Austin UNO height: the 125-foot bonus and the West Campus envelope

Last verified August 13, 2026 against the Austin Land Development Code · Kimbrough Gray · KiliGray Homes

Base heights come from Appendix C. On top of that, a multi-family or group residential structure may exceed the limit by 25 feet in the outer west campus or Guadalupe subdistricts where the maximum height is at least 50 feet, or by 125 feet in inner west campus if it takes on the affordability set-aside in Section 25-2-756(B)(2).

Applies to: Section 25-2-756(B) applies in the outer west campus subdistrict, Guadalupe subdistrict, and inner west campus subdistrict, and reaches a structure with a multi-family residential use or group residential use. Section 25-2-758(D) applies instead to a hotel/motel use in the outer west campus subdistrict. Section 25-2-759 does not apply to a commercial off-street parking structure.

The base height is not in the code

§25-2-756(A) does not give a number. It sends you to Appendix C, which carries the district boundaries, the subdistrict boundaries and the height limit for each. Everything below is what the code lets you add on top of whatever Appendix C says for your parcel — so the first step in West Campus is always to find your subdistrict.

Subdistrict	Extra height	What it costs
Outer west campus · Guadalupe	+25 feet	Nothing further in §25-2-756 — but only where the mapped maximum height is at least 50 feet
Inner west campus	+125 feet	10% at 60% MFI, 10% at 50% MFI, and either $0.50/sq ft into the trust fund or a third 10% at 50% MFI — all for 40 years minimum

Multi-family and group residential uses only. Base limits come from Appendix C.

Twenty-five feet is free; one hundred and twenty-five is not

The gap between the two bonuses is the whole design of the overlay. Outer west campus and Guadalupe get 25 feet for nothing beyond a threshold condition — the mapped maximum must already be at least 50 feet, which keeps the bonus off the lowest-scale edges.

Inner west campus gets 125 feet, roughly ten more storeys, and pays for it with a three-part affordability package. That is the trade the overlay exists to make: concentrate the height in the middle, and buy it with committed units.

Whether that 10 + 10 is the same 10 + 10 you already owe is not settled by the text. §25-2-765(A) already requires 10 percent at 60 percent MFI and 10 percent at 50 percent MFI of every multi-family or group residential use established after 24 February 2014. §25-2-756(B)(2)(a)–(b) name the same two bands as the price of the 125-foot bonus, and the code does not say whether the same units satisfy both. Confirm the count with the City before it goes into a pro forma.

A minimum wall height, then a stepback

West Campus is one of the few places in Austin with a minimum building wall height: an exterior wall facing a street must be at least 24 feet. A single-storey frontage is not permitted, because the overlay is trying to produce a continuous street wall rather than gaps.

Above that, at 65 feet, a wall adjacent to a street other than an alley must step back at least 12 feet from the property line. A parapet may run five feet above that stepback height, or five feet above the total building height — enough to hide a roof edge, not enough to be another storey.

Forty-two percent of the street wall, and the east-west rule

§25-2-759 governs what the wall is made of rather than how tall it is: at least 42 percent of a building's street wall area must contain occupant space. It is an anti-blank-wall and anti-parking-podium rule.

Then a genuinely unusual instruction. If a building has street walls on more than one street, at least 70 percent of the required occupant space must go on a street running east and west — a rule about compass orientation, not about frontage size or importance. On the West Campus grid that pushes occupied rooms onto the numbered cross-streets.

A commercial off-street parking structure is out of §25-2-759 entirely.

Hotels on MLK get a different shape

A hotel/motel use in outer west campus does not follow the 24-foot wall and the 65-foot stepback at all. §25-2-758(D) substitutes a 45-degree envelope on property fronting Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., springing at 60 feet above the grade of the property line and running to a maximum of 85 feet.

Two conditions ride along. Next to a historic property, the site must keep an open space 50 feet deep and 50 feet along the frontage from the common boundary — no buildings, though paving, parking, fountains, fences, patios, terraces, canopies, trellises and landscaping are all allowed in it. And if there is parking on site, 75 percent of the spaces must be below grade.

The historic neighbour caps you twice over

Separately from the hotel rules, §25-2-756(B)(3) limits any outer west campus building that shares a side lot line with a historic property: it may not exceed the maximum building height of the base district the historic property sits in by more than 20 feet.

Note whose district governs. The ceiling is calculated from the neighbour's zoning, not yours — so an identical site can have two different limits depending on what is next door. And it is a side lot line specifically; the code does not extend it to a rear boundary.

Common questions

How tall can you build in West Campus?

The base limit comes from Appendix C for your subdistrict. On top of that, §25-2-756(B) allows 25 more feet in outer west campus or Guadalupe, or 125 more feet in inner west campus with the affordability set-aside.

What does the 125-foot UNO height bonus cost?

10 percent of units or bedrooms at or below 60 percent MFI, 10 percent at or below 50 percent, and either $0.50 per square foot into the trust fund or a further 10 percent at 50 percent — all held for at least 40 years from the certificate of occupancy.

Is there a minimum building height in UNO?

Yes. An exterior building wall that faces a street must be at least 24 feet high.

Where does a UNO building have to step back?

At 65 feet, where an exterior wall is adjacent to a street other than an alley, the upper portion must be set back at least 12 feet from the property line.

What is the minimum lot size in UNO?

2,500 square feet.

What is occupant space and how much do I need?

At least 42 percent of a building's street wall area must contain occupant space, and if the building fronts more than one street, at least 70 percent of that required space must be on a street running east and west.

Does building next to a historic property limit my height?

In the outer west campus subdistrict, yes. A building sharing a side lot line with a historic property may not exceed the maximum building height of the base district the historic property is in by more than 20 feet.

Do UNO parking structures need occupant space?

No. Section 25-2-759 does not apply to a commercial off-street parking structure.

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We do this research ourselves on every project we take on — zoning, floodplain, watershed, trees, whether it is a legal lot. Send us an address and we will run it and tell you what we find. It works the same whether you own a vacant lot, a house you are thinking of adding a unit to, or a house you are thinking of replacing. No charge and no strings, and if it is a bad lot we will say so.

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We are homebuilders, not the City of Austin. This page explains how we read the code in practice — it is not legal advice and it is not an official determination. Always confirm with Austin Development Services before you rely on it for a project. The authoritative text is the Austin Land Development Code; permitting questions go to Austin Development Services Department.