I would agree. The natural beauty of the area is what makes it attractive, not the architecture (aside from a handful of older buildings, as you stated). We can't compete with cities that were established already 100+ years ago, nor should we try. I will say that downtown, from afar, is pretty - as in the skyline, but especially with the river and hills taken into account (once again, natural beauty). That's why I think it's so important to protect that aspect of what we have - one of the many reasons to protect it.

The City recently changed zoning on 6th St. to create a more mixed used environment with more day time activity. Part of the 6th St. bar district can now have buildings up to 140' if the first 15' of the historical structure facing 6th St. is preserved. The developer who pushed for the change is planning to max out the height with residential and office projects. Also, the entire block on the south side closest to to I-35 is planned for Demo to build a residential mid-rise with retail facing 6th St.

6th will likely head in the direction of more upscale nightlife if/once development starts.

Austin is new and modern. Definitely not old or historic architecture and that is completely fine. The US has plenty of older cities that offer that. But our Downtown is full of life and that is super important.

Right. Austin is definitely making a big bold statement architecturally this century!

Agree!

Here's a view of Rainey looking south from the Modern Austin construction webcam. The following projects are U/C in this view:

Waterline - 1,022', 73-stories
Modern Austin - 658', 56-stories
Travis - 594', 52-stories
Paseo - 567', 48-stories
700 River - 500', 42-stories
Vesper - 452', 41-stories
Fairfield Inn - 17-stories
Cambria Hotel - 14-stories

https://i.imgur.com/jnngzwH.png


This is a view of Rainey looking north from the Vesper construction webcam

https://i.imgur.com/L0wUAZR.png

CBRE is hawking the potential of a 96-story (phase 1) tower plus a 79-story (phase 2) tower on the Hobby Building site!

https://austin.towers.net/[email protected]

Holy sh*t, I'm assuming this is just a concept but sooner or later hopefully Austin realizes something like this.

Oof, that parking podium, though!!!

That 96 story building if built would be the tallest west of the Mississippi River right?

Easily. Austin already has the tallest all residential buildings west of the Mississippi. :)

Just to compliment TXDOT blowing up I-35 through downtown.

for sure!

Here’s a New View of Block 32, Building a Double Dose of Towers Downtown


https://towers.wpenginepowered.com/w...-1536x1455.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/MpDTURJ.png

JFC somebody spoiler tag that image

LOL. That was a monster, and I resized it.

Austin still trucking along in a weird economy! It might be shorter but still good density.

One Lady Bird Lake Office Tower Project Redesigned for Residential Use


https://towers.wpenginepowered.com/w...-1536x1070.jpg

https://towers.wpenginepowered.com/w...-1536x1273.jpg

This is a classy looking building!

It's been about 56 days (8 weeks) since the last progress update. Below, the red lines show the current heights of the towers, and the blue lines show the towers' heights at the last update (7-6-23).

Towers shown are those currently under construction that have yet to top-out.

https://i.ibb.co/yf6S6jX/Progress-Update-8-31-23c.gif

Cool how you do that with the diagrams. :tup:

I just take screenshots and edit them on Paint.net. I count how many floors from webcams and the many pictures that SSP contributors share to determine height. I’m thinking these are all pretty close with maybe the exception of The Republic (which is probably closer to 50 meters), but I went by floor count to match the diagrams.

I don’t think The Republic has a P13 level so that might be what throws it off. :)

Nope. The Beaudry (695') in LA is the tallest all residential building west of the Mississippi.

Some sources put it at 655' though it looks more like 695' compared to the surrounding buildings.

https://www.independentaustin.com/in...issippi-river/sorry it still is the Independent in Austin.

SkyscraperPage has it listed as 655 feet, which lists the source for that height as the building elevations, which is a pretty definitive source. The exact height is 654 feet 6 inches. One thing to note, that height is measured from the street level on 7th Street, but there's also a sunken plaza that goes down an extra 15 feet on that side of the tower. In addition to that, there's also a location next to the parking garage on 8th Street that drops down another 40 feet. I believe that is where the 695 foot height comes from. That's a bit deceiving, though, as that point is only next to the parking garage, and the tower is located on the other end of the block.

https://planning.lacity.org/pdiscase...b6e20119bc/pdd

https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=128423

-

There's also 1000 Hill, which is listed as 760 feet. That one's under construction, or at least, is listed as under construction in the database. I couldn't find a construction thread on it, though.

That height also comes from the building elevations, here:
https://planning.lacity.org/staffrpt...-2016-4711.pdf

https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=112815

35-Story Downtown Austin Condo Tower Planned at 14th and Guadalupe


Luminary

https://towers.wpenginepowered.com/w...-1536x1026.jpg

https://towers.wpenginepowered.com/w...w-1536x858.jpg

https://towers.wpenginepowered.com/w...w-1536x860.jpg

Arcadian

https://towers.wpenginepowered.com/w...w-2-scaled.jpg

https://towers.wpenginepowered.com/w...iew-scaled.jpg

https://towers.wpenginepowered.com/w...w-2-scaled.jpg

I like Luminary on top and the bottom of Arcadian lol

The base of Option 2 of the Arcadian reminds me of a low-rise building being built in LA. Love the arches and the variation of the arches, as well as the green terra cotta vertical elements. Very much prefer that version over Option 1.

I'm the opposite. I HATE fake brick arches. Real brick just doesn't behave that way. If you want a brick aesthetic, detail it like real brick.

Luminary is my fav, parking podiums without lined units/other uses are yuck imo.

I think that the tallest all residential west of Chicago is indeed in Austin now.

1000 Hill in LA is under construction (maybe up to 12 stories or so) but the most recent plans submitted to the city indicated a significant height shave and if those are final then it will be under 600 ft. It will be essentially be the same height as Onni's 825 S Hill just 2 blocks north.

Facts. Austin is still pushing high.

I recently read an article about Austin building taller and if residents had thoughts about it. The way the core is developing I think it could become the densest major city in Tx one day.

Pretty sure West Campus in Austin is the densest neighborhood in Texas. Not sure how that relates to the city as a whole though. :)

Getting rid of parking minimums will help this, but we still need to create as-of-right three unit zoning city-wide.

This is the article I was referring to.
Austin supertalls not really dealing with "the problems" of the city
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dez...-the-city/amp/

Right. They think supertalls fix problems in cities? I pity the ones that don't have any. :(

Rainey street neighborhood
https://imgur.com/sNTnWOwl.jpg
Modern webcam

So dense!

I wish I had bought one or more of those old run down houses in Rainey years ago. Imagine what that land is worth today.

Yes, an 800sq ft home on Rainey went on the market for $10 Million recently. 1 of the last 2 remaining single family homes on that street not already sold to developers.

I want to say I read somewhere that the house was originally purchased for like $80k years ago, but I could be wrong about that part. Either way, wild.

The Google Streetview drive-bys of Rainey over the years are pretty amazing. From a quiet little neighborhood just outside of downtown in the late 2000s/early 2010s, to what will be the focal point of Austin's skyline with a supertall in the mid-2020s.

I have friends who own an old bungalow north of Lake Austin Blvd near Deep Eddy. They bought it in the early 80s for $20K or something. I think it's worth somewhere around $1.3M now. It's a small 2/1 with a studio shed in the back.

I guess the downside is the property taxes when you own a place in such a prime location. And the property taxes in Rainey must be especially astronomical.

Lucky friend's!

Yeah. The tax rate is basically the same citywide. It's when the property values skyrocket - so do taxes owed. However, I'd much rather pay a little more in property taxes than pay a state income tax.

Agreed.