This ‘Eclectic’ Office and Apartment Project Finds a Good Fit in Govalle

A view of the Eclectic building’s eastern courtyard, which includes pickleball courts. Yes, that’s the thing these days. Image: CSW

An oddly-shaped collection of properties in the Govalle neighborhood of East Austin could soon see a mixed-use development raising offices and hundreds of apartments at the confluence of East Fifth and East Seventh Street, the latest project by local real estate firm CSW Development. Known as the Eclectic at Fifth Street, the project will contain two structures atop a roughly five-acre assembly of properties at 5214 East Fifth Street — a tract that’s vaguely pointy at the east end due to the route of East Fifth and East Seventh Streets as they narrow to join Airport Boulevard and U.S. 183.

The Eclectic’s residential component, rising five floors at the northwest end of the site near the corner of East Seventh Street and Shady Lane, will reportedly contain 361 apartments with a mix of efficiencies, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units. It’s wrapped around an internal parking structure in the typical “Texas donut” style, with the whole building designed to fit its unusual property by local architects STG Design.

A rendering of the Eclectic project’s residential building by STG Design. Image: CSW

A rendering of the Eclectic project’s office building by Cuaso Design Studio. Image: CSW

The separate office structure, rising four floors on the southeast portion of the tract, will contain approximately 63,000 square feet of space in a building designed by Bee Cave-based firm Cuaso Design Studio — and yes, as emphasized in the map below, the east courtyard near the office building will contain pickleball and bocce courts.

Image: CSW

Meanwhile, the land currently occupied by warehouses near the southwest end of the tract at the corner of East Fifth Street and Shady Lane isn’t part of the development, but we hope the adjacent project will encourage its owners to do something interesting with the buildings — the structure, which our brief research indicates could date back to the 1940s, looks surprisingly ornate facing East Fifth Street:

It’s only the latest sign of growth in Govalle, a neighborhood we once described as “Far East Austin” — that doesn’t seem quite as accurate these days, with a number of large-scale developments on the horizon including the reimagining of the nearby 21-acre Borden Dairy plant. We keep the sales pitches to a minimum on here, but if you’ve got the means to buy real estate in this area, now is probably a great time. The Eclectic at Fifth Street development is reportedly set to break ground by early next year, with completion scheduled for June 2025.