A New Restaurant Is Coming to Rainey Street — Here's What the Permits Show

No sign. No name. No announcement. Just a permit, filed this week, for two of Rainey Street's last original bungalows being fused into a single restaurant shell. According to ATX Things' review of Austin permit records, construction at 78 Rainey St has been active since March — the city's own building-permit trail shows exactly what's rising there, even though nobody involved has said a word about it publicly.

What's Actually Happening at 78 Rainey Street?

The scope, straight from the city's own ePlan filing: "Remodel Two Bungalows — Scope of work to include exterior rehab, interior demolition, addition to include connecting bungalows into a single shell for future restaurant (2,920 SF)." That's a building permit (#2026-026513 BP), issued March 5, 2026, valued at $1 million. A parallel state filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation puts the same job at $750,000 across roughly 3,000 square feet — about $250 a square foot, in line with a full-gut restaurant buildout, not a cosmetic refresh.

Since that first permit, the paper trail keeps moving: a plumbing permit in June, an underground fireline and riser installed in July, and — two days before this article published — a fresh electrical permit on August 12. That last one matters because it's the tell that this is a live job site right now, not a stalled filing sitting in a drawer.

Who Used to Be Here?

The address has history. Reina, a rooftop cocktail bar, operated at 78 Rainey Street until it announced its closure on social media in August 2022, with a last call on September 11 of that year — one of three Rainey Street bars (alongside Container Bar and the original Bungalow) that closed that year to clear ground for a residential tower going up on the block, according to KXAN's coverage at the time.

"

"We knew this was coming and that our days were numbered. It still couldn't prepare us for the sadness we're feeling."

That's Reina's own staff, in the social post KXAN quoted announcing the closure. In the same round of reporting, KVUE talked to Reina staff about what would come next — and got an honest non-answer: their understanding was that the bungalow itself would stay standing, they just didn't know what it would become.

Four years later, the permits finally answer that question. Sort of.

Who's Building It?

The property owner listed on the TDLR filing is 80 Rainey Street Owner, LLC — a name that lines up with the address next door. 80 Rainey St is Paseo, the 48-story apartment tower that LV Collective, ELV Associates, and JE Dunn Capital Partners delivered on the same block in 2025, with the rooftop restaurant Amaya opening on its 12th floor that December. ATX Things could not independently confirm the two ownership entities are legally identical, but the shared address and timing point the same direction: the bungalow lot looks like the last unfinished piece of that block's redevelopment, not a separate deal.

If the pattern holds, whoever ends up in this space is getting a serious design pedigree before a single dish is served.

When Does It Actually Open?

Here's the honest part: nobody knows yet, including, it seems, the city. The TDLR filing's own construction schedule targeted an April 27, 2026 completion date. That date has come and gone — the freshest permit activity is from this week, which means the job is still open, just behind its own filed timeline. Restaurant buildouts commonly run long once kitchen equipment, health inspections, and a liquor license enter the picture, so a slip past a permit's original target isn't unusual on its own. What it does mean: treat any "opening this fall" rumor you hear about this address as exactly that, a rumor, until a lease or a name surfaces in city or TABC records.

What Locals Should Know

1. The address: 78 Rainey St, Austin, TX 78701 — the block between the Paseo tower and the rest of the original bungalow row.
2. The size: 2,920–3,000 square feet, built from two connected bungalow shells.
3. The cost: $750,000–$1 million depending on which filing you read (TDLR vs. city permit).
4. The status: actively under construction, permit activity as recent as August 12, 2026.
5. The unknown: no name, no concept, no opening date. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise yet.

Rainey Street's bungalow rows have been disappearing for a decade, one condo and apartment tower at a time — this is one of the few blocks where a developer chose to keep two of them standing instead of clearing the lot outright, which on its own is a small, quiet departure from how most of this district's last few years have gone. It's the latest data point in downtown Austin's broader luxury dining and nightlife build-out, and one more name to watch alongside our running list of Austin's best restaurants once it actually opens.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was at 78 Rainey Street before? Reina, a rooftop cocktail bar, operated there until it closed in September 2022 to make way for the current redevelopment.

Is this the same project as the Paseo tower at 80 Rainey? Not officially confirmed, but the ownership name and shared block strongly suggest it's the final piece of that same redevelopment — Paseo itself opened in 2025.

Who is designing the new restaurant? Michael Hsu Office of Architecture, whose past Austin work includes Clark's Oyster Bar, Uptown Sports Club, and The Kitchen, is the design firm of record per the project's state filing.

When will it open? Unknown. The project's own filed timeline targeted April 2026, which has already passed; permit activity this month shows the job is still active but running behind.

Is the restaurant's name public yet? No. As of this article's publish date, no name, concept, or opening date has been announced anywhere ATX Things could find.

We're watching the permit trail on this one — follow @austintexasthings for the update when a name finally surfaces.