AUSTIN | 300 Colorado | 446 FEET | 32 FLOORS | COMPLETE

[Sigaven]

This thing is going up fast! Could see it poking up from behind the Hobby building from the future Republic Tower parking lot as I was walking to the bars last night.

[gabetx]

I was in Denver over the weekend and they have nicer towers in their suburban office parks than this one. I still hate it.

[urbancore]

Originally Posted by gabetx

I was in Denver over the weekend and they have nicer towers in their suburban office parks than this one. I still hate it.

I was there over Christmas for the first time in 6 years, and the skyline was --yawn--.......compared to ours over the same time.

Not sure what they have in the dt pipeline or what they have in the subo parks, but.....downtown was underwhelming.

I do like the Union Station...pretty cool....though Austin clearly will never have the history to support something so cool. Denver like many other cities has SO much history Austin will never have.

[clubtokyo]

I found the Denver skyline to be boring. Please don’t attack me! Lol
As far as history my fav city for that is Boston.

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by urbancore

I was there over Christmas for the first time in 6 years, and the skyline was --yawn--.......compared to ours over the same time.

Not sure what they have in the dt pipeline or what they have in the subo parks, but.....downtown was underwhelming.

I do like the Union Station...pretty cool....though Austin clearly will never have the history to support something so cool. Denver like many other cities has SO much history Austin will never have.

Downtown Denver is rather sleepy.

[gabetx]

Not to veer completely off topic here, but I wasn't talking about the Denver skyline in general. It is pretty boring skyline and sleepy downtown, (although much cleaner and far less transients). I was just saying that some of the suburban towers there are better than the Parsley Energy HQ. It is an extremely boring building.

BTW, Denver has a much better urban experience overall than Austin, and their light rail network is amazing. We really need to approve the Cap Metro Project Connect bond that will be coming up, not only to alleviate traffic, but to enhance and promote urbanity in central Austin and along major thoroughfares.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by gabetx

Not to veer completely off topic here, but I wasn't talking about the Denver skyline in general. It is pretty boring skyline and sleepy downtown, (although much cleaner and far less transients). I was just saying that some of the suburban towers there are better than the Parsley Energy HQ. It is an extremely boring building.

BTW, Denver has a much better urban experience overall than Austin, and their light rail network is amazing. We really need to approve the Cap Metro Project Connect bond that will be coming up, not only to alleviate traffic, but to enhance and promote urbanity in central Austin and along major thoroughfares.

DT Austin not clean??? Aside from E.6th and the area around the Arch, I'd say DT Austin is pretty clean. There's always Downtown Alliance people picking up anything off the sidewalks, trash and recycle bins just about at every corner. I wouldn't call that dirty by any means.

[Vexal]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

DT Austin not clean??? Aside from E.6th and the area around the Arch, I'd say DT Austin is pretty clean. There's always Downtown Alliance people picking up anything off the sidewalks, trash and recycle bins just about at every corner. I wouldn't call that dirty by any means.

Compared to places like Tokyo, or many cities in China, and even Seattle, downtown Austin is pretty grimy and dirty. The roads are very unkempt, there are weeds growing out of the sidewalk cracks, many of the older buildings look like they haven't been maintained in decades, the sidewalks all need power washing.

[mercury6]

Originally Posted by Vexal

Compared to places like Tokyo, or many cities in China, and even Seattle, downtown Austin is pretty grimy and dirty. The roads are very unkempt, there are weeds growing out of the sidewalk cracks, many of the older buildings look like they haven't been maintained in decades, the sidewalks all need power washing.

You can't be serious right now...Seattle has one of the filthiest downtowns I've ever seen.

[Vexal]

Originally Posted by mercury6

You can't be serious right now...Seattle has one of the filthiest downtowns I've ever seen.

Sorry, I meant the parts of seattle people actually live, like Redmond and Bellevue. But my point stands about Tokyo.

[myBrain]

Originally Posted by Vexal

or many cities in China

That's completely absurd, and I've lived in China and traveled a fair amount of the country.

Certainly much of China is newer, and there are definitely places that the government keeps super-clean, but the majority of any Chinese city is going to be dirtier than downtown Austin.

And Tokyo does a great job with litter, but there's a lot that needs to be powerwashed there too.

[Vexal]

Originally Posted by myBrain

That's completely absurd, and I've lived in China and traveled a fair amount of the country.

Certainly much of China is newer, and there are definitely places that the government keeps super-clean, but the majority of any Chinese city is going to be dirtier than downtown Austin.

And Tokyo does a great job with litter, but there's a lot that needs to be powerwashed there too.

I'm just talking about Tier 1 cities in China. My point is, there is much room for improvement, as I frequently am a bit put off by what I see when I am in downtown Austin. I often facetime with my friends who live in China while I walk around the city and they walk around their city, and I am embarrassed for them to see the streets of our downtown. Compared to what they show me of Shenzhen, or Hangzhou, or Shanghai, America, and Austin, just looks dirty. Many people think that Asian cities countries are less developed than America, but most of our cities probably look like undeveloped countries to them.

The problem here is that no one wants their tax dollars going to things that aren't "necessary". A polished sidewalk is not necessary for a functional sidewalk, so no one cares to pay to have it cleaned. But it's disappointing. The government should be taking care of things like this for us. Or it should be required that the owners of downtown property touching a sidewalk should directly handle the logistics of keeping it shiny. Something should be done. Just having developers put money into a "city improvement" just adds more indirection to actually having an effect or accomplishing something.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by Vexal

I'm just talking about Tier 1 cities in China. My point is, there is much room for improvement, as I frequently am a bit put off by what I see when I am in downtown Austin. I often facetime with my friends who live in China while I walk around the city and they walk around their city, and I am embarrassed for them to see the streets of our downtown. Compared to what they show me of Shenzhen, or Hangzhou, or Shanghai, America, and Austin, just looks dirty. Many people think that Asian cities countries are less developed than America, but most of our cities probably look like undeveloped countries to them.

Considering how much pollution China creates (they are improving but are not there just yet) I wouldn't go as far as comparing Chinese cities to Austin. I don't know really why you think DT Austin as a whole is dirty. I'm not saying its perfect but I walked around a good chunk of DT Austin yesterday and found the sidewalks and streets in good shape, clean sidewalks, no trash, Downtown Alliance workers out and about which goes to show they are doing their job. I'm sorry but I'm going to take some offense and will disagree with you on this subject. I will concede that areas around Arch and E.6th are not in good shape but outside of those areas. I feel like Downtown is decently clean.

[Vexal]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

Considering how much pollution China creates (they are improving but are not there just yet) I wouldn't go as far as comparing Chinese cities to Austin. I don't know really why you think DT Austin as a whole is dirty. I'm not saying its perfect but I walked around a good chunk of DT Austin yesterday and found the sidewalks and streets in good shape, clean sidewalks, no trash, Downtown Alliance workers out and about which goes to show they are doing their job. I'm sorry but I'm going to take some offense and will disagree with you on this subject. I will concede that areas around Arch and E.6th are not in good shape but outside of those areas. I feel like Downtown is decently clean.

I'm not saying anything about China as a whole, just explicitly comparing this single facet of these cities.

My main commute downtown is just walking from Halcyon and Roosevelt Room and maybe back again if I can still walk after.

[the Genral]

I heard if you spit out your chewing gum on the sidewalks of Singapore, they'll pull your tongue out through your butthole. I hate gum on sidewalks. We should try that here.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by Vexal

I'm not saying anything about China as a whole, just explicitly comparing this single facet of these cities.

My main commute downtown is just walking from Halcyon and Roosevelt Room and maybe back again if I can still walk after.

I love the Roosevelt Room. That is my go to spot when I want a good mix drink.. Just one of their drinks will get me nice and buzzed.

By the way, I didn't actually mean I was offended in the sense of being personally offended or anything like that. After reading my post I just wanted to clarify that point. Basically I guess it comes down to perspective. I think most people will agree on general uncleanlensss, but it becomes more of a gray area in opinions from one person to the next when it gets to finer specific details like grass in cracks or discoloration on sidewalks.

[myBrain]

Originally Posted by Vexal

I'm just talking about Tier 1 cities in China. My point is, there is much room for improvement, as I frequently am a bit put off by what I see when I am in downtown Austin. I often facetime with my friends who live in China while I walk around the city and they walk around their city, and I am embarrassed for them to see the streets of our downtown. Compared to what they show me of Shenzhen, or Hangzhou, or Shanghai, America, and Austin, just looks dirty. Many people think that Asian cities countries are less developed than America, but most of our cities probably look like undeveloped countries to them.

Yes, I lived in Shenzhen, and I have been to the cities you mentioned above and other tier 1 cities in China. As I said, there are certainly nice, upscale sections of those cities - much as I believe you do see in our downtown or in other wealthy Austin neighborhoods. But overall those cities are dirtier than things are here. There are open sewers. Apartment blocks stained by polluted air. Broken sidewalks. People hawk spit up in the streets. People litter. Much of the construction, especially built in earlier decades, was built cheaply and quickly and is crumbling now. And new construction often isn't cordoned off like it is here, and it spills into the street.

I'm not saying Chinese cities are shit holes - but characterizing them as cleaner than Austin is just wrong.

This is the view from my apartment - the apartment blocks you can see are no more than 20 years old but already they are stained and dirty https://imgur.com/FcejpHp

This is another building I took a picture of: https://imgur.com/sjYpa3W

China does have far better infrastructure than we do -- trains, bridges, roads etc -- and I agree that, in many ways, China feels like living in the future. At the same time though, it feels like living in some kind of cyberpunk urban dystopia.

[Vexal]

Originally Posted by myBrain

Yes, I lived in Shenzhen, and I have been to the cities you mentioned above and other tier 1 cities in China. As I said, there are certainly nice, upscale sections of those cities - much as I believe you do see in our downtown or in other wealthy Austin neighborhoods. But overall those cities are dirtier than things are here. There are open sewers. Apartment blocks stained by polluted air. Broken sidewalks. People hawk spit up in the streets. People litter. Much of the construction, especially built in earlier decades, was built cheaply and quickly and is crumbling now. And new construction often isn't cordoned off like it is here, and it spills into the street.

I'm not saying Chinese cities are shit holes - but characterizing them as cleaner than Austin is just wrong.

This is the view from my apartment - the apartment blocks you can see are no more than 20 years old but already they are stained and dirty https://imgur.com/FcejpHp

This is another building I took a picture of: https://imgur.com/sjYpa3W

China does have far better infrastructure than we do -- trains, bridges, roads etc -- and I agree that, in many ways, China feels like living in the future. At the same time though, it feels like living in some kind of cyberpunk urban dystopia.

The building with the year 2000 on it reminds me of my family reusing the same New Year's decorations for the past 20 years.

[myBrain]

Originally Posted by Vexal

The building with the year 2000 on it reminds me of my family reusing the same New Year's decorations for the past 20 years.

Ha!

Anyway I apologize for contributing to the derailment of this thread, here are the most recent images:




This isn't a special building, but I do think the design is decent. The black mullions are interesting. I think the building will age well, which is also a comment on its blandness. I like 300 colorado and think its kind of underrated, and this complements it well plus adds a step up in height towards the taller buildings coming to the west. So i don't think this deserves any hate, the city should be happy to see this building.

[resansom]

Originally Posted by myBrain

Ha!

This isn't a special building, but I do think the design is decent. The black mullions are interesting. I think the building will age well, which is also a comment on its blandness. I like 300 colorado and think its kind of underrated, and this complements it well plus adds a step up in height towards the taller buildings coming to the west. So i don't think this deserves any hate, the city should be happy to see this building.

Agreed, not special, especially when you consider what might have been:




I don't think it even looks as good as one of the updated renderings: