After years of snags and extended deadlines, the city will soon begin its search for a developer to turn the 5.5-acre, city-owned property at 6909 Ryan Drive, long used as an Austin Energy storage site, into a housing, parkland and transit-oriented development.
Located at the southeastern corner of the Crestview Neighborhood—just west of North Lamar Boulevard, at the corner of Justin Lane and Ryan Drive—the essentially empty lot has long been an eyesore for the area. The city purchased the lot in 1997, which Austin Energy has since used for storage.
A community process began in 2017 to transform the city property into a community development that incorporates housing, parkland, and its proximity to the CapMetro Crestview MetroRail and bus station. That community engagement process produced a baseline of what the community wants to see for the site and what the city will require when accepting developer proposals:
- at least 300 housing units, 50% of which are subsidized and offered as affordable for lower-income residents;
- at least 1.25 acres of the property must be dedicated to parkland or open space;
- pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure that connects to Crestview Station; and
- at least 7,000 square feet dedicated to creative, community commercial or multipurpose community space.
Although the city outlined five scenarios for the site’s use during the community engagement process, the city, heading into its requests for proposals, decided to only outline minimum amenities agreed upon by the community and not prescribe specific design standards, allowing prospective developers to get creative in how to bring the project to fruition.
