Per AAStatesmen, in 2023 What's happening with the new HOTEL marketplace in Austin, Texas?

 Story by Lori Hawkins, Austin American-Statesman

Another boutique hotel is coming to Austin.

Plans are in the works for a five-story hotel in East Austin on a half-acre at 1604, 1606, 1610 and 1612 E. Seventh St., according to site plans filed with the city.

The properties of East Austin 7th Street Hotel, as the project is currently called, are owned by 1610 JFH LLC, documents show. Florida-based Floridays Development Co. is also listed on the documents. Neither returned calls from the American-Statesman seeking comment.

In addition, Mahoney Engineering is listed as the engineer, and MPA Architecture is named as the architect. A final plan for the project must be submitted to the city by May 18, 2024, according to filings.

Currently, there are homes at 1610 and 1612 E. Seventh St. that would need to be removed to build the hotel, which is located near the Texas State Cemetery. Plans call for 133 rooms and a cocktail lounge, according to city documents.

The East Austin 7th Street Hotel project comes as other small hotel properties are arriving in the city. Frame Hotel - SoCo is currently going up behind Guero's Taco Bar on South Congress Avenue.

That 9,000-square-foot site at 110 W. Elizabeth St. will have no front desk, restaurant, pool or parking and will use keyless entry. It will include a collection of 22 modular suites, a common area, beverage center and office space. Frame is scheduled to open later this year.

What's happening in Austin's hotel market?

Hotel revenue in Austin fell in the second quarter, but operators are gearing up for a fall boom, thanks to events including the Austin City Limits Music Festival, the Formula 1 race at the Circuit of the Americas racetrack and University of Texas football games.

The Austin-Round Rock metro saw a 5.5% decline in hotel revenue during the second quarter compared with the same period a year ago, according to a recent report by Source Strategies, a San Antonio-based hotel consulting firm that tracks the Texas market.

Occupancy rates in the Austin metro stood at 68% in the second quarter, down 6% from a year ago, the report said.

One reason for Austin's revenue and occupancy declines in the second quarter is the boom in new hotel openings, market experts said.

Downtown Austin hotels currently under development include:

• Graduate Austin, an 18-story hotel at Guadalupe and West 18th streets, is planned to open in 2025. It will offer meeting and event space, a ground floor café, lobby bar, rooftop restaurant and bar and a rooftop pool.

• A 17-story citizenM Austin Downtown is rising in a former parking lot in the heart of downtown at Colorado and Seventh streets. The 344-room hotel is expected to open this fall.

• 1 Hotel Austin will be part of a mixed-use hotel, residential and retail project in the Rainey district along Waller Creek. The 251-room hotel is expected to open in 2026.

• The Rainey Street district’s Waterline tower, which is currently under construction, will include a hotel. The property at 98 Red River St. sits on 3.3 acres along Waller Creek and the Waterloo Greenway overlooking Lady Bird Lake. It is scheduled to open in late 2026.