Opinion: Enough Is Enough – Preserving Austin’s Vanishing Soul

Property rights legislation is decimating Texas heritage. During past sessions, the Texas Legislature has given property owners expansive rights against historic designations that would protect historic/cultural heritage from demolition. Since 2018, supermajority votes (9 out of 11 members) are required by City Council to designate individual landmarks and historic districts when an owner is opposed – an extreme hill to climb. This threshold ensures that a city’s historic and cultural fabric are being actively removed from our local streetscapes.

Austin City Council has voted fewer than eight times to designate a property against owners’ objections, zero times since the law change. At risk of extinction is East Austin, where 130 historic-eligible buildings have been demolished since 2016.

On Dec. 12, Council will hear about 1500 E. 12th St., a commercial structure built between 1889 and 1911. The building traces the diverse heritage of East Austin and is eligible for a local landmark zoning for its vernacular architecture, German and African American historical associations, and community value. Situated at a key intersection, the building anchors East Austin’s 12th Street corridor, an area filled with the cultural heritage and legacy of Austin’s Black and Brown communities.

This legacy is under threat today as Dallas-based Eureka Holdings pursues plans to demolish and redevelop the site, one of dozens of properties along East 12th Street in their holdings. Make no mistake – this is the first of many on East 12th Street they plan to tear down. It was recently announced that the popular East 12th nightclub, Outer Heaven Disco Club, is being forced to vacate in a few months for Eureka to redevelop.

When does this end? We lost Rainey Street. South Congress Avenue, East Sixth Street, and East Cesar Chavez are slowly slipping away, and East 12th Street will follow. East Austin residents recently had some faith that a historic home on East Second street, the Sinnigson House, would meet the threshold for designation at City Council. It failed by an 8-3 vote in July. The Sinnigson House passed all the necessary hurdles and requirements, yet three votes proved more powerful than thousands of voices and dozens of community volunteers and city staff.

What is the solution? Advocate groups like Preservation Austin are working tirelessly to shape proactive preservation policy and stave off rampant demolitions, but we are just one voice. We need a bigger voice to stand up to big-money developers who have the power and influence to shape the conversation around land use. We need community and political buy-in to designate historic districts, protect legacy businesses, and shape preservation policies that support affordability, sustainability, and anti-displacement.

Preservation Austin celebrates the wins. Last year, the Preservation Bonus was adopted into code that will incentivize preservation of historic-age housing while allowing for increased development entitlements. Council Member Ryan Alter’s office passed a resolution that will make house relocation within Austin much easier. But there’s still so much more to do. We must support and enforce the provisions in our code that allow our city to protect its cultural fabric. Council must embrace a paradigm of affordability with preservation, not a zero-sum landscape of affordability vs. preservation.

Unfortunately, the status quo remains in favor of new construction over adaptive reuse. Without broad support, Austin will continue to lose the physical reminders of our history that we’ll never get back. Communities will continue to be pushed out of Austin while the remaining visual reminders of their legacy are demolished one by one.

Consider this your call to action. A call for the community to embrace heritage preservation in all its forms identified in the recently passed Equity-Based Preservation Plan. A call for property owners to do what’s right by the legacy of Austin’s culture. A call for Austin’s wealthy to step up and help advocates like Preservation Austin make meaningful change in preserving the city they love. And finally, a call for our leaders to balance development goals and ensure that Austin retains its soul. When will our community speak up and say enough is enough?

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JuanRaymon Rubio works as a preservation consultant at Architexas, volunteers on the board of directors of Preservation Austin, and serves on the city’s Historic Landmark Commission. Mary Closmann Kahle serves on the board of Preservation Austin and as chair of its advocacy committee. She is an oral historian with experience in environmental and community history.