An affordable living community with 23 new townhouses is in the works for South Austin.

Local developer Industry ATX recently broke ground on the Industry SOMA project on Keilbar Lane and Menchaca Road south of West William Cannon Boulevard. Austin firms Mark Odom Studio and Civilitude designed the planned complex on the 42,000-square-foot site. Industry SOMA will have four two-story buildings with 23 townhouses arranged around a central promenade. 

The 1,100 square-foot-homes will be offered with options for three or four bedrooms and one and a half to two bathrooms. They'll have quartz countertops, composite wood flooring, wood cabinets, vaulted ceilings, and dedicated parking. The complex will include common living areas and green-space access.

The project is designed for "Austin’s underserved ‘missing middle’,” Mark Odom said. The units will be priced to comply with Austin’s SMART housing standards for households making at or below 80 of the area median family income. 

Industry SOMA is Industry ATX's first affordable-housing endeavor, Community Impact reported in 2021. The city approved a loan up to $1.84 million to the developer for the project in August, according to the article.

Legacy DCS is the general contractor on the project. In addition to Civilitude, Way Consulting, Mint Engineers and Holt Engineering are engineers on the project. Double B Design, Ecoland Design Group, and Contour Collective are handling outdoor, landscape, and accessibility design.

Developers expect Industry SOMA to be complete in fall 2025.