Current proposal · Case CD-2025-0003
What is proposed — and what it asks for.
The figures on this page come from the City's official Development Assessment for the TownLake YMCA Planned Unit Development. It is kept separate from the historical record: this is present-day context that will change as the application proceeds.
The concept
A mixed-use PUD on 4.8 acres.
The Greater Austin YMCA, with agent Drenner Group, proposes to demolish the existing 1970 YMCA and redevelop the tract at 1100 W. Cesar Chavez as a mixed-use Planned Unit Development. City staff briefed the Environmental Commission (Oct. 15, 2025) and City Council (Nov. 18, 2025).
The application describes roughly 1,000,000 SF of market-rate housing, about 111,000 SF of affordable rental housing (a minimum of 90 units, committed affordable for at least 40 years), a new YMCA with a childcare academy, pool, and youth space, and about 35,000 SF of ground-floor pedestrian-oriented uses including a restaurant.
Documented record These are the applicant's own commitments as stated in the Development Assessment. The affordable housing is a defined component — a minimum unit count at a stated income level — not an open-ended promise. Presenting it accurately is part of keeping this page fair.
The requests
What the PUD asks the City to change.
A PUD is a negotiated rezoning. To build this, the applicant seeks sixteen modifications to the Land Development Code and a rezoning from Limited Industrial (LI) to PUD. The scale is clearest in the applicant's own before-and-after figures (Exhibit E).
The site sits in the Lamar Subdistrict of the Waterfront Overlay; the applicant states the project will "substantially comply" and characterizes its Waterfront Overlay modifications as minor. On the environment, the applicant notes the site is 56% impervious today with no on-site water-quality controls, and proposes code-compliant treatment, a water-quality pond, and rainwater/graywater reuse, along with piping and extending the on-site drainage channel and restoring it downstream.
Current context City staff's own comments on the application are compiled in the Staff Comment Report (Exhibit F of the Development Assessment). Readers evaluating the project should read staff's response alongside the applicant's claims.
The public response
Concerns raised so far cluster around a few themes.
- Height and precedentThese would be among the first high-rises west of Lamar. The Old West Austin Neighborhood Association has called the scale out of character; its chair is on record describing the project as excessive.
- Waterfront and view protectionsResidents point to the Waterfront Overlay's height limits and to state Capitol View Corridors as standards a 425-foot tower would test.
- Flooding and runoffRaising impervious cover toward 95% draws concern about stormwater and runoff into Lady Bird Lake. Residents have contacted the Save Our Springs Alliance.
- Parkland and trafficReconfiguring adjacent parkland and added congestion on Lamar and Cesar Chavez are recurring themes in neighborhood discussion.
Attributed views
These concerns are summarized from neighborhood meetings and community posts and represent the views of the residents and groups expressing them, not findings of this archive.
How this connects to the record.
The application treats the full 4.80-acre subdivision as developable. It does not address the question raised on the boundary page — whether part of that tract is state-owned Reserve land restricted to public purposes. If it is, that would constrain what can be built there regardless of the zoning outcome, which is why the boundary question belongs in this conversation.
Get involved or stay informed
Neighborhood associations such as OWANA post agendas and minutes and are among the easiest ways to follow the City process. The Environmental Commission, Planning Commission, and City Council take public comment as the application advances. Current context Specific hearing dates and comment deadlines change over time; check the City of Austin and neighborhood sources for the current schedule.