Investor Sudhakar Allada Proposes Eight Townhouses on West 6th

The trend of demolishing older homes and replacing them with more densely packed housing continues in Austin.

Local investor Sudhakar Allada proposed a plan to the city that would replace three existing homes with eight detached townhomes on a half-acre site at 1808 West 6th Street, the Austin Business Journal reported. The property was last valued for tax purposes at $2 million, according to Travis Central Appraisal District records.

Robert Boyd Architects and Rivera Engineering have signed on as partners for the project, called Avalon Flats at Sixth.

The project, located near Mopac Expressway on the western edge of downtown, would be a mix of three- and four-bedroom plans with attached garages and backyards. Allada purchased the site from Syllabus Partners in February 2022 and received a $1.8 million loan from First United Bank, the outlet said. Allada has yet to decide if the townhomes will be for sale or rent. He hopes to start construction this fall and estimates it would take a year to complete.

Avalon Flats at Sixth is the latest example of the city embracing high-density housing in order to accommodate the influx of new residents, as a number of single-family lots have been knocked down and redeveloped with multiple homes.

Townhomes could help fill the “missing middle” in Austin’s housing market, urban planners say. The city needs a balanced spread of apartment buildings, single-family homes and townhomes to achieve a wide variety of options and pricing, the outlet said.

However, infill housing in Austin comes with a hefty price tag. Research shows that a four-home infill development on one acre in Austin would have an estimated $41,300 in development fees, compared to an average of $14,400 between Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.

—Quinn Donoghue