An 18-story hotel could rise on what is currently a drab downtown parking lot at 17th and Lavaca streets. New Orleans developer HRI Properties LLC has filed an application with the city of Austin to build a 214-room hotel at 1620-1624 Lavaca Street. That’s catty-corner from the Hampton Inn and Suites and across from El Mercado Restaurant. The project jumped through its first big hurdle Monday night when the Austin Design Commission agreed the hotel met the city’s urban design guidelines. It was one of several steps the developers needed in order to take advantage of the city’s downtown density bonus program. Also receiving unanimous approvals Monday night were 6 X Guadalupe, the tallest tower planned in Austin at 66 stories, and The Republic, which is now expected to reach even higher, from 37 stories up to 46 stories, according to city documents. Lincoln Property Co. is involved in both projects. The taller iteration of The Republic is now slated to have 901,300 square feet of office space, 19,200 square feet of ground-floor retail and 1,916 parking spaces, according to documents filed with the Design Commission. Below are updated renderings of The Republic. Go here for the last Austin Business Journal story on the two skyscrapers. The additional office space for The Republic isn't for any one specific tenant but does speak to the confidence developers have in the demand for office space downtown. Seth Johnston of Lincoln Property said Tuesday afternoon there is strong leasing activity for both The Republic and 6 X Guadalupe but declined to go into specifics. He added that Lincoln and Kairoi Residential expect to receive an initial permit to start site prep work "any day now" on 6 X Gaudalupe, which would have both offices and condos. Nearly 20 stories on small site The ABJ has been tracking The Republic and 6 x Guadalupe, but the hotel at 1620-1624 Lavaca has previously gone unreported. The hotel site — on just 0.2 acres valued by the Travis County Central Appraisal District at about $903,000 — is currently owned by Sky Austin LP, which is tied to Austin-based MK Developments. Reached by phone Monday, MK Developments CEO Mitchell Kalogridis said his company is under contract to sell the property but he was under a very strict nondisclosure agreement not to reveal the potential buyer or developer. However, MK Developments formally authorized HRI Development LLC — a part of HRI Properties — to submit for permitting on the hotel project, according to documents filed with the city. HRI also is the one footing the bills for the permitting applications. HRI Properties declined to comment to the Austin Business Journal for this story. HRI's 17th Street project would have 129,000 square feet dedicated to the hotel above a 1,900-square-foot restaurant on the ground floor with outdoor seating, according to documents submitted to the Design Commission. A pool deck and roof terrace at the top would feature "epic views of the Capitol complex," consultants told commissioners at the Monday night meeting. There would be no parking spaces; consultants said off-site valet parking would be used. The design features dark metal and brick on the ground floor to blend with neighboring buildings, they added. Amanda Swor of Drenner Group PC, the law firm handling permitting, wrote in permitting applications that the developers want to build 220 feet high, up from the current 120-foot limitation. They also want a floor-to-area ratio of 15:1, up from 5:1. Floor-to-area ratios determine how dense a project can be. The timeline and branding of the hotel aren’t clear yet. In city documents the project is referred to as “17th Street Hotel.” Big Red Dog Engineering is the civil engineer, Gensler is listed as the architect and DPR Construction appears to be the general contractor. Landscape architect TBG Partners drew up the schematic site plan while Gensler produced renderings of the building, which were presented at Monday's commission meeting. Big Red Dog submitted the site plan in early June, but staff are still reviewing the site plan application, said Sylvia Arzola, spokeswoman for the city’s Development Services Department. This is just the latest on a busy hospitality pipeline downtown. While a handful of projects are planned, already under construction is a 613-room Marriott hotel on East Cesar Chavez and Hotel ZaZa at Fifth and Lavaca streets. And Magellan Development and Ryan Companies plan to break ground on a 400-room hotel and residential tower in the fourth quarter at the northeast corner of Fifth and Brazos streets.

Source: Austin Business Journal