New Rooftop Restaurant Overlooking Lady Bird Lake Is Coming to South Lamar

A fancy luxury hotel boasting a rooftop restaurant will open right in the heart of South Austin at 211 South Lamar Boulevard at West Riverside Drive. The Loren at Lady Bird Lake, with that unnamed restaurant, is expected to open in early 2022 in the Zilker neighborhood.

The address is a notable one: the South Lamar lot had been home to both fast-food chain Taco Cabana and, behind it, New American restaurant Paggi House, both of which shuttered in 2013 and 2014 respectively to make way for a luxury apartment building, but those plans never came to fruition. Instead, the Taco Cabana became a location of its sister chain restaurant Pollo Tropical in 2016, but closed in 2017. Paggi became an office building, but has now been demolished.

The Loren’s Austin restaurant will be found on the rooftop of the tall building with panoramic views of the city skyline and the Colorado River. There are also plans to include an event space with a bar and lounge up there.

Leading the restaurant is Loren Hotel chef Tim Sullivan as well as New York-based catering and event company Great Performances. Helping to develop the restaurant is also Jesse Herman, most known for his work at New Waterloo and its restaurants like Otoko and Sway.

Patrick Y. Wong/Ateli

Loren’s Bermuda hotel, which opened in 2017, includes all-day restaurant The Pink Beach Club and lounge The Maree, both with New American menus. The Austin restaurants will be entirely new concepts, to be revealed later.

Designing the Loren Austin, which will include hotel rooms, condos, penthouses, a swimming pool, spa, etc., are architecture firm Rhode Partners and Fleur-de-lis Interior Design.

As part of the development, the hotel is working with the city to improve the parkland along the southern coast of the river, as well as “provide a material contribution to the development of affordable housing in Austin,” according to a release. There are plans to open more Loren Hotels across the country, too.

Rendering: Rendering of The Loren at Lady Bird Lake [Official]

• The Loren [Official]