Plans filed for two more high-rises in downtown Austin

There are now three high-rise developments in the works on E. Fifth Street

David Merritt and Taylor Wilson (Merritt Development Group, Wilson Capital, Getty)
David Merritt and Taylor Wilson (Merritt Development Group, Wilson Capital, Getty)

The towers just keep sprouting in Texas’ capital city.

The latest filings with the city of Austin include two new high-rise towers on Fifth Street in the downtown area — a hotel on the southeast corner of Fifth and Lavaca streets, and a mixed-use multifamily development at 410 East Fifth Street, according to the Austin Business Journal.

The hotel will be a combination Embassy Suites and Motto by Hilton. Merritt Development Group says it’s planning to put up 28 floors offering 454 rooms, plus 7,700 square feet of meeting space. The building will have a “prominent national steakhouse” operating out of 11,000 square feet of space on the first two floors, while a retail business will occupy 4,000 square feet.

The $155 million project would replace a block of low-slung warehouses, one of which is home to the Smash ATX Ping-Pong bar.

The second high-rise — just down the road at 410 East Fifth Street — will be a multifamily development with retail and restaurant space. Wilson Capital purchased the site earlier this year with plans to participate in the Downtown Density Bonus Program, which grants greater a floor-to-area ratio than typically allowed in exchange for on-site affordable housing or funding for such housing elsewhere in the city.

East Fifth Street is also where local developer Cielo Property Group is planning its two-tower Block 41 N project.

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These are just the most recent filings — there are several other major projects in various stages of development across Austin.

A few blocks south of East Fifth Street, a 74-story mixed-use tower — expected to be the tallest high-rise in Texas — has reportedly begun construction, according to developer Kairoi Residential’s CEO latest LinkedIn post. Upon completion, the mega-tower on Red River Street will offer 352 apartments and 686,000 square feet of office space.

South of Lady Bird Lake in East Congress, Dallas-based Trammell Crow Residential is planning a mid-rise apartment community at 4700 Weidemar Lane in South Austin, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

In North Austin, Cousins Properties says it plans to begin construction in November on the 997,426-square-foot Domain Central 1 on 11420 Alterra Parkway. While there are few details on the project, ABJ reported that the development will have a total of 16 floors of parking.

Lastly, XSpace, a commercial condo development at 4229 North FM 620 near Mansfield Dam, is “substantially complete,” according to Luke Kingham, the senior project manager for the general contractor on the project, KDW. XSpace Group co-founders have said that if this first project is a success, they could construct at least 10 more commercial condo projects in Austin, Dallas and Houston.

Maddy Sperling