Massive South Austin development moving forward

[KevinFromTexas]

As posted in the City Comp thread.

The Business Journal only gives you the full article if you have a subscription.

Apparently there is a 26-story hotel planned for Oak Hill on a piece of land directly across US 290 from the ACC Pinnacle Campus. This building would be visible all over Austin if it gets built. I found another snippet about the project that said it was originally planned to be 8 floors, but that they decreased the footprint to reduce impervious cover, thus making the building taller.

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/pr...g-forward.html

Massive South Austin development moving forward

1M s.f. of homes, shops, offices in Oak Hill
Austin Business Journal - by Jacob Dirr , ABJ Staff
Date: Friday, January 21, 2011, 5:00am CST - Last Modified: Friday, January 21, 2011, 9:52am CST

Developers of the West Park planned unit development — a 1 million-square-foot PUD proposed in the Oak Hill area — are reducing the project’s footprint while raising its height.

The development, steadfastly opposed by area environmental and neighborhood groups, is proposing to reduce its impervious cover — meaning asphalt, concrete or buildings — from 40 percent to 25 percent of the site, its lawyer said.

Buffalo Equities Ltd., owned by Rudy Belton, is seeking “the same densities, but a more compressed project,” said Dowe Gullatt, a lawyer at Coats Rose Yale Ryman & Lee PC working the project. The change ...

[KevinFromTexas]

http://oakhillgazette.com/petition-f...d-p2895-73.htm

Petition filed to block zoning change for West Park PUD

Ann Fowler • Wed, Jul 21, 2010

OAK HILL - Two neighborhoods adjoining a planned development that includes nearly a million-square feet of commercial development have filed a petition to oppose zoning changes for the West Park PUD on Highway 290 West. Residents of Scenic Brook and South Windmill Run are concerned about several issues, including the increased traffic such development will bring.

Rudy Belton of Buffalo Equities owns the PUD. A Planned Unit Development (PUD) allows larger developments to use single or multi-use projects, thus providing greater flexibility in the design. The 122-acre parcel was purchased in 1996, with a PUD approved in 2000 that allowed for 70,000 square feet of commercial development and 906 apartments. Belton was approached several years ago to consider revising the property's plan to be part of a town center for Oak Hill.

That concept required a larger development than originally planned. Belton acquired ten additional acres, and he and his representatives have held more than 20 meetings with stakeholders over three years to determine what local residents want in a development that now is being expanded to include plans for 360 apartments and 120 townhomes, and 900,000 square feet of commercial including an 8-story hotel, a movie theater, medical offices, retail stores and restaurants.

[KevinFromTexas]

This project has been in the works for a while. I can't believe we haven't heard about it.

Here's an article from Fox7 written in November of 2009.
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/news/...-Bring-Traffic

Here's another article from September of 1996 stating the company bought the land and was planning an apartment complex.
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/st...09/story3.html

[Armybrat]

Hope they can get the Y road issues resolved before this project is completed.

[wwmiv]

I honestly hope that this does not gain traction. I'm a firm believer that high-rises belong downtown or in districts specifically set aside for dense high-rise development. What could possibly be out in that direction that would necessitate the construction of such a large hotel?

[KevinFromTexas]

Nothing. And it should stay that way. Deer don't need hotels.

Plus 290 is dangerous. There was a horrible head on 3 car wreck there last week. Two people died. One of the pickups had its cab ripped off the chassis and the transmission slid across the road.

[Armybrat]

If they can get the road issues resolved, then why not build highrise office buildings out there?

But I think it would work better if that was done on the eastside of Travis County. Drippin' will start looking like Round Rock pretty soon.

Decentralize the density.

[JoninATX]

26 stories should make a good impact around the area.

[JoninATX]

I hope they solve the traffic problem in the area.

[KevinFromTexas]

Pinnacle Campus is 145 feet tall. This building could be twice as tall. So yes, it would make a huge impact. You'd be able to see it from all over the place. The elevation out there is around 950 feet - about 500 feet higher than downtown.

[Scott Wood]

Originally Posted by Armybrat

If they can get the road issues resolved, then why not build highrise office buildings out there?

We should not be encouraging yet more jobs to sprawl out to car-dependent locations on the fringe -- whether you "resolve" the roads into a 10-lane freeway or not.

Decentralize the density.

A major reason for density, other than minimizing land use, is that it centralizes things. Whether it be the center of the city, or a smaller district with a variety of uses clustered around a rail stop, the point is to bring things close together. A tower standing alone out along some highway is just sprawl with a little less impervious cover.

Oak Hill does not seem to be well-suited as a site for one of those smaller districts, either -- the area is environmentally sensitive, and the transit connections are minimal (especially as the work side of a commute).

[migol24]

Originally Posted by Armybrat

Drippin' will start looking like Round Rock pretty soon.

Decentralize the density.

And Austin will start looking more like Houston. High-rises scattered around the entire metro.... I agree with wwmiv. I'd prefer this built in the downtown area.

[KevinFromTexas]

The other problem is sprawl of this nature requires a lot of tax dollars. People beat up on development in downtown, but what they don't realize is there's been utilities present in downtown (water, electricity, gas, sewers) for well over 100 years now. 100 years ago there was literally nothing in Oak Hill. Just wilderness. Some of these places on the edge of town that are getting these proposed huge developments have no utilities. Or if they do, they aren't adequate enough for the what the developer is proposing. So you end up with homes with not city sewer systems, but septic tanks. They have poor storm drainage in the streets. They may not have adequate water supply for fire hydrants. And then there's the services besides the utilities. You need fire stations to be built close by. Then there's the issue of spreading police and ambulance coverage farther. It would also be nice to have bus service out there if there's going to be any considerable density level. These things cost tax payers much more money than anything in downtown or the central city does. And then there's the issue of traffic congestion. People will complain that the traffic is bad. That'll mean more tax dollars to widen the roads and put in traffic lights and then maintain those roads and traffic lights forever. Besides the financial burden, what about the environmental ones? Air pollution, light pollution, noise pollution and water pollution. And also the issue of Austin and Central Texas losing a little bit of its character. I'd rather Austin be Austin and not a hilly version of Dallas or Houston. I'm not bad mouthing those other two cities, I like them very much, but let's not be Dallas or Houston, let's be Austin.

[oldmanshirt]

^^^I would think that a big development like this would have to meet some sort of adequate public facilities standard in order to move forward, unless the developer is paying for significant upgrades of roads and utilities in the area. What sort of impact fees does Austin assess?

[The ATX]

Upon further investigation I don't think there is a 26 story tower planned for Oak Hill. When the article was first posted in the ABJ it looks like the South Austin development article and part of the article about the 26 story hotel on Congress were combined. The article about the Oak Hill development doesn't mention the 26 story building anymore. Also, the orginal story said the 26 story tower would be built above the building with the blue awnings which is from there article about the Congress hotel.

Also, one way to get a little more of a particular story from the ABJ than they allow non-subscribers is to search for the article through Google News. It seems you can usually get a paragraph or two more of the story that way.

[KevinFromTexas]

Hmm. I still haven't been able to read that full article. I did read another one that said they were at least planning an 8-story hotel.

This is the quote that does make me wonder if they really are proposing a 26-story tower, since they are talking about reducing the impervious cover from 40% of the site to 25%.

Originally Posted by Austin Business Journal

The development, steadfastly opposed by area environmental and neighborhood groups, is proposing to reduce its impervious cover — meaning asphalt, concrete or buildings — from 40 percent to 25 percent of the site, its lawyer said.