Interesting comparisons, and without a doubt their transit system is leaps and bounds ahead of ours. I believe its MARFA,,,its one of the best in the country.

Well it just shows the intelligence of these kinds of people, they complain first and foremost about traffic increasing. Don't they realize that by putting the people right there on the main street means they will NOT be in their neighborhoods...especially true with burnet. Try and get on a public forum blog or keep in contact with these kinds of people to educate them on the basics. You can always get them by rubbing their fake "green" noses in it by asking them if they are environmentalists,,,or just green to be catchy???And living here they basically have to say yes. Then simply ask them where they plan on putting all the people that are moving here...if the answer is sprawl then he is talking about taking out big chunks of the ENVIRONMENT for crap!!!!

yup. I was trying to explain this to my co-worker here in SF. He also lived in Austin and was complaining with all the building going on and said that its looking more like Houston and Dallas. When I started explaining he seemed to understand it a little bit but wasn't still buying it. I just don't get it with these kinds of people. Where do they learn their stuff from?

Kvue did a segment about the contruction and growth downtown at the end she said there were 4,500 people living in downtown in 1993 & shot up to 9,500 this year. I would not be surprised if we surpassed the 10,000 mark.

http://www.kvue.com/news/Flurry-of-d...149128555.html

I think its on hold.

arggg. I wanna see an updated render of green! Weren't they supposed to vote on it this week?

I think it's been postponed until May, if I'm reading this right in the Austin Chronicle

The Council Meeting From Purgatory
Bring a pillow and wear your hard hat
By Michael King, Fri., April 27, 2012

Im sure some NAs will never be on board with anything the city does but aparently the plan has had major support from several public panels throught the city and everybody on the Planning and zoning commission voted in favor of the plan. Even Bill Spelman stated he was impressed that it unanimously passed the Planning and zoning commission. One of the members on the board, that guy with the long grey hair and classes got interviewed on the news and said that the goal is to get people to live as close to where they work and less of a need to use a car. What I like about the plan is it really builds up the central core. I think most people, even those who are not happy with growth realize we need to grow right.

[QUOTE=KevinFromTexas;5680136]The floor number hasn't changed. It's still at 33 floors which is what it was when I got the heights a while back. I'll probably send them another "confirmation" email once they break ground just to make sure nothing's changed, but they had told me plans were pretty much finalized then.



"She was a good thread. " :)

:haha:

That is a great idea to go back and look at the earlier construction thread! HUM! Now that is some geek entertainment! You know i will!

Heh, I geeked and did the same thing yesterday when Kevin linked them. :) Lots of fun reading.

Then went and linked them at the bottom of the list for others to do the same.

Here is a picture today of COTA with a view of downtown

http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/7...9919847921.jpg
http://www.facebook.com/CircuitofTheAmericas

I'm honestly still bummed that this wasn't built in West Travis County.

Mexic-Arte seeking $10 million from city for new downtown building

http://www.statesman.com/multimedia/...e_1452482c.jpg

http://m.statesman.com/statesman/pm_...tguid=OpQ7mrWk

They want us to pay them to build that decorative piece of crap? No thanks. Spare us the "iconic" buildings. More often than not, that means a building that screams "look at me!" to the detriment of its surroundings. Please take your starchitecture somewhere else, guys. Thanks.

i dont like it

i must be a whole other type of person because i've always liked modernist type of architecture like that and most people don't seem to like it. i feel that austin could use an awesome building like that. i do find it weird though that they are asking the city to fund it.

Re: Mexic-Arte: COOL ! Yes please. We need more pieces that are modern and sculptural to break up all the boxes we have. Texture is a very good thing. Contrast is good! I like that the shape has an interesting cultural root yet finds a modern way to express it. I would prefer they find more private money to help build it. But that is another debate. We need better museums in town. This would be a great add to Congress and bringing more art to Congress.

I agree, I really like it, the way you can kind of see through it is cool. However, it says a committe wants to wittle down our bonds to 300 to 500 million. Sounds like a bunch of republicans must be on that committe....So I guess urban rail and the hospital aren't going to be up this year??

If I had the money, I'd give it to them for this building.

That would be on the north side of Frost? Where their current location is?

I like it, and think it would be interesting with that being right alongside Frost. But are they allowed to take down the building that is there?

I also wish they were using private funding for this.

I agree, I dont understand why we have both the YMCA and now the museum wanting bond money when these should be more of a private venture. We need rail now! We need a medical school, though Im not as concerned as much with that seeing as how so many peices are falling together to make that a reality even without bond money. lets leave the bond proposals to things that will benefit the public city wide.

That rendering is completly wrong as far as building placements go the Ashton is not visible from that angle for goodness sake let alone the fact that the Austonian would be infront of the Ashton.

I like it. One of Austin's shortcomings is lack of world-class museums, and architecture like this at least makes a museum notable...

However, I can't help but think of a hamster wheel when I look at it.

Also, isn't the rail proposal going to be on it's own? Not lumped in with the general bond package.

Early voting starts today. Get out and place your vote for those that have been in office and led this city to the place where it is today...Let's keep these good times rolling. Even though in early polls Leffingwell is leading by more than 20 percent we still need to get out and vote to ensure his re-election!!!

The new Waller boat house is opening this week.

http://assets.bizjournals.com/austin...thouse.jpg?v=1
http://assets.bizjournals.com/austin...thouse.jpg?v=1

Also some of the grandstands @ COTA are looking a lot more like grandstands already.

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...21827414_n.jpg
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...21827414_n.jpg

Can someone help me? I believe (I think it was Jon?) posted some awesome update pictures of the Riverview apartments but I can't seem to remember where the post was, and can't find them. I would really love to put them in the Riverview spoiler.

I was using my phone when I first saw the post and told myself I would update the spoiler when I got home but of course forgot and now can't seem to find them. =(

Edit: NVM. I found the picture in this thread! lol.

i waaaaaaant

More than Trader Joe’s in store: Seaholm development targets ‘urban bohemians’
http://austin.culturemap.com/newsdet...ban-bohemians/

“independent thinkers, global nomads and cultural trend-setters.” cliche after cliche after cliche. i still can't wait to see it finally done though. :)

"sophisticated Urban Bohemians" LOL!

haha

Like me! hahaha

Anyone have any clue as to what's this gonna be? My guess is either more retail/student housing

I would rather they refer to me as a "Bohemian Urban Male"

It sounds very attractive.
Nah, in all seriousness: I get what they're trying to convey. Like Migol said, they probably meant hipster....I think seaholm will be a great destination for younger, urban-minded Austinites. I can only imagine how great it'll all be once the library and surrounding projects are complete.

Seaholm has always been my favorite project.

places like urban outfitters, violet crown cinema, the coffee shops (jo's, austin java, medici) and all already makes this a sort of an attraction to the "counter culture" vibe, so I'm sure spreading it all throughout Seaholm won't be a difficult task. i think it's gonna be very cool. and you, my dear ahealy, are a perfect fit for this neighborhood! :)

It is cool and I do like it. But if it came down to this or the new planetarium (which is also seeking funds), I'd so rather have the planetarium. Art is nice, but I'd rather further the understanding of science and technology.

A number of years ago the museum had another plan that would have put a 6 or 7 story building there. I believe Cousins Properties (developer of Frost) was prepared to help fund it.

Quarters Grayson?
 

The last time I heard anything about this site it was controlled by Simmons Vedder and was slated to become an 8-story apartment complex called Quarters Grayson (I think). The construction appears to be of the same type as the other Quarters projects and it is directly across the street from their 1,200 spacing parking facility. I couldn't find any information to confirm that this is in fact a new Quarters, but I would be shocked if it wasn't.

"sophisticated urban bohemians” is a market segmentation term coined by a marketing group of some kind. It's a standard exercise they go through. Maybe that's why it seems cliched - it's commonly used.

This may help. Is it at the same spot? http://www.quartersoncampus.com/Aust...apartments.asp

Same here!

I know I am biased, but I really wished the rumored Trader Joe's was heading to the east side of Downtown. Specifically, as the momentum continues to grow on Rainey Street, I think a grocery store in this area would be perfect to serve both this high density street and much of East Austin.

Most likely more student housing, that area is poison will growth.

Statesman considering land offers
By American-Statesman Staff
Tuesday, May 1, 2012, 05:51 PM

...It's just a shame you aren't able to join me in the hood anymore! Thanks :) I'm gonna have to visit SF soon to catch the new Alamo Mission. I told Henri Mazza he had my full support in the elevator the other day.

does he have any input on the Mission Drafthouse? the only thing I know is that the Mission location will not be owned by the franchise corporation. apparently, the ritz, village and lamar locations are all still owned by tim league and his wife but the rest of the locations are all part of the franchise, which tim league is CEO. now, the mission location will also be owned by tim league and his wife so the word is that it will most likely be more reminiscent to the ritz location and it will not be run like a franchise, such as the one's in san antonio, houston and virginia locations are run. and given that it is on Mission St, the two will probably be almost identical. but i wonder if mazza has any input on the ritz, lamar and village locations. if he does, he most likely will also have input on the mission location.

anyways... when and if they do i'm gonna apply there again for like the 3rd or 4th time! haha

Yes, yes & yes. Mazza runs the ritz. He's the creative director of the Alamo brand I believe. Y'all are in for a treat!

The remodel of Echelon building from ynn, just in case nobody has driven out there to see it.

http://images.texas.ynn.com/media/20...c14f0d1355.jpg

http://austin.ynn.com/content/top_st...n-for-business

Cool, next week I'll be in that area again so I will be taking alot more pictures. :-)

oh nice! will be awesome to see how alamo mission will turn out. or as they say here in the bay... it will be "hella" awesome. (i hate that word).

Austin Planetarium
 

Definitely the Planetarium...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ual_design.jpg

I would love to see both of them to get built too. One of Austin's major flaws is the lack of a really great art museum (in a city that prides itself on creativity!) But I prefer science to art and would definitely love to see the planetarium get done. If public money gets even tighter I would prefer that all available monies go to I-35 improvements.