very interesting! I wonder what league that puts Austin at now... Denver-ish?

Yeah, we'd be around Denver scale. However, Denver is a weird case. They have a lot more mid-rise towers, a lot of towers between 200-300', and a generally more dense downtown. They also have three towers taller than our tallest. 1801 California is probably one of my favorite buildings in the world, so they've got that going for them too.

According to SkycraperPage's database, Denver has 48 buildings completed 300 feet and taller. They also have one more under construction and at least 4 more proposed. That gives them a total of 53, but Austin has a total of at least 56 when you count what is proposed. That makes us about equal.

Here's the breakdown by height of what is complete or topped out:

Denver - 700+ feet - 2
Austin - 0

Denver - 600+ feet - 5
Austin - 2

Denver - 500+ feet - 8
Austin - 5

Denver - 400+ feet - 17
Austin - 16

Denver 300+ feet - 49
Austin - 37

Austin's real wild card is what's proposed or that has already broken ground but not topped out yet.

The depth of Austin's skyline - meaning the number of 300'+ and 400'+ towers - is what has Austin's skyline moving up in stature more so than tall towers IMO.

Demo has officially begun today. They're tearing down buildings this morning.

Here's a new rendering from Endeavor.

https://i.imgur.com/PTp42NA.png
https://www.endeavor-re.com/properties/93-red-river/

Nice. I think the parking garage looks better in this version.

it just shows how cheap the Independent garage looks. I rode my bike by there yesterday, and damn....it looks like they couldn't be bothered to come up with anything other than the least expensive-zero design-solution for the the garage. It makes Third+Shoal's garage look expensive.

I think Independent buyers will not be happy. I've touched on the finish out pics (terrible) and the crown (they should at least paint it white to help with the that "dirty" look) and I think these things lead to unimpressed buyers. By contrast, the W and the Austonian owners I know love it....even with the issues those buildings have had. Those buildings "feel" expensive, mostly because of the design choices and quality finish outs.

Sure a garage like 93 would clash with the design of the Independent. What makes modern minimalism so cool to me, is that it is hard to pull off. It can look/be innovative or it can look like you phoned it in on a sick day. It is also the preferred design choice of spec builders, they can hide behind "modern design" to save money......

I LOVE great modern design BTW.

Yep...the Independent crown and garage are cheap looking and garbage. Shame that they would cheap out so much for the tallest, most prominent building in the city.

So totaling these up and adding a few guaranteed build outs to Austin it basically nets out 81 for Denver and 61 for Austin. We have 75% of Denver's skyline.

This provides a somewhat decent comparison of skylines:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...st_skyscrapers

And 25% more people.

In city limits, anyway. Austin's MSA is 73% the size of Denver's.

This is San Antonio logic. Don't use it.

50% Constr. dwgs are out and construction start is still estimated to be Jan 2019.
Hard bids are set for the end of this month...

This one will have a single tower crane.

https://i.imgur.com/LF4Hpt6.png
ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/ATD_AULCC/...ne_PLAN_01.pdf

Construction start has pushed a little...
I've been told digging in the basement should start mid-to late March.

Good to hear an update. I walk past the site fairly often and it doesn't really look fully prepped. They demoed the building on site, but there're still trees on the lot, and the dirt patch in front of the Van Zandt is still used for parking.

I think the minor delay is most likely related to permitting. The site plan is not approved and has been "Inactive" for months.

This one is a go. The tower crane permit was filed this week.

https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...pertyrsn=93290