Quote:
Originally Posted by ivanwolf
MEET & GREET
With The University of Texas System’s
New Building Project Team
This is an informal event to provide an overview of project design and construction. Feel free to come and go as necessary. Light refreshments will be provided.
Please check-in with security upon entering the building.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
4:00-6:00 p.m.
Ashbel Smith Hall, Rm 208
201 W 7th Street
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So, I went. Larry Speck was there, and I listened to him intently. haha He said the building is still being designed. They couldn't release too many details for that reason. No renderings are available, yet, but he did say the design will be presented to the board of regents sometime next month. So he said shortly after that he expects a rendering would be released to the public/media. He said demolition of the Colorado Building, the UT garage and the other building, the name escapes me - anyway, he said demolition on those will start August 18.
Some of the residents of the Brown Building were there and a board member of the Norwood Tower. Their main concerns were construction noise/vibration and dust, plus garage usage and access. There didn't seem to be too many that were worried about the views. You gotta remember the Colorado Building has been there for 84 years, so as one guy put it, one building is going away and another will replace it. Larry Speck said he knows people who work in the Colorado Building who would tell him it's not a good situation having an office building with windows looking into the private residences of an adjacent building - the Brown Building. He said the parking levels would likely solve that issue and they could even put up some screens. Larry Speck didn't really talk much about the design or materials even though someone did ask if it would be glass. I asked about the height, he said 15 to 20 floors. They did have a post showing an envelop of the tower, just a boxy placeholder to show its location and relative height. I guessed it was maybe 220 feet, but I got the feeling nothing was really to scale.
Anyway, the building will cover the entire southern half of the block along 7th Street. A crane permit showed they'll need two cranes.