SA - Rendering of Proposed DT Tower (From Andres Andujar)

[sakyle04]

The following is a quote from Andres Andujar:

I saw a deal now fairly or totally dead for a Ritz and a Meridian at Martin/Convent/St Mary's and the River. That is an ideal site for redevelopment, and we have a concept that I'll post if I can figure out how to do that.

Darn it! Control V won't do it. Looks like I have to post it to a website. If anyone knows how to do that send me instructions or your email and i'll send you a screen capture of the San Antonio Google Earth 3D model we have built for our studies.

Here, for our enjoyment (and for grieving purposes) is the rendering:



(Special thanks to Andres for hooking us up with this image - and for being part of the forum. )

[KevinFromTexas]

^ So is that tower dead or what? I'm cofused. Nice design by the way.

[sakyle04]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

^ So is that tower dead or what? I'm cofused. Nice design by the way.

Ya, that is the site that we posted some articles on a few months ago - about the deadbeat property owner who has owned blighted eyesores on that lot for 15 years or so - and somehow pays so little in property tax that he gets away with it.

Over the years there have been several proposals. Like this one, many are now assumed dead - since the owner appears to be in no hurry to commit.

It is prime land, with RiverWalk frontage and in the heart of SA's business district downtown - between the Bank of America tower and the Weston Centre.

And ya, sweet rendering. Would've been nice.

[texboy]

ouch....that really hurts that we are missing out on that.

[KevinFromTexas]

Ouch. That guy should have tomatoes hurled at him on Alamo Plaza...

[jaga185]

I agree, what a bag of crap this man or woman, but I think man, is!

[sirkingwilliam]

What is that yellowish stuff in the background? Is that River North?

[sakyle04]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

What is that yellowish stuff in the background? Is that River North?

That is what I assumed.

[sakyle04]

Originally Posted by texboy

ouch....that really hurts that we are missing out on that.

Umm, ya. The more I look at it the more I feel like we were robbed of something.

I mean, that is a really elegant building. And I think it incorporated the existing "RTD KILLS" midrise into the new structure. The idea was probably just to remove the nasty white cladding clean it up - I remember the article saying that the building underneath was beautiful.

It makes me hopeful that something like this could show up for the possible W site next to Kress.

[AndresAndujar]

Something will eventually happen at this site. The owner is actually a nice guy who wants to do a good development here. Timing is everything, though, and the new pressure for developable land may get this CBD fringe site moving forward.

The yellowish background is in fact River North.

[sakyle04]

Something will eventually happen at this site. The owner is actually a nice guy who wants to do a good development here. Timing is everything, though, and the new pressure for developable land may get this CBD fringe site moving forward.

Maybe he is a nice guy, but we'd all like to pelt him with tomatoes anyway, just for leaving us hanging on that site for so long.

Question for Kevin, GoldenBoot, and/or Mopacs (and other Austin people):
Did the opening of Frost in DT Austin change the occupancy rate for office space in DT in any way?

I am thinking that, if anything, occupancy rates may have dropped, even with the huge addition of space...did it? Was it a "if you build it" type situation, in which the addition of a signature skyscraper actually drew more folks downtown overall?

[sirkingwilliam]

Andres, could you post more on River North? Like what projects are currently planned or anything proposed as well as any renderings you have.

[NBTX11]

This building would have been so sweet. Oh well...

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by sakyle04

Maybe he is a nice guy, but we'd all like to pelt him with tomatoes anyway, just for leaving us hanging on that site for so long.

Question for Kevin, GoldenBoot, and/or Mopacs (and other Austin people):
Did the opening of Frost in DT Austin change the occupancy rate for office space in DT in any way?

I am thinking that, if anything, occupancy rates may have dropped, even with the huge addition of space...did it? Was it a "if you build it" type situation, in which the addition of a signature skyscraper actually drew more folks downtown overall?

In March of 1999 the first downtown highrise office tower to be built in 8 years was the 300 West Sixth Street office tower. It was also the tallest building to be built in Austin since 1987 at that time. I don't recall what the office occupancy rate was at that time, but I think it was around 88 percent. In 2002 the building was completed. On November 27, 2001, (my 21st birthday), they broke ground on the Frost Bank Tower. Construction wrapped up in 2004. Of course office occupancy levels did drop as is the case everytime you add more space to a market. We haven't seen any more office highrise towers in downtown or outside of downtown since then. But there have been several lowrise projects in and outside of downtown. There's actually been a steady amount of lowrise office projects citywide since 2000. Even now there's several lowrise projects outside of downtown wrapping up construction and a few more about to breakground. Nothing major, all are under 150,000 square feet.

Right now I believe the downtown office occupancy level is around 75 or 80 percent. It'll probably be another year or so before we see any further highrise office towers, atleast that long before the need is there. The most likely candidate would be Tom Stacy's proposed 47-story 700+ foot tower at 5th & Congress. That building was originally supposed to be mixed use with retail, office, hotel, apartments and condos. Now the hotel and apartment portions have been cut out and he's replacing those with office space with up to 330,000 square feet of space at this point. The tower will also have 200 condominiums. There's been no date given for construction. Tom Stacy owns the land and the buildings where this tower will go. This is a tricky project since it means relocating Austin's Bank of America operations. Also all of the tenants of the existing buildlngs have to wait until their leases are up before they can move.

Here's an article that Goldenboot posted from a few weeks ago talking about the project giving a little update about it.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=766

[sakyle04]

^ Thanks, Kevin.

I thought maybe a new tower would renew interest in DT, therefore drawing enough NEW occupancy to keep the numbers up. Guess not.

[Mopacs]

Originally Posted by sakyle04

Question for Kevin, GoldenBoot, and/or Mopacs (and other Austin people):
Did the opening of Frost in DT Austin change the occupancy rate for office space in DT in any way?

I am thinking that, if anything, occupancy rates may have dropped, even with the huge addition of space...did it? Was it a "if you build it" type situation, in which the addition of a signature skyscraper actually drew more folks downtown overall?

Frost Bank Tower was a calculated risk and a long-term investment for the developers (Cousins). As you know, at the time of groundbreaking, the local and national economies were in a serious funk, following the tech/dot com busts and the wake of the 9/11 attacks, just 2 months prior. They were banking on the historical strengths of the Austin market, and that at the time of completion (2004), the economy and office market would have sufficiently rebounded.

The investment paid off spectacuarly, with the recent sale of the building pulling in historic levels on the overall price and price per SQ FT ammounts. I dont recall the sale price, but it was a dramatic amount, and spoke postively of the strength of the office market. As for the occupancies at the time of groundbreaking and sale, I am not sure of the exact figures either...perhaps Golden Boot can comment. One thing is certain, there was a signficant improvement in city-wide occupancy and likely did not have a dramatic impact in the occupancy levels for overall or downtown submarket.

[KevinFromTexas]

The Frost Bank Tower sold for $188 million in August/September of 2006. That comes out to $354 a square foot which was a state record for office space. The tower cost $142 million to build.

Daily Texan article on the sale:
http://media.www.dailytexanonline.co...-2143384.shtml

Also with the construction of the Frost Bank Tower, it sort of set a new standard of quality in downtown. Suddenly we had this beautiful, classy, state-of-the-art skyscraper, and building owners of older buildings were having to play catch up. We've seen a surge in old buildings being totally renovated to be more useful to their tenants. The 32 year old Bank of America Center in downtown is one example. They renovated it adding state of the art equipment and updating its interior and even adding retail on the ground floor for the first time in the building. Several other towers have either gone through renovations or are about to. It has raised the design bar for new construction for not only office space but also other uses such as hotels and residential. As a result there also, we've seen older residential buildings being renovated. There's also been a few old office buildings going residential. It's been interesting to watch all this.

EDIT - With regards to the office occupancy rate of Downtown Austin at the time of construction of the Frost Bank Tower, take a look at the link below. In an article dated January, 2001, it says the occupancy rate was 96.7 percent. My memory is mush, so I don't recall the exact number, but if this article which was put out at that time says it was that high, then I guess it was.
http://recenter.tamu.edu/tgrande/vol8-1/1438.html

Here's an Austin Business Journal article that puts the office occupancy rate at 84.7 percent for Downtown Austin.
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/ot...5200%5E1460394

[AndresAndujar]

Thanks to the Burkholders for posting. Just sent a volumetric representation of the proposed River North mixed use, mid rise urban neigborhood density we are suggesting for this 200 acre district bisected by the new Riverwalk.

We have formed a Community Development Corporation through the Downtown Alliance. The CDC has issued a request for master planning proposals. Of nine submitted, four are shortlisted for presentations on June 8. The shortlisted firms are headquartered in Pasadena, CA; portland, OR; New York, NY; and Dallas, TX. The selected master planner will develop the required detail to set forth the character, density and other guidelines - to be implemented thorugh a revision to the Rio 2 River overlay.

My personal goal with the River North vision is to create an urban, energy filled neigborhood in which I would love to live. Nearly an empty nester, I'm in one of the two clear targets as urban pioneers. The other category being the young professionals, married or single, typically without, or with pre-k, kids.

[texboy]

any chance for highrise's in this project Andres?

[Complex01]

That is a good looking building. Hmm, you know there is also another parking lot, located diagnoally from were this building is located. (Its directly south south the Main Library). Anyhow yeah something needs to be done, has such great potential...