315 Congress Ave., which could be rezoned to allow for a taller building. DAVE CREANEY

Austin Business Journal shares, "A new tower could be on tap for South Congress Avenue if a zoning change is approved Sept. 26 by the City Council. 

The tower — on a roughly 1-acre tract at 311-315 S. Congress Ave., which is just south of the old Austin American-Statesman building — would contain 488 residential units, 30,000 square feet of office space and 7,500 square feet for "ground floor pedestrian-oriented uses," according to city documents. 

The location is not within the planned unit development for the former Statesman site that is the subject of a lawsuit, although it is nearby.

The potential new zoning on the tract would allow for construction of a building up to 480 feet tall, or almost 50 stories. Currently, the site is the location of a Firestone Complete Auto Care and a small office and retail building. 

The owners of the property are listed as Wesley Pearson and Jerry Pearson. A representative of the owners didn’t respond to requests for comment. 

The potential tower marks a change from previous redevelopment plans for the tract. Since 2022, plans called for a 330-foot-tall, predominately office tower on the site with no residential component. At the time, New York-based Tishman Speyer Properties LP was “actively” exploring acquiring and redeveloping the property. Tishman Speyer declined to comment. 

If the rezoning is approved, it’s unclear when the current buildings would be torn down and construction would start.

When or if that happens, it will be part of a wave of redevelopment coming to area.

Other major initiatives around South Congress include plans to redevelop roughly six acres at the intersection of South Congress Avenue and West Riverside Drive into a multi-tower project with 800 residential units, a 225-room hotel, 200,000 square feet of office space and 145,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space. In addition, the Statesman planned unit development — called 305 South Congress — could add 1,478 residential units, 1.5 million square feet of office space, a 275-room hotel and 150,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space across six buildings.

The 305 South Congress project has been complicated by a lawsuit filed by the Save Our Springs Alliance, which contends the city of Austin has violated various required procedures when approving elements of the redevelopment."

 

Source: Austin Business Journal 

Written by: Sean Hemmersmeier

Published: September 19, 2024

Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on

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