to see the northwest side of downtown remains the hottest corner around. Until we hit you with some photos of that Gammon building coming down, you can enjoy this tower’s potential by playing around with this panoramic 3D view from each of its prospective floors — make sure you flip between day and night to see how different the view of the skyline is here compared to other hotspots in downtown.
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