Uh, yeah. All of the Austin forumers are excited this morning at the announcement of Tom Stacy's revised plans for this project. Some had feared this project was dead since it's been a few years since it was announced and we hadn't heard much about it over the last year.
In 2005 the project was announced as a 680 foot building with 41 floors. Then the height was pushed to "at least" 705 feet with 47 floors. Cesar Pelli also came on board as the design architect. However, Tom Stacy changed plans a few times taking out a the hotel portion of the project. Then last year, news came about that his management company that owns the Bank of America Center and surrounding properties was waiting for lease contracts to run out so that the tenants could be vacated so demo could begin. Plans included renovating the 33 year old Bank of America Center and building the new 47-story tower nextdoor. But the last year had been quiet.
Today however several news sources are saying that Tom Stacy has acquired a portion of a neighboring block and is planning a towering
830 foot building with
70 floors. That tower would rise at the corner of 5th & Brazos and would contain a 300 room hotel and 200 condos. At the corner of 5th & Congress where he had previously planned the original 47-story tower, he will build a 30-story, 500,000 square foot office tower that will be "slightly taller than Bank of America Center." This will make that tower at least 328 feet tall. Plans also call for building a 1,200 space parking garage above 8,300 square feet of retail. The first phase of the $500 million project will start in June when the parking garage is built. That will allow for the demolition of an existing parking garage where the 30-story office tower will rise. The article mentions that the taller tower would break ground later. The office tower would probably be completed in either 2011, or 2012.
http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin...25/story1.html
Quote:
$500M investment may yield two new downtown towers
Austin Business Journal - by A.J. Mistretta ABJ Staff
More than three years after Austin developer Tom Stacy and a Chicago partner company purchased the building at 501 Congress Ave. and unveiled plans for a dramatic multiuse tower on the site, the deal has grown much larger, incorporating one-and-a-half city blocks, two soaring towers and an estimated $500 million investment.
Stacy's company, T. Stacy & Associates Inc., and Walton Street Capital now plan a 500,000-square-foot office and retail tower at 501 Congress that would be slightly taller than the 26-story Bank of America Center building the partnership owns at 515 Congress next door. The group is also plotting a hotel and condo tower at the corner of Brazos and Fifth streets that would rise more than 800 feet, making it by far the tallest building in Austin and the sixth-tallest in Texas.
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