A group of Austin hospitality- and shelter-industry movers and shakers has already exceeded its crowdfunding campaign goal for its next venture: a luxury hostel called The Native. As Eater Austin reported Wednesday, the upscale (but affordable?) hostel will feature a cafe, bar, lounge, and more event spaces, along with the lodgings and a communal kitchen.
The company description puts it a little more vividly: "The Native experience is a high-impact collision of music, arts, food and drink" (sounds messy) for "individuals who thrive on connection, unbridled fun and meaningful experience"—as well as, presumably, lodgings of some kind.
Oh, also, as Eater Austin reported, "curating a culture of Fuck Yes."
The group behind The Native includes Will Steakley, co-founder of Mohawk music club and real estate company DEN Property Group, and Michael Dickson, who owns numerous local bars and restaurants, as well as Icon Design+Build.
Icon will be charged with renovating the building at East Fourth and Brushy streets, about a block east of IH-35, for its future as an "experiential hostel." A longtime storefront and warehouse of local business Cothron’s Safe & Lock, the site will be ideally located near the future Saltillo Plaza development and across the street from what is now a giant iron yard, which will presumably contribute to the experiential end of things.
According to The Native’s Facebook page, Icon will convert the existing buildings into 4,000 square feet of cafe, bar, and lounge space; 5,000 square feet of hostel rooms; and 14,000 square feet of paved surface lot for events and future amenities.
Icon is responsible for some notable local design, heavy on the use of industrial and raw materials, which will suit The Native’s location well. If one goes by the renderings on the hostel’s Facebook page, it looks like it has the potential to become a quite beautiful space, if a little too preciously dingy for some.
Whether that will be enough to elicit a "Fuck Yes," we can’t say.
• New Luxury Hostel Will Feature ‘Hyper-American’ Lounge [Eater Austin]