One Cullen Ave Lot, Five Site Plan Filings Since 2021

On October 23, an application landed at the City of Austin for a "6-unit apartment building along with associated improvements" at 2013 Cullen Avenue in 78757. It is the fifth site-plan record on that one lot since May 2021, and the way it was filed matters to anyone living or buying within a few blocks: it is a "small project," a track the City says does not require notification.

Nothing here is approved. What the records show is a lot where the plan has changed shape several times, and a nearby owner or buyer is better served by reading the sequence than by reading the newest line alone.

The five filings

Two things stand out. The first filing took from May 10, 2021 to January 10, 2025 to reach "Approved and Released," about three years and eight months. And the two newest filings dropped the full administrative site plan for the small-project version, which is the lighter review.

The records do not say why. They do not say whether the 2021 approval is still the plan of record, or whether the 2026 filings replace it. The City's records list no unit count for the first four cases; only the newest description names six.

What "small project" means, and what it skips

The City's site plan page describes a small project as one that "exceeds the limits of a site plan exemption but is minor enough to allow for a simplified review." Generally it may not exceed 5,000 square feet of impervious cover and 10,000 square feet of construction area. The page says small projects have reduced fees and shorter review times, and that they "do not require notification."

For comparison, the page says that for site plans, notification is mailed within 14 days of formal submittal to interested parties, and the City's development notifications page describes a notice of filing sent to owners and utility account holders within 500 feet, plus registered neighborhood organizations. It lists administrative site plans among the case types that get one. We have not seen what was or was not mailed for any of these five cases.

Put plainly: a project of this kind can move through review without a letter reaching the houses around it. If you want to know, you look it up.

The lot is 0.27 acre, about 11,870 square feet, on the 2026 Travis Central Appraisal District roll. The 5,000-square-foot impervious cover ceiling is therefore roughly 42 percent of the lot (our arithmetic). Whether the proposal sits under that or any other limit is a question for the plan set, which the records we pulled do not include.

The lot and what is around it

Read together: the lot is already zoned for multifamily and already has a multifamily building on the appraisal roll. The records do not say whether the 6-unit building would replace that fourplex, sit beside it or something else. Treat any claim, including ours, that it does one or the other as unconfirmed until a plan set says so.

The neighborhood around the lot is a mix of eras. About half the buildings within a quarter mile date from 1940 through 1969, and about one in nine from 2015 on.

Permits within about a third of a mile

The counts are small, and one year does not make a trend. They do show that building activity within a few blocks was higher in 2025 than in the three years before it.

What this means if you're buying or renting nearby

Search the address, not the project name. The same lot appears under "2013 Cullen Apartments" and "Cullen Apartments," each with a different case. Looking up one name would have missed the others.

Ask which filing is current. When the 2021 plan was approved on January 10, 2025, the City's rule is that approved site plans expire three years after approval unless the applicant holds active building permits for all proposed structures or construction is ongoing. By that rule the date would be January 10, 2028. That is our arithmetic from the City's stated rule, and an extension is possible. Whether the 2021 plan is still the plan of record is the question to put to the City or the applicant.

Do not wait for a letter. If you are weighing a home or a lease close to a lot like this one, the small-project track means a mailed notice is not guaranteed. A local agent can pull the case records for the address with you; the City's records show who the case manager is.

Read the number you can verify. The only unit count in these records is six, in the newest description. That is a count of homes in one building and says nothing about parking, height or construction timing. Those are in the plan set.

Where to look

Each case has a record on Zabalist, our sister research site (the links in the table above). Our guide to what is being built near an address lists the other places to check, and the Austin development page collects what we track. For another lot where two filings arrived within a week, see our piece on the Yager Lane filings.

How we pulled this

Site-plan records come from the Zabalist research database, which mirrors City of Austin development applications. Statuses are shown as of each row's last sync, so a change since then may not appear. Parcel size, building year and type, and surrounding-parcel counts come from the Travis Central Appraisal District 2026 roll as loaded in that database; counts are of parcels whose centers fall within 400 meters of the lot's parcel center, and the year-built figures describe each parcel's main living improvement. The zoning district is from the City's zoning layer and the flood designation from FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer. Permit counts are of City of Austin permits whose coordinates fall in the square described above. Percentages and the 42 percent figure are our arithmetic.

This is general information, not advice about a particular property, permit or plan.

One next step

If you are considering a home or a rental near a lot like this, a local agent can pull the filings and permits for the address before you decide. Start at our get started page.