New South Congress lofts design revealed

Fresh off selling out of residences in its renovated Slackerville site on South First Street, One Oak Austin, and its 44 East tower in Downtown's Rainey Street Intracorp is once again moving dirt and taking names. 

The Vancouver-based company recently launched sales for Congress Lofts at St. Elmo at 4315 South Congress Avenue and announced it will start construction on the condo development is in September. It expects to complete the complex by mid-2024.

Newly released renderings reveal that a five-story building with nine live-work storefronts on the ground floor and 140 residential units on the second through fifth stories. A 3,800-square-foot commercial space — tenant so far unnamed — will anchor the development.

The renderings also show that the condos are indeed lofts, in the sense that they have open floor plans modeled on those more frequently found in older cities — often in redeveloped warehouses and industrial buildings — and a design aesthetic that blends industrial design and high-end fixtures and finishes. It has brick and metal exterior cladding, a look that extends indoors with exposed  brick walls, black-framed expansive windows, suspended metal balconies, and industrial-style counters and cabinetry. The approach makes sense, contextually, since the St. Elmo area, until recently the location of light-industrial buildings, warehouses, and wholesalers, is being redeveloped as a residential and mixed-use neighborhood. 

Common amenities in Congress Lofts will include gallery-style lobby and a library lounge. The interior courtyard will have a pool, an outdoor kitchen, and a fire pit. The complex will also have a dog park and a dog-washing station. Condos will cost from $400,000 to around $800,000.

Intracorp is bringing back the hits for Congress Lofts, working with several firms involved in One Oak. Chicago-based Pappageorge Haymes Partners, is lead architect on the project. Local firm Urban Foundry Architecture  is the interior designer for the common areas.

Compass Development Marketing Group is managing sales and marketing and working with Intracorp on design for unit interiors. Hitchcock Design Group is the landscape architect, and the civil engineer on the project is Rivera Engineering.

In addition to Congress Lofts at St. Elmo, 44 East, and One Oak Austin, Intracorp is developing Conrad Austin and Conrad Residences Austin.