AUSTIN | Novare/Andrews Urban Towers | 3 towers | 40 FLOORS | 28 FLOORS | 16 FLOORS

[KevinFromTexas]

Does anybody know about this proposed skyscraper in Austin?

This is only the most information I could find.

Name: 401-499 West 6th Street (Name can change soon)
Location: 401-499 West 6th Street
Zone: Warehouse District
Borough: Downtown
Height: 550 feet
Floors: 40 floors
Use: Hotel/Residences
Units: ~600
Cost: ---
Complex: West 6th Street Novare Towers
Breaking Ground: 2009
Completion: 2010
Architect(s): Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates, Inc.
Designer: ---
Companies: Andrews Urban LLC, Novare Group
Status: planned (proposed)
Phone: --- --- ----
Site: -------------------

401-499 West 6th Street

The Location:


Emporis® Facts:

- The tower will contain about 500 condomiums along with 100 hotel rooms and 25,000 square feet of street level retail.
- The tower is planned for the site of the existing downtown post office. The post office is being moved to the other side of downtown.

Big news in today's paper. Click on the link below to see the map. I'm a bit surprised they didn't go higher, though, considering there's no height restriction for the post office site. Anyway, this is great news since it'll likely mean atleast another 500 footer and another 400 footer. This will help soften the blow from The Austonian and T. Stacy Tower. So this will make atleast three 500 footers for Austin now, (including the Frost Bank Tower), and up to six 400 footers.

From the Austin American-Statesman
http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...6/6novare.html

REAL ESTATE
Plans revealed for new postal service tower, condominiums
Another high rise is scheduled for current post office site.

By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Monday, February 05, 2007

Two more high-rise residential towers with more than 900 condominiums are slated to be built downtown, including a 35-story tower at Sixth and Nueces streets that will provide a new home for the existing downtown post office.

Atlanta-based Novare Group Holdings and its Austin-based partner, Andrews Urban LLC, plan to break ground on the first building this fall. It will have about about 400 condominiums in a tower that will adjoin a new two-story postal facility at the corner of Fifth and San Antonio.

The post office would open in 2008 and the residential tower in fall 2009.

Once the post office moves into its new building, the developers plan to start construction on a second high-rise at the existing postal site. It would be a 40-story tower with more than 500 condos as well as more than 100 hotel rooms and and more than 25,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

Both projects are expected to cost a total of $300 million.

The hotel operator has not been determined. However, Novare has a hotel subsidiary called Twelve Hotels that operates an existing 101-room hotel in Atlanta. Two more Twelve hotels are under construction, one at Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta and another in Charlotte, N.C.

The development will include a seven-story parking garage; one level will be for shared parking for post office and retail customers.

The U.S. Postal Service selected Novare/Andrews Urban in August through a competitive selection process to redevelop its existing downtown location, at Fifth and Guadalupe streets. Mayor Will Wynn and many local developers have long said the site is under-used, with a one-and-a-half-story post office occupying 76,000 square feet of a prime downtown block.

The 35-story tower will occupy three-quarters of a city block adjacent to the existing Miller Blueprint Co. that Novare/Andrews Urban purchased in December. The site originally was slated for a second office tower that Intel Corp. planned, along with a chip-design factory that it halted work on amid the tech bust of 2001.

Both new towers will need city zoning variances to build higher-density projects. The developers plan to incorporate city guidelines for wider streets, with tree-lined sidewalks and benches and bicycle racks.

The condo units in both towers are expected to be priced comparably to 360, a 44-story condo project Novare/Andrews Urban is building at Third and Nueces streets.

Prices there start at under $200,000 for a one-bedroom home and under $300,000 for a two-bedroom unit. The most expensive units are in the mid-$500,000s.

With more than a dozen residential projects being built or planned downtown, developers say demand is especially keen for units with more moderately priced units, which Novare/Andrews Urban says its projects will provide.

Taylor Andrews, president of Andrews Urban, declined to say how many people are on 360's list of prospective buyers, but said demand has "far exceeded expectations."

"We have enough interest that we eagerly would like to get more than 900 units in downtown Austin," Andrews said. "We believe that the demand for attainably priced housing in downtown Austin far exceeds the planned condominium pipeline," Andrews said.

The 360 sales center will open in late February. The tower is expected to open in spring 2008. It will have 430 condominiums and about 14,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, including restaurant space.

[KevinFromTexas]

Austin is starting to enter into a territory in Texas that only Houston and Dallas have been in for years. More talls!

Take a look at this:

Here's a more detailed list for all the major Texas cities that have buildings in the 400 to 599 foot range.

Houston
500 feet to 599 feet
Twelve 500 footers built
One 500 footer under construction
One 500 footer approved
400 feet to 499 feet
Seventeen 400 footers built
Two 400 footers approved
One 400 footer under construction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dallas
500 feet to 599 feet
Seven 500 footers built
One 500 footer proposed
400 feet to 499 feet
Ten 400 footers built
One 400 footer proposed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fort Worth
500 feet to 599 feet
Three 500 footers built
One 500 footer under construction
400 feet to 499 feet
Two 400 footers built

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Austin
500 to 599 feet
One 500 footer built
One 500 footer under construction
One 500 footer proposed
400 feet to 499 feet
Three 400 footers approved
Two 400 footers proposed
One 400 footer under construction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

San Antonio
500 feet to 599 feet
One 500 footer built
400 feet to 499 feet
Two 400 footers built
One 400 footer under construction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

South Padre Island
400 feet to 499 feet
One 400 footer under construction (Another building under construction may be atleast 400 feet also).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Corpus Christi
400 feet to 499 feet
One 400 footer built
One 400 footer proposed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Woodlands
400 feet to 499 feet
One 400 footer built

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Texas totals built, under construction, approved and proposed:

500 to 599 feet - 30
400 to 499 feet - 46

[Stu]

Interesting stats. Thanks.

[pyropius]

Wow, so many residential developments downtown. When should we expect to see a new office tower joining them?

[KevinFromTexas]

^ Not sure. The downtown office occupancy rate is around 90 percent the last time I heard. So it shouldn't be too long.

[rantanamo]

Mandarin Oriental in Dallas is U/C and well over 500

[john_mclark]

midland had a chance to join the group back in the 80's but never got there

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by rantanamo

Mandarin Oriental in Dallas is U/C and well over 500

That building is supposed to be 650 feet. I was talking about buildings in the 400 to 599 foot range. Obviously Houston and Dallas each have buildings taller than 500 feet!

[austlar]

I'm ready for a new office tower or two or three. All these high income types moving into condos in downtown highrises are going to end up driving out of downtown to get to their jobs in other parts of the metro. That seems kind of lame to me. I wonder why there are so few mixed use office/condo/hotel projects in the pipeline. It would seem that office towers in Austin are still a lucrative investment considering the huge profit the developers of the Frost Tower made in their supposedly risky gamble to build when they did during the dot-com bust. I think downtown is going to look a little strange with all the huge condo towers and so few office buildings.

[StoOgE]

Im expecting the office market to blow up in the next 2-3 years with several big announcements. You dont bring 10K people to live downtown with 90% office occupancy and not have something big happen.

Perhaps Staceys tower will go office. I also expect that one to wind up taller than currently planned (if it breaks ground). Its slated to break ground after the Austonian.. no way to they start building the second tallest building downtown.

[KevinFromTexas]

Regarding a new tallest office building. I would think it would depend on who is proposing it and designing it. We've already had two new tallest in Austin by firms affiliated with Cesar Pelli. Frost Bank Tower was designed by Duda Paine, who worked with Cesar Pelli originally. He also co-designed Charlotte's Bank of America Center with Cesar Pelli. And Tom Stacy's tower is being designed by Pelli Clark Pelli another one of Cesar Pelli's firms.

And it wouldn't be too strange to have nothing but residential towers for our tallest buildings. Then again, this is Texas so it might seem strange here. But other places do have mostly residential towers and most are even taller than most of their office buildings. Vancouver is an example of this. Their tallest since 2001 has been a hotel/residential tower. Their next 9 tallest are all office buildings, (no mixed use either). Out of their top 25 tallest, 13 are office, (one of those is mixed use with residential), 10 out 25 are residential, and 5 are hotels. Some of these are mixed uses, though.

Honolulu is another good example. Out of their top 25 tallest only 4 buildings contain office space, and two of those are mixed use with residential and hotel. Out of their top 25 tallest, 21 of them contain residential uses. And there are 5 hotels. Most of these are mixed use.

[austlar]

Vancouver and Honolulu are waterfront cities, and part of the attraction of living in those places is either proximity to the bay/ocean or at least a view of the bay/ocean. Town Lake is nice, but it is not Waikiki or Vancouver Bay. Also, unlike those cities, land in Austin is not at a premium and there are many other housing options available and affordable, especially to families and middle income people The new towers in downtown A-town will look nice and contribute to an urban feel, but without more office towers and downtown employment, it is going to be some new kind of urban hybrid with well-off people living in centrally located highrises for the most part simply because they can live in them, not because they need to live in them or find it especially convenient to do so. It is something that is happening all over the country, and it might lead to the real urbanization of city centers around the country at some point, but right now it is mostly a manifestation of people making "lifestyle" choices.

[austlar]

Originally Posted by StoOgE

Im expecting the office market to blow up in the next 2-3 years with several big announcements. You dont bring 10K people to live downtown with 90% office occupancy and not have something big happen.

Perhaps Stacey's tower will go office. I also expect that one to wind up taller than currently planned (if it breaks ground). Its slated to break ground after the Austonian.. no way to they start building the second tallest building downtown.

I'd love to see the Stacey project go office. The location is perfect for it and not at all appropriate for condos starting out at half a million. 6th Street is right out the back door and a pretty rowdy neighborhood for refined living, although I guess most of the apartments would be well above the night-time insanity. Hell, the 24 Hour Market would have to start stocking tinned Beluga and vintage wines. The late night/early AM homeless clientele might appreciate having more choices.

To tell the truth, the reason I don't want the Stacey project to be condos is because I am afraid it will put pressure on the city to change the nature of
6th St. That would be unfortunate. Rowdy old 6th Street, more than anything else, has been responsible for incubating the changes that have come to downtown over the last 15 years. I'm talking about the bars, clubs, restaurants, tourism, SXSW, free (mostly good) national publicity. Everything about the proposed Stacey project reeks of elitism and does not belong in that funky part of downtown. An office/hotel project would fit perfectly with both the daytime environment of nearby office buildings and the night-time environment that conventioneers and tourists so enjoy about Austin.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by austlar

I'd love to see the Stacey project go office. The location is perfect for it and not at all appropriate for condos starting out at half a million. 6th Street is right out the back door and a pretty rowdy neighborhood for refined living, although I guess most of the apartments would be well above the night-time insanity. Hell, the 24 Hour Market would have to start stocking tinned Beluga and vintage wines. The late night/early AM homeless clientele might appreciate having more choices.

To tell the truth, the reason I don't want the Stacey project to be condos is because I am afraid it will put pressure on the city to change the nature of
6th St. That would be unfortunate. Rowdy old 6th Street, more than anything else, has been responsible for incubating the changes that have come to downtown over the last 15 years. I'm talking about the bars, clubs, restaurants, tourism, SXSW, free (mostly good) national publicity. Everything about the proposed Stacey project reeks of elitism and does not belong in that funky part of downtown. An office/hotel project would fit perfectly with both the daytime environment of nearby office buildings and the night-time environment that conventioneers and tourists so enjoy about Austin.

I agree with you and with the ammount of time that is passing and Stacy not moving on the project yet while other projects are moving. I would assume it might be a good plan to go office especially if the Austionian starts before 5th at Congress. Not only that, the office market in downtown is begining to tighten up so may be a helpful shot of office space for downtown right when we need to keep the balance between office and residential at good levels.

[Kevinb]

Rumors on the names of these towers:

"Ovation" - @ the Miller Blueprint block
"Domain" - The condo tower attached to Twelve Hotel @ the Post office site

[GoldenBoot]

Where did you obtain this information? Any renderings? Any solid numbers on these projects, i.e., floor count, height, units, total SF, retail?

Novare & Andrews Urban were supposed to have made an announcement last month (including renderings). But so far, nothing.

[Coldrsx]

"
Prices there start at under $200,000 for a one-bedroom home and under $300,000 for a two-bedroom unit. The most expensive units are in the mid-$500,000s."

SO DAMN CHEAP:<

here in Edmonton in a 35 storey condo, www.theicon.ca, 1bdrms were 300-350k and 2bdrms 390-550k with larger and penthouse in the 800k-1.5mil

[Kevinb]

Sorry, no renderings or solid numbers.

The names came from a non-public source. It seems like there is SO much activity going on downtown that no one can remember which projects have been announced yet or not!

[Thymant]

whats going on with this project? there's been no new post in years!

[HOUSTONIAN57]

Originally Posted by Thymant

whats going on with this project? there's been no new post in years!

Which, most likely means that this is dead lol.