Luxury apartment tower possible for warehouse district

When all is said and done, no one will be able to say Austin has a shortage of high rises. One of the latest proposals, according to a Wednesday story in Community Impact, is for a luxury apartment tower at 300 Colorado Street, where the one-story, brick building occupied by Sullivan’s Steakhouse now stands.

Developers Austin 3C Venture’s plans for the 518-foot glass tower were approved by the city’s Design Commission Monday night, according to the report, and will now move on to the Historic Landmark Commission to make a recommendation on the company’s requested demolition permit for the building that has occupied the site for more than 80 years. The idea of retaining the “character” of the current building for ground-floor retail has been floated, the story added.

Community Impact added that the proposed building is one of several that could benefit from the city’s density bonus program, which attempts to incentivize onsite community benefits; in this case, as in many others, the developer is offering an alternative allowed in the city’s program by paying $2.8 million to the city’s affordable housing trust fund in exchange for an increase in allowable floor-to-area ratio (basically size and density).

According to the report, a representative of Austin 3C Venture stated that the project’s square footage of would have 429,327 square feet of living space—that doesn’t include a 360-space parking garage— 287,541 square feet more than what is currently allowed on the tract.

• 315-unit luxury apartment skyscraper proposed for downtown Austin moves closer to approval [CI]