In a collaboration with the City of Austin, built on property owned by Travis County and led by a private developer, this innovative mixed-use and mixed-income development is the first of its kind in Central Texas. The redevelopment combines more than 83,000 SF of office space for several county services with 146 apartments including 122 much-needed affordable housing units.
The 3-story office building is steel-framed construction with composite concrete slabs for the elevated floors. The foundation includes a slab-on-grade with drilled piers under the areas of structural loads.
During construction, one of the drilled piers hit an unexpected chemical tank that was buried more than 50 years earlier, and the foundation design had to be revised to adjust the pier locations and include new beams to span between the piers.
The office building is connected to the residential portion of the project by a 40-foot skybridge at the 3rd floor. The steel and concrete bridge is structurally attached to the office building, and has a sliding bearing joint on the residential side so that the two buildings can move independently of each other without damaging the buildings or the bridge.
The residential portion of this project is named Travis Flats and includes a 5-level precast concrete parking garage with 170,000 SF of residential apartment units and amenity spaces wrapped around it.
Travis Flats’ structure consists of standard wood-framed construction with a composite concrete slab on a metal deck as a fire safety measure to separate the parking garage from the residential spaces.
The amenity spaces on the ground level had much taller plate heights in some areas, and engineered lumber (LSL) was used for the studs to enhance straightness and provide additional structural capacity. Steel columns and wide-flange beams were designed to transfer structural load from the load-bearing demising walls in the residential spaces while accommodating a more open floorplan for these amenity spaces.
Structures is proud to be part of this landmark project to bring more affordable housing to Austin in a central location.
Location: Austin, TX
Size: 83,000 SF office space, 170,000 SF residential
Architect: Nelsen Partners
