A view of the apartments now under construction at 5210 North Lamar Boulevard. Image: Madrone Ventures / Nelsen Partners
Two residential developments planned roughly two miles apart on the Central Austin corridor of North Lamar Boulevard are marking groundbreakings this month, with both projects bringing a combined total of 605 new apartment residences to the area — yet another sign that even a softening housing market hasn’t stopped many planned multifamily residential developments from moving forward across the city, even as groundbreakings slow on larger downtown projects. Let’s take a look:
5210 North Lamar Boulevard
Another view of the project from North Lamar Boulevard — we get a kick out of the jackass in the foreground walking towards the street while looking at his phone. Image: Madrone Ventures / Nelsen Partners
A long-planned 227-unit apartment project known for now only by the extremely obvious placeholder name of Lamar at North Loop VMU has recently broken ground at 5210 North Lamar Boulevard, a roughly 2.38-acre site near North Loop Boulevard that’s sat vacant for roughly a decade after the closure and demolition of its previous tenants, a used car dealership and a medical supply company.
The six-story project by California-based developer Madrone Ventures has been in the planning stages for at least eight years, so the start of site work here by the building’s general contractors at White Construction Company came as a bit of a surprise — after all, we last wrote about this one in 2018.
An aerial view of the project’s footprint and landscaping, showing how it wraps around that Taco Cabana on the corner. Image: Madrone Ventures / Nelsen Partners / dwg.
Perhaps the most notable geographic feature of the project is that its footprint wraps around the Taco Cabana next door. Alongside its new residences, the building will include a roughly 6,500-square-foot retail space on the ground floor facing North Lamar Boulevard, which will hopefully offer something a little different than the aforementioned Taco Cabana. The project, scheduled to open in 2026, features local design work from architects Nelsen Partners and landscape studio dwg.
7301 North Lamar Boulevard
A view of the apartment project and streetscape improvements now under construction at 7301 North Lamar Boulevard near the Crestview transit station. Image: Griffin Capital / Greystar / Meeks + Partners
Real estate investment firm Griffin Capital and mega-developer Greystar Real Estate Partners announced the groundbreaking earlier this month on a 378-unit apartment project at 7301 North Lamar Boulevard near its corner with West St. Johns Avenue, a 3.6-acre site located within walking distance of the Crestview rail and bus station. At the moment, the new apartment community is going by the hilariously laconic placeholder name of N. Lamar, but we imagine that’s going to change at some point lest its residents go completely out of their minds trying to tell people where they live.
Demolition Pending for North Lamar Apartment Site Near Crestview Station
The building is also set to include nearly 3,000 square feet of retail space facing North Lamar Boulevard, and will enhance the region’s walkability by adding a new protected bike lane along its North Lamar frontage and providing a sidewalk connection to Odell Street on the eastern edge of the site. The development team includes Houston-based architects Meeks + Partners, local landscape studio TBG Partners, and engineering firm Civilitude. The timeline for completion is currently unknown.
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