AUSTIN | Project Updates Thread Part II

[Echostatic]

I still think the second iteration of the Fairmont would have been the best tower in Austin, even with everything in the pipeline.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by Sigaven

Oh it's possible

So you're saying something that is already value engineered can be taken down another notch? I guess we have proof of that with 3rd and Shoal. The people developing the project can continue to cut costs right up to completion. That sucks because too often function trump's asthetics. I'm thinking stucco is sometimes value engineered although quality takes a huge hit there, and you can't value engineer that anymore so there probably are limitations. Value engineering is basically reducing costs while maintaining integrity and function either by using cheaper materials or methods. It has no definitive end point until the project is considered complete.

[enragedcamel]

I don't have an eye for these things... yet. How do you tell when a skyscraper has been value-engineered?

I mean the current iteration of Fairmont (what is referred to as "meh" in that picture) looks quite good to me. Maybe I just have low standards..

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by enragedcamel

I don't have an eye for these things... yet. How do you tell when a skyscraper has been value-engineered?

I mean the current iteration of Fairmont (what is referred to as "meh" in that picture) looks quite good to me. Maybe I just have low standards..

I belonged to an engineering group in the past. Not everything value engineered is visible. We had to construct, maintain, repair, manufacture to spec, maintain functionality and quality at the lowest cost possible. If titanium bolts were planned, we might substitute for stainless to save costs if they still met the specs, to save money for instance. Sometimes when you look at a rendering and the finished tower looks different, the building material may have changed to something less expensive. I think the Fairmont went through design changes before construction which I don't personally think was attributed to value engineering. Changing the color of the glass and thickness to cut costs after the design was finalized would be considered V.E., not saying this was the case with the Fairmont. In the case of 3rd and Shoal, covering the garage section to the steel mesh instead of using materials that matched the rest of the tower is V.E. The engineers were tasked to cover the garage podium with less expensive material, and provide mostly non mechanical ventilation. The original plan may have been to cover the garage and provide mechanical ventilation, expensive, to what they ended up with. Developers are constantly tasking the engineers to re design to cut costs. Most of the time the changes are not visible. All we can do as observers if we don't have inside information, is to study the renderings, follow the construction and see the final product and compare, and then assume V.E. I think the 1000 room Marriot was the opposite. The finished product looks far more expensive then the horrendous first renderings.

[The ATX]

A demo permit was filed today for the large warehouse at 4th & Brazos. This is across the street from one of the Railyard Condo blocks.

Permit:
https://abc.austintexas.gov/public-s...ertyrsn=166208

Permit Attachment:
https://abc.austintexas.gov/attachme...hBbOZLrg%3D%3D

[chinchaaa]

Originally Posted by The ATX

A demo permit was filed today for the large warehouse at 4th & Brazos. This is across the street from one of the Railyard Condo blocks.

https://abc.austintexas.gov/attachme...hBbOZLrg%3D%3D

wait, is that Brazos Hall? it's really such a shame that any and every building is being destroyed. i love development, but this city will have zero character if we knock all of this stuff down (and tbh, we're already very low on the character scale).

[Echostatic]

Quarter block site, plenty of room for a tower

[The ATX]

Yup. Here's the site from a DA that was filed in January.


https://abc.austintexas.gov/public-s...ertyrsn=224844

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by The ATX

A demo permit was filed today for the large warehouse at 4th & Brazos. This is across the street from one of the Railyard Condo blocks.

Permit:
https://abc.austintexas.gov/public-s...ertyrsn=166208

Permit Attachment:
https://abc.austintexas.gov/attachme...hBbOZLrg%3D%3D

Wow! Kind of tragic for my industry. Brazos Hall was a pretty well regarded offsite venue for smaller conventions. We'll miss them.

Also, it's a bit of a zig zag from what I understood the ownership of that full block to be, meaning . . . I thought there was a single owner for the northern half and a single owner for the southern half, and that any building would occur by the half block, and not by the quarter block. So . . . makes me wonder what's going on with the quarter of the blocked bounded by 4th and San Jacinto . . .

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by We vs us

Wow! Kind of tragic for my industry. Brazos Hall was a pretty well regarded offsite venue for smaller conventions. We'll miss them.

Also, it's a bit of a zig zag from what I understood the ownership of that full block to be, meaning . . . I thought there was a single owner for the northern half and a single owner for the southern half, and that any building would occur by the half block, and not by the quarter block. So . . . makes me wonder what's going on with the quarter of the blocked bounded by 4th and San Jacinto . . .

The tower could still have a larger footprint. The 1/4 block drawing is just for Demo on that 1/4 block.

[Echostatic]

It never stops. 82-84 East.

https://austin.towers.net/41-story-c...lyn@towers.net

[KevinFromTexas]

^Adios to the Fairmont special lighting view from the northbound lanes of I-35.

FYI, Google updated their satellite imagery for the Austin area, and the images are from the end of November. Not the 3D models, but the actual photographs. You can now can see the Independent completed, along with 5th & West, the Hotel ZaZa, and others, as well as the construction sites for the Block 185 and Indeed Towers, as well as 405 Colorado and 300 Colorado. Plus, you can see the completed 2nd Barton Creek Resort Hotel Tower, West Campus, the stadium expansion, the MLS stadium construction, and the Domain, as well as the Kalahari Resort in Round Rock.

[ahealy]

I'd be interested in a side by side comparison with Hanover Republic Square....

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by ahealy

I'd be interested in a side by side comparison with Hanover Republic Square....

The Towers article notes that this is just a placeholder rendering . . . we should expect more details in the next 6 months or so.

But yeah, generally speaking, it's got a lot in common with the Hanover towers.

More importantly, when is it going to make sense to redevelop the Camden? We're regularly building parking podiums as high, without even talking about the towers on top. If you wanted to get aggressive, that lot looks like it could support 4 500 footers.

Just saying -- if every conceivable corner of DT is up for grabs, it stands to reason that even new lowrises like the Camden might be targets.

[urbancore]

Lee has a great track record for getting things done. I would give this one a good shot at getting done.

[Jdawgboy]

My cousin and I ate at that restaurant a couple of months ago. Not bad if you like Mediterranean/Lebanese food. Seems like it's popular with the local Middle Eastern population too. Will be interested in where they plan to move next.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

^Adios to the Fairmont special lighting view from the northbound lanes of I-35.

They barely use it anyways, plus they have never used the lighting built into the spire at all.

It's going to look crazy with so many tall highrises so close to I35. It really takes us up to the next level, had some family members visiting in June for a reunion and several commented on how impressive the skyline looks coming into DT on north bound 35. Some of them live in New York City so if they thought the skyline looked good then we are doing something right lol.

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

They barely use it anyways, plus they have never used the lighting built into the spire at all.

It's going to look crazy with so many tall highrises so close to I35. It really takes us up to the next level, had some family members visiting in June for a reunion and several commented on how impressive the skyline looks coming into DT on north bound 35. Some of them live in New York City so if they thought the skyline looked good then we are doing something right lol.

At the current pace, with what we already know and what seems to be on the horizon, the size of Austin's 2025ish skyline could be on par with the current 2020 skylines of cities like Seattle or maybe even San Francisco. That's quite amazing considering the size of the Austin metro compared to those much larger cities. I can't even venture to guess what Austin's 2030 skyline will look like.

[g-man435]

Why am I here though? You will soon find out...

https://i.ibb.co/K7k0z03/30475-DE3-B...-F49-A7781.jpg

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

They barely use it anyways, plus they have never used the lighting built into the spire at all.

It's going to look crazy with so many tall highrises so close to I35. It really takes us up to the next level, had some family members visiting in June for a reunion and several commented on how impressive the skyline looks coming into DT on north bound 35. Some of them live in New York City so if they thought the skyline looked good then we are doing something right lol.

Yeah, I wish they would use it. We did drive downtown one night just to see the Christmas lights they had on the Fairmont.