I'd be offended if we got a couple more of the same spires but I seriously do love the originality of it. It's different and so many people have wildly different ideas and thoughts about it. I see it costing $3-5M to do anything radically different and love it as is so I say don't bother. I am excited to see the lighting element though and really would be happy to work with anyone looking to donate lots of $$.
It's amazing living here. Lived in 360 and the Shore, also both fun in their own right, but with the energy downtown now holds it's fantastic to live here. Hope we allow for another 10,000+ homes within a 1/2 mile of here through a new land development code...we'll see. The entitlements west and just north of here are so exclusionary in nature--perhaps the revenue caps put on the City of Austin and Travis County will encourage better zoning decisions even above the cries of the NIMBYs?
The building is still fairly empty but move-ins are occurring often. My biggest advice to anyone moving in is get the punch list items in writing. I had a list of items that I was told was approved and I was told per the contract I must close and that the punch items survived the close and would be wrapped up in 60 days. To date, most of the items have not been touched and many that were originally approved were then later denied. The leverage of closing/not closing was really all I had to work with so to do it over again I'd like the approved items in writing with an understanding of when they'd be dealt with. We're not talking anything major, just things that really need to be done eventually by someone. All this said, I'm still within the 60 days so I may be pleasantly surprised and everything may get handled at the end--I'll let you know
It feels like the sturdiest building I've ever lived in. Love that all the elevators and services are wrapped within the core of the building. The two decks of amenities (still not all quite open) are epic! My hope is that the garage was built to hold a cap because to cap it similarly to 360s, while expensive, would be epic for the building! And the people and management team seem to all be high on life which is ok by me!
Hopefully the railroad bridge over Shoal Creek is salvaged. It's interesting to me that we have so many buildings where people fight for historic designation, over owners objects, yet this amazing piece of history is left to rot . Perhaps once the threat of redevelopment is removed the interest of preservation is lost for some?