Formal application filed July 24, 2026 · Case CD-2025-0003
What is proposed — and what it asks for.
The figures on this page come from the formal TownLake YMCA Planned Unit Development application filed July 24, 2026, with the earlier 2025 Development Assessment retained for context. This material is kept separate from the historical record and may change as City review proceeds.
The concept
A mixed-use PUD on 4.8 acres.
The Greater Austin YMCA and its development partner, Millennium Partners through affiliate MP Austin LLC, propose to demolish the existing 1970 YMCA and redevelop the tract at 1100 W. Cesar Chavez as a mixed-use Planned Unit Development. Drenner Group is the owners' land-use agent. The project went through Development Assessment in 2025; the formal PUD application package followed on July 24, 2026.
The formal application describes roughly 1,000,000 SF of market-rate housing, about 111,000 SF of affordable rental housing in a separate building (a minimum of 90 units averaging 55% of median family income, kept affordable for at least 40 years), a new YMCA with a childcare academy, pool, and youth space, and about 40,000 SF of ground-floor pedestrian-oriented uses including a restaurant.
Documented record These are the applicant's own stated program and commitments in the July 2026 filing. The affordable housing is a defined component — a minimum unit count at a stated average 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 a package of modifications to the Land Development Code and a rezoning from Limited Industrial (LI) to PUD. The scale is clearest in the applicant's requested site-development standards.
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 (known as Heron Creek) and restoring it downstream.
Current context The earlier Development Assessment includes City staff comments and remains useful background. The current request should be read from the July 2026 formal application, together with later staff comments and revisions as they become available.
The public response
Concerns raised so far cluster around a few themes.
- Height and precedentThese would be 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 the requested 435-foot maximum would test.
- Flooding and runoffRaising impervious cover toward 93% 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.