Was that maybe Covert Buick?

There's also a photo on flickr from the Austin History Center of a VW dealership at 11th & Lamar.

There used to be an Isuzu dealership on 5th near Nueces.

Not really a brand you hear much about any more, but my dad bought a truck there when I was a kid.

The Westin
 

Does anyone know if they've set up the crane at the Westin site on 5th yet?

From Jude's blog:

The Riley – New Development In Downtown Austin’s Warehouse District.

It's at 4th and Lavaca, where 219 West used to be. Across from Halcyon.

http://downtownaustinblog.org/2013/0...ouse-district/


http://i1.wp.com/downtownaustinblog....size=523%2C450

Nicely scaled for Warhouse district. Larger but not way out of scale! Yeah!

New rendering of 7Rio
 

New rendering of 7Rio:

http://impactnews.com/austin-metro/c...use-high-rise/

I hadn't ever known that. My uncle had an Isuzu Pup back in the 90s - a small sized pickup.

They have to dig down 4 levels for the parking levels. So they won't be putting up a crane until all the dirt is removed. They might not get the crane up until the end of the year. Digging usually takes a long time.

Here it is. It looks good.

http://i.imgur.com/B4Bco49.jpg

I like the scale and the presentation to the street is good. Austin could use a ton more infill like this. Personally - I'd rather see 50 projects of this scale in the CBD rather than a 1000'er. Austin has far far too much dead blocks, blighted lots and super low intensity building in the CBD to develop cohesive urbanism.

Nice progress in a few years, but a long ways to go and high-rises alone won't accomplish it. We need more projects that aren't as capitol intensive and can happen in less than ideal market conditions.

I think the major obstacle in the past to developing truly cohesive urbanism in the CBD has been (at least in large part) due to onerous parking requirements. Hopefully that problem can be alleviated.

yeah i'm with you.

Should you like to see taller towers in the CBD of Austin, then you obviously did not think your comments through. Austin is encumbered by Capital View Corridors. Should "50" more mid-rise towers be built in its CBD, on currently available property, we would not have enough room for another high-rise.

I would also like to see infill...having said that, I assume your "50" mid-rise buildings was at least a slight exaggeration.

I would love to see 50 or more of these infill buildings - on the CVC encumbered lots only which don't accommodate high rises. On all of the other lots I'm fine with 1000 footers. :)

i don't think of any of this as thoroughly as anybody here. and i really don't care. but when it comes to it, i am a practical person as much as anybody on here. yeah i'd like to see a thousand footer... but i would honestly rather infill before anything else (best to build supertalls around a cities character rather than the other way around, if it ever happens). if we start building supertalls after supertalls, it doesn't really contribute much to its character in some odd way. its a better idea to develop the city first and then start from there. if anything like it ever comes to fruition it would be several decades for that to happen. and that's still a big if. also the thing about 50 midrises... i really did not give emphasis on the number, rather i was simply agreeing with kohmet that hypothetically, it be best to infill as opposed to worry about getting a supertall.

also, i'd like to point out my continuing track record of derailing topics. it wasn't my intention to stir this into another debate of supertalls. oddly though, i'm really good at doing that.

Seconded. That kind of project above would be good along the major arteries outside of downtown and on the CVC restricted lots.

1. You'd be wise to not assume that I don't think about this stuff - I'm practically obsessed with it.

2. I care far far more about developing a livable, walkable vibrant downtown than I care about skyline. I'm not against tall buildings per se at all - there are great cities that are tall (Vancouver, Manhattan) and wonderful central cities that are not (Portland, Paris, DC etc.). But what matters to me more than anything is what is going on on the street, from the human perspective. I just don't care that much about skyline, at least, not in comparison to urbanism. That's why when I said I'd rather have 50 infill projects like these that activate the street, infill blighted and underutilized sections of downtown and create real urbanism, I meant EXACTLY what I said.

3. 50 wasn't an exaggeration on my part at all - in fact, I would say 50 more projects on this scale would be better characterized as "a good start".

And supertalls in Austin are going to be a rare rare occurrence (so rare we don't have one yet) if they happen at all. I'd rather not wait for one or two of these things to come along (and hope they are able to be financed, and get through 5 years of approvals without the economy tanking). So much of Austin's downtown is blighted - a lot of these projects happening can help to knit together the areas downtown to create something special.

Or to put it another way - I'd far rather be Portland, with it's squat skyline but incredibly impressive downtown than be Houston with it's marvelous skyline and disappointing urbanism.

This could go down hill like the affordable housing discussion. :rolleyes: I think we all agree in the sense that there are room for both. A lively street level downtown isn't mutually exclusive of a downtown with lots of high rises. People wouldn't be clamoring for downtown high rise living if the excellent street scene in Austin didn't exist.

I'm not opposed to tall buildings. You won't find me in a charette moaning about how Austin used to be all cool and stuff. But they're hard to do, they're fragile things and if you're talking supertalls, they will meet incredible resistance in this city. And if I had to choose between 1 supertall and 50 of these mid-rises, I'd take the 50 in a heartbeat. We get so much more out that kind of development.

Hill Country, that affordable housing comment was funny.... We need more photos of buildings and renderings on this forum! If Shonda Novak doesn't announce a new building soon, I'm gonna start playing SIM city and sniff glue.

there is this....Courtesy of DowntownAustinBlog.
http://i1342.photobucket.com/albums/...psaff8b354.jpg

http://downtownaustinblog.org/2013/0...ng-of-block-1/

Ask and I shall receive!!! Nice!

It does suck how the design for green has changed so much from the original proposals. I think it's gross how they've even changed architects like 3 times. I would have never rooted for Trammel Crow if I knew then what I know now.