Updated Sept. 22, 3:35 p.m.: Austin City Council on Thursday voted to postpone a public hearing that may determine whether a high-rise residential complex gets built in the Rainey Street district.
The subject of the hearing is a covenant at the Villas on Town Lake condominium complex that restricts the number of units allowed to 30 per acre, or 68 total units.
The public hearing has been postponed until Oct. 13.
Landon Turner is the general manager at the Shore, the condominium complex opposing the Sutton Co.’s plans to develop the proposed 420-unit residential complex at the site of the Villas. He requested Austin City Council postpone the public hearing until its Oct. 13 meeting.
He told Community Impact Newspaper in an email he is working with District 9 Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo “to help us address our concerns regarding the traffic, congestion and infrastructure issues that we believe this project poses to the neighborhood and particularly for The Shore Condominiums.”
He said as part of Austin’s downtown master plan, the Rainey neighborhood was “promised” an infrastructure plan that would improve roadways, pathways and utility networks. So far the Rainey residents have not received any such plan, he said.
“The Rainey Neighbors Association has had a longstanding tradition of begging and pleading for traffic improvements with little to no action from the city, so we are using every avenue we have to address the biggest development project our neighborhood has seen,” Turner said.
In a letter to City Council, he said the Shore was also working with the Rainey Business Coalition, the Town Lake Neighbors Association and the Hotel Van Zandt to “review and prepare” for the public hearing.
The Austin Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend removing the restrictive covenant on Sept. 13.
Original story: Austin City Council will decide Sept. 22 whether to remove a condominium property’s restrictive covenant, which would allow developers to build more housing units on the property.
Replacing the Villas on Town Lake—located at 80 Red River St., Austin—with a high-rise residential complex is contingent upon the removal of the covenant, which was adopted in 1979 and prohibits density greater than 30 housing units per acre. That means a maximum of 68 units on a little more than 2 acres could be developed.
When 89 percent of the Villas homeowners agreed to sell their property to the Sutton Co. in June, they requested the city terminate the covenant.
Herbert “Mac” Pike, chairman and co-owner of the Sutton Co., is hoping to close on the sale of the Villas by the end of the year. He said even if City Council votes to keep the covenant, he still plans to build on the property—either an office building or hotel. The covenant would not apply to those uses.
Pike said he was considering building an apartment complex with about 420 units and a condominium building with a small hotel component of around 200 units.
“We think the highest and the best use of the area is predominantly residential as opposed to office,” he said.
The Sutton Co. is also developing Waller Park Place—consisting of a 30-story office tower, a 54-story apartment building, and a 48-story hotel and condominium—at the intersection of Cesar Chavez and Red River streets.
Margaret Christen, The Shore Condos HOA president, said The Shore is asking council to keep the covenant intact. Her home sits directly behind the Villas, and she said she is worried about the added traffic congestion of the proposed development.
“[The new development is] going to completely seal us in, and traffic is going to be a nightmare,” she said.
