...and a very muddy one. You've got a great view of the site.

So, they could capitalize on the site before the building comes - mud baths. People pay fortunes for those...and this is a huge one.

You know this is a perfect example in comparing this lot size to the lot size at 4th @ Colorado. I don't know the exact measurements obviously but it's a safe bet to say both lots roughly have the same area and space. Why can't Brandywine dig down the garage, (pushing aside the fact that they probably don't want to spend the money to do so), and just have the office portion, with a few design tweaks? I wouldn't even care if the building was shorter as long as the lot fronting Congress has a nice tall highrise...or at least taller than the Brandywine building.



Anywho I've been anxiously awaiting for 5th & West to rise up. Looks like it's going to be a few more months before it does. The garage portion will take awhile but once that's done the tower itself should rise fast.

I reckon if not for CVC this project would have gone up rather than down as well. Between digging // flood mitigation the development costs would have been significantly lower.

Their website is up. They have a rendering I haven't seen before, plus I found this other one on their Facebook page showing the podium.

https://www.5thandwest.com/building/

https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...60004226_o.jpg
Fifth & West - https://www.facebook.com/fifthandwes...type=3&theater

Soooooooo.... :uhh: is the crane going up anytime soon? This one is taking awhile. Seriously Shoal Creek Walk started after they started digging for this one and the crane has been up for a few weeks now.

Permit search says they're closing lanes May 13th - 15th to install the crane so fingers crossed, it'll happen next weekend!

I walked past two days ago. They block most of the peek holes that previously existed, but from what little I could see the hole looked complete so it makes sense that the crane will come soon. Also saw quite a bit of water at the bottom of the hole. That's got to be a huge pain the butt for them.

Peeked down the hole today and the rebar for what looks like a mat slab is well underway.

Any news on the crane? Has it been erected yet?

As of yesterday the crane has not gone up yet. I'm eager for this one to finally start going vertical

There was a smaller mobile crane there this AM. Maybe part of putting together the tower crane...?

http://kxan.com/2016/06/03/construct...wntown-austin/

AUSTIN (KXAN) – A contractor on a 39-story condo project in downtown Austin is facing a city pollution charge.

KXAN News obtained court records detailing a case for “pollutants discharged” against Rogers O’Brien Gilbane, LLC, a contractor on the 5th & West project at the intersection of Fifth Street and West Avenue near Shoal Creek.

A Watershed Protection inspector found murky water flowing from the construction site, through a drainage pipe and into “a nearby creek basin,” according to a court document filed March 29 by an investigator for the City of Austin Planning and Development Review Department.

The record goes on to state that the project manager admitted to problems with groundwater getting into the site and indicates crews tried a “number of ways to contain [the water] and clean it” before the water left the site, but that efforts have “continually failed.”

Well we can say goodbye to this project...

That's pretty messed up draining the site into Shoal Creek. Surely if they were having problems themselves why didn't they reach out before polluting our waterways.

Shoal Creek Walk had a similar issue but they must have figured out a way to deal with the water without polluting.


The lawsuit alone means this project has come to a screeching halt. It's a shame too because that was one of my most anticipated projects I wanted to watch go up.

I wouldn't say this project is dead. With all the recent rains, it hard to control runoff. I did construction for 5 yrs and during the 2007 floods we always had debris flowing into the creek. We tried to keep as much trash & debris out the creeks as possible.

I agree. This project is not dead unless the developers decide that they want it to die.

I think it's a contractor issue more than anything. They may just decide to change contractors and continue on.

Before anyone has a cow over this, there was a time when that side of downtown was dotted with car dealerships - some of which lost a lot of cars in the 1981 Memorial Day flood. Guess what creek they washed into...

My dad and I used to walk the creeks screening for coins and jewelry. I remember vividly walking across the hood of a car once that was in the middle of Waller Creek.

The environmental protection regulations for a project like this are going to be ever so much more strict than they would have been for a car dealership. It was events like that flood that helped create SOS, because at the time, no one cared about the issue.

Well, I didn't see where there was a lawsuit yet. It's a criminal citation, and the company is fighting it.

But even if there was a lawsuit, it wouldn't derail the project, believe me. Projects like this have lawsuits all the time, regarding contractors, neighbors, city compliance, etc. They get handled and are part of doing a huge project.

Okay not dead but it looks like it's definitely slowed to a very sluggish pace, still no crane...