AUSTIN | Waterline (98 Red River) | 1,022 Feet | 73 Floors | U/C

[The ATX]

I expected WeWork to to submit a new site plan for the WPP site that had a lot more office. But they are requesting a 5 year extension to the current site plan. I don't think it can be extended for 5 more years under current rules. This also means they may not be planning to start anything for a while.

https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...ertyrsn=879326

[Jdawgboy]

Well that sux but can't say that I'm suprised. Hopefully it won't be another 5 years before something happens.

[The ATX]

Wow. This is from the ABJ article about 90 Rainey:

Burns said he doesn't expect construction [of 90 Rainey] to start until at least 2021. He said he wants his project to deliver near the same time as WeWork's forthcoming office tower at Red River and East Cesar Chavez streets a stone's throw away.

Burns said WeWork is planning a tower of nearly 1 million square feet, though WeWork hasn't released any details on its plans yet.

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...ine#i/11242153

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by The ATX

Wow. This is from the ABJ article about 90 Rainey:



https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...ine#i/11242153

Holy crap.

How big is something like that?

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by We vs us

Holy crap.

How big is something like that?

Since WeWork is in the process of extending the site plan for the three original WPP towers, this would be for the fourth tower with the "NA" in the thread title which is the parking lot next to IHOP. That would have to be another new tallest candidate.

[futures]

Wow, that's awesome to hear.

I would also think WeWork would want to make a splash with the design of the building. Really interested to see how this project develops! It could end up stealing the spotlight from everything else on the boards at the moment.

[KevinFromTexas]

It depends on the footprint, but it'll be tall either way. 6 X Guadalupe is 1,133,428 from what I have for it, and The Republic is 920,498.

[lzppjb]

Austin is hotter than a pepper sprout!

Kevin, if they go with a point tower on that small lot behind IHOP, it could be a tallest, right? Say they only use 2/3 of the lot for the actual tower footprint.

You're good at these estimations. Humor me.

[Echostatic]

If this is talking about the tower on the parking lot, then it would probably be around 700 feet. It's a very large lot, and if the tower portion of the building uses all of it then it might not break any records.

Still fantastic to see this site get developed, no matter what ends up there!

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by Echostatic

If this is talking about the tower on the parking lot, then it would probably be around 700 feet. It's a very large lot, and if the tower portion of the building uses all of it then it might not break any records.

Still fantastic to see this site get developed, no matter what ends up there!

I mean, it is a big lot, but 1 million square feet is big also. The number I have for 500 West 2nd is 511,500 square feet, and it's a 400 foot building. The footprint of this tower would have to be twice the size of 500 West 2nd's for it to be another 400 footer, and that's not likely since it would make it ridiculously bulky. I'm not even sure it would fit on that block if that were the case. That block stretches roughly 600 feet from Red River to I-35, and is about 92,565 square feet. I mean, yes, they could knock out 1 million square feet by putting it in an 11-story building, but it would be 150 feet by 600 feet - roughly the width of the Capitol. My guess is it'll be about as tall as the Republic, but maybe a bit slimmer. I just can't imagine they'd gobble up that whole block.

The smart thing to do would be to have the office tower on the west side of the block and then build something else later on the east side of the block where the Ihop is, either residential or a hotel. The east side of that block is going to have protected views to the north because of the old Palm School that likely isn't going anywhere and Palm Park north of that. It would also have decent views to the south, assuming nothing else devours the rest of Rainey Street.

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

The smart thing to do would be to have the office tower on the west side of the block and then build something else later on the east side of the block where the Ihop is, either residential or a hotel. The east side of that block is going to have protected views to the north because of the old Palm School that likely isn't going anywhere and Palm Park north of that. It would also have decent views to the south, assuming nothing else devours the rest of Rainey Street.

The IHOP part of the block wouldn't be part of this. I believe that is owned by World Class Capital .

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by paul78701

The IHOP part of the block wouldn't be part of this. I believe that is owned by World Class Capital .

Yep. The IHOP is part of Nate Paul's coworking empire.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by We vs us

Yep. The IHOP is part of Nate Paul's coworking empire.

He should probably focus on a coworking storage concept where people could store their crap together.

[The ATX]

The formal site plan extension filing was added to extension application. I thought this snippet from the extension request was interesting:


https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...ertyrsn=879326

[We vs us]

That damn tunnel.

Somehow I thought it had finally gotten certification, though maybe what I'm remembering is that the suit vs. the contractor was settled.

[ILUVSAT]

To receive an extension one must show cause as to why the plan should be extended, correct? In this case, they provided plausible reasons. However, I do not believe those are the reasons why construction has not commenced on the WPP site.

Was the original plan approved and released based on contingencies? I thought once a plan was approved one could move forward with construction - meaning the developer would not have to wait on someone else's project (i.e., Waller Creek Tunnel) to commence his/her own.

In any case, if those reasons are true - and Sutton/McCourt were really ready to excavate and begin construction but had to wait until the tunnel and trial improvements were complete - I would expect they would have sued the city for delaying their project and costing them a boat-load of money.

[We vs us]

Just adding another WeWork/Austin datapoint:

WeWork tightens grip on Austin by offering brokerage services
'Austin is a very large market for us from a demand standpoint'

Coworking giant WeWork Cos. is tightening its grasp on Austin’s office market by launching a full-service brokerage firm in the capital city.

Scores of companies inquire about WeWork space every week but don’t sign on as members. Those leads are now being referred to WeWork Space Services, a real estate advisory division that launched in New York City last year. Austin is the second city to get the service.

“Because of our visibility, many companies come directly to WeWork without a broker — those leads are then distributed to the Space Services team,” said Jason Bauer, a WeWork senior vice president who leads WeWork Space Services. “If they do have a broker, we respect that broker relationship and don’t touch it.”

WeWork Space Services officially launched in Austin on April 26 with a team of eight licensed real estate brokers with an average four to five years of experience, Bauer said. Charlie Tanner, formerly a principal at Grove Coast, is leading the Austin team. The names of the other Austin brokers weren’t immediately available.

Demand for WeWork office space is greater than its supply in Austin, Bauer said.

“Austin is a very large market for us from a demand standpoint,” he said. “We believe that the leads that we are able to give our team will enable us to generate a sizable amount of business for each of the brokers.”

Following New York and Austin, WeWork Space Services is expected to launch in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto and London later this year.

WeWork's dominance

WeWork is the largest coworking company in Austin by far, leasing just under 500,000 square feet for five locations — and a sixth on the way.

Austin real estate magnate Nate Paul, CEO of World Class Capital Group LLC, is attempting to rival WeWork with the launch of NowSpace. Paul has said his venture has more than a million square feet in Austin that it plans to transform into coworking or flex office space.

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...-offering.html

[The ATX]

This is from the ABJ article that We vs us posted.

There's no new info, but it states that WeWork has declined to comment on its apparently big plans for Austin. I suspect the next big news we get will be a site plan filing for the alleged 1,000,000 Sq. Ft. office project planned for the parking lot next to IHOP. I am surprised they want to extend site plan for the project formerly known as Waller Park Place since it included not only office, but hotel, condos and apartments. Maybe they really are diversifying or will be bringing in a partner (s).

WeWork remains bullish on Austin and appears to have massive growth plans for the city.

Waller Creek Owner LLC, a company registered to the WeWork global headquarters at 115 W. 18th St. in New York City, late last year purchased 4.7 acres at Red River and East Cesar Chavez streets in downtown Austin. According to a filing with city of Austin Development Services, that company is asking for a five-year expansion of a site plan for a proposed development that consists of three mixed-use towers with 300,000 square feet of office space, a 150-room hotel, 574 residential units and 60,500 square feet of retail space.

The coworking company has declined to speak about its development plans for the downtown Austin site.

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by The ATX

This is from the ABJ article that We vs us posted.

There's no new info, but it states that WeWork has declined to comment on its apparently big plans for Austin. I suspect the next big news we get will be a site plan filing for the alleged 1,000,000 Sq. Ft. office project planned for the parking lot next to IHOP. I am surprised they want to extend site plan for the project formerly known as Waller Park Place since it included not only office, but hotel, condos and apartments. Maybe they really are diversifying or will be bringing in a partner (s).

Yup, thanks for finding the info I’d originally meant to quote

I liked this article because it’s a confirmation of not only Austin’s importance to WeWork as a market, but also as a possible place to launch more extensive ops. And to me, that continues to buttress the idea that whatever WeWork builds on Waller Creek will include some sort of WeWork corporate presence as well.

[The ATX]

An update to the site plan extension request this week indicates that the extension will be approved with no changes to the proposed towers. But there has apparently been some changes made to the site utilities plans. So that has to be resolved before the site plan extension is officially approved.