From the outside, the Ivory, located at the intersection of Chicon and East 14th Streets, looks like an ordinary residential building. Windows and balconies look out onto the street below with unoccupied commercial space making up the bottom floor.

But with the exception of one handicap spot, the building does not have onsite parking. When the Ivory opened in June, it became Austin’s first carless condominium complex. It’s the second phase of the Chicon, a mixed-use development in East Austin. The first phase includes two buildings with 28 condos, 21 of which are considered affordable.

Sean Garretson is president of the nonprofit Chestnut Neighborhood Revitalization Corporation, the developer on the project.

“Originally, this building was going to be just like those other two – three stories, 20 units max, lots of parking,” Garretson said. “And then Affordability Unlocked was created, and so we put the breaks on.”

The Austin City Council created the Affordability Unlocked program in 2019, allowing developers override certain building rules in exchange for providing more affordable housing.

Garretson said 40 units in the Ivory are reserved for families earning up to 70% of the median family income. For a two-person household, that is $75,250, according to city data.

The Ivory is also Austin’s first condo development to forgo onsite parking after the city nixed those requirements in 2023. The project is part of a larger effort by the Chestnut Neighborhood Revitalization Corporation to create affordable housing and support local businesses with walkability in mind, Garretson said.

Transportation savings

Garretson said the carless community could help residents save thousands of dollars each year on gas, car insurance and maintenance costs. Instead, the property has easy access to e-bikes, two shared e-vehicles and a covered CapMetro bus stop.

Garretson expects some residents to still have a car, and he said street parking will be an option.

David Carroll, who is head of the Chestnut Neighborhood Planning Contact Team, said parking was a concern for some residents but it’s something they are used to.

“Our neighborhood is also a little bit different that it was developed in the first half of the 20th century, and a consequence of that – and it not being an affluent area of town at that time – many of the homes were developed without driveways or garages,” Carroll said.

Eventually though, Garretson expects future residents to adapt and ditch their cars.

“If you didn’t have that [car] and had options for mobility, you could easily get around in Austin,” he said.

‘Resetting the precedent’

The Ivory is not the first project of its kind in the country. In Tempe, Arizona, developers opened Culdesac Tempe, a 17-acre, car-free community, in 2023. Today, the development is home to almost 400 residents and more than 20 businesses.

Rob Maloney with Culdesac said eliminating parking allowed them to build more courtyards, plazas, and space for local businesses.

“Culdesac Tempe has 55% landscaped open space, is no higher than three stories tall, and has the same density as a midrise apartment complex, all because we don’t need residential surface parking,” Maloney said.

He hopes to inspire other cities and developers to build with less parking and more entrepreneurship and connection in mind.

“We’re resetting the precedent for development in the U.S.,” Maloney said.