I wish 21c never tanked. That would've been so perfect in E. Downtown.

These new photos are AWESOME! Thanks so much, Kevin!

I wish 21c AND T Stacey AND the AMOA would have never tanked.

Ahhh....I so agree. Downtown would have been so so so amazing if they hadn't. We need a giant museum downtown.

Correct me if I am mistaken, but that view of Whitley will be covered by the Marriott soon enough.

You're right. For some reason I was imagining it would be farther to the left. Judging by how wide the hotel will be north to south, it should easily fill in that gap to a height that is at least equal to One Congress Plaza (the stair stepped building).

I'm really hoping that once they build the new residential project at Lamar Plaza that it'll have a nice view of downtown from the parking garage, although, it'll probably be in back since they'll want to capitalize on the view. There's a nice view along Lamar since the skyline sort of stretches out in front of you from buildings way up in West Campus all the way down to the river and over to the Rainey Street/Waterfront District. Pretty much all of the new highrise construction planned in downtown/West Campus will be visible from that location. It's too bad the new residential building at Lamar Plaza isn't there already.

Thank you.

http://impactnews.com/articles/area-...ifamily-growth

Update: Added Mexic-Arte Museum to the OP.

Thanks for the thread Kevin. :) And LOVE the new avatar! Almost didn't recognize you at first.

I watched the bats last night. Plus I usually change my avatars to something "spooky" this time of year. It's actually from a graphic that was for the Rolling Stones concert in Austin a few years ago.

I'll miss Lamar Plaza as it is. SAVE BITCHIN THREADS! :cool:

Keep Bitchin Threads just get rid of the building and parking around it.....:) they will be able to relocate I'm sure.

I noticed a bunch of activity this morning at that site just North of St. Davids hospital on 35. I forget the name of development but they built an office building there not too long ago. Anyway I saw a bunch of concrete trucks out there. Anybody know whats going up over there?

Not counting the capitol, these were the first skyscrapers in Austin.

I'll say one thing, they better not change their facades.

http://www.statesman.com/news/busine...ield-bu/nSShZ/

I wonder if it could be the Austin Medical Center of Excellence?

That area is called University Park.

http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/l...en_935990a.jpg

http://www.statesman.com/news/busine...worth-1/nRcHT/

^That's what it is. The address is 3400 Harmon Avenue. It's apartments. The site plan shows it'll be 73 feet tall with 5 floors. Google Maps has an updated image of the area. The construction site is south of Concordia Avenue, and they've already extend Harmon Avenue all the way south to East 32nd Street.

JW Marriott - 408 feet - 34 floors

http://i.imgur.com/2vE01.jpg

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

http://i.imgur.com/Y9d7n.jpg

SkyHouse Austin - 264 feet - 23 floors

http://i.imgur.com/HcSS5.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/V1mCf.jpg

Whitley - 196 feet - 16 floors

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

http://i.imgur.com/3gmON.jpg

So that's why they were pouring concrete in those trenches at the JW Marriott.

ABJ: 47 ways downtown Austin is changing
 

^That article mentions the new hospital would be best put right next to the Frank Erwin Center on a surface parking lot. We have got to get people out to vote for this proposition.

There are two cranes up at East 11th and I35.

Yes, I was surprised to see those that last night when coming home (out of town all weekend). I knew they were building new apartments over there, didn't realize it was going to be a 2 crane operation.

I like it. That will significantly help build the East 11th corridor :tup:

Now if they could just do something about 12th Street. I bought my house on East 12th back in 2004 at the time there was a plan to clean up East 11th and 12th Streets. Eight years later 11th has come a long way, 12th not so much.

AGREED. What's the status with the big residential project over there?

It must be the Eleven apartments.

Website: http://www.forestargroup.com/real-es...roperty/id=592

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl....html?page=all

So does that mean that the Whole Foods tower behind the current headquarters fell through?

I have been wondering if the City of Austin requires a certain percentage of every new apartment development to be efficiencies or one bedroom units. Some cities do this to keep low income (affordable for the neighborhood) apartments available. It seems to me that Austin is becoming unaffordable for most renters. What is Austin doing besides charging a fee for affordable units then building them all in one development? I should know this after 20 years here but I do not.:shrug: Thanks.

No. Still in discussions with Schlosser (the developer of the "tower"). Zoning and original site plan have already been approved by the city.

There are a several errors in that Jones Lang LaSalle report she quotes in her story:

1. Whole Foods signed a short-term lease at Las Cimas Office Park on Loop 360 - they say they are "looking" for 300K sf but they have already tenantively agreed to take Schlosser's building behind their headquarters once it gets built. The only thing that will change that will be a delay in construction.
   
   
2. PPD has been looking for a large flex or industrial space to consolidate all of their locations for almost 2 years. Eventually they will end up signing a lease somewhere, but their search is moving as slow as molasses.
   
   
3. HID is building a large industrial building in TechRidge so they are only looking for temporary industrial space to occupy until their building gets built.
   
   
4. WhaleShark was thisclose to signing a long term lease at Seaholm, but the developers couldn't guarantee a delivery date for the redevelopment and WhaleShark won't sign a lease if they don't know when they can move in, so they are talking to their current landlord about expanding their existing office space onto two more floors in the building. WhaleShark may still end up going to Seaholm if they can't work out their office expansion, but they are VERY unhappy with the Seaholm developers right now.
   
   
5. Alcatel-Lucent just signed a lease renewal for 75,000 square feet for their current office space at 12515-5 Research Park, so they are not in the market looking for office space.

Skyhouse
 

I'm a bit surprised to see that Skyhouse is taking up that whole space from the Legacy parking garage to River St. They too are putting the garage separate and abutting Legacy at 7 floors. At lease that will leave some Milago tenants with a view rather than totally blocked by another tower. There are no heights in the site plan but at 7 floors that seems equal or slightly less than the Legacy garage.

I don't see that the pool will be on ground so that's nice it will be in the air maybe on top if they have one?

But I feel for the one single house at the corner of Rainy and River St that did not sell, they will be hearing lots of noise for a couple years while this is under construction.

^I haven't been able to find the building elevations yet for SkyHouse. Have you found them yet? I asked for the heights and got them by email, but I would still like to see the building elevations themselves.

And ditto on the construction noise. Over the last month they've been tearing down and starting construction on a new psychiatric hospital on property that is immediately behind our neighborhood. Our backyard faces it. They've been banging around back there tearing down the buildings and pushing dirt around. A few nights ago they were at it all night long with some bright lights lighting up the site. It's planned as a 200 bed hospital in a 2-story building. I've even seen the site plans for it.

Is this the one y'all keep referring to as that "unnamed project"? Someone earlier mentioned they thought it was the Quarters at Bandera House and I think they were right.

I googled it

(Click on the second link for an excel file on the city's website)

The address for the project is 2215 Rio Grande.

• Video Link

Read the article, this sounds like corruption to me. The building's occupants include not just individuals or couples, but also special interest groups and lobbying firms. And now they could stand to get a tax break.

While the building is historic in the sense that it was Austin's first building over 200 feet tall (not counting the Capitol and UT Tower), it's architectural merits and historical ones mostly end there.

Besides, the threat of the building ever being torn down will never be there. With the building gone, it would create the possibility of a new capitol view corridor (CVC) to protect the views of the Capitol dome, a state and local law that was put in place after the building was built in 1966. Nothing could be built in its place that would reach the same height or square feet as the Westgate Tower without likely causing opposition or the specter of a rush to create a new CVC over that lot. Also the only thing that would require/cause the building's removal would be declining living conditions or structural failure leading to it being condemned.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/l...landmar/nScGH/

A few photo updates from in and around downtown.

Gables at Park Plaza

I don't think this will block the view of the Monarch at least from most of the pedestrian bridge since the tower is only on the Western edge. The Eastern part is about as tall as it's gonna get.

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

http://i.imgur.com/KF3FW.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/J7Fts.jpg

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

RiverView Apartments

The scaffolding is down on the Northern buildings.

http://i.imgur.com/c0lXj.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/f9gkS.jpg

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

http://i.imgur.com/JGa5s.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/5oNUf.jpg

SkyHouse

Site prep continues.

http://i.imgur.com/H65XJ.jpg

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

Whitley

Topped out and work on the facade continues. I'm interested in how they cover the lower parking garage levels. In the renders it looked like limestone, it could be a nice contrast to the dark brick. I still have hope this could be a nice looking building.

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

http://i.imgur.com/xf3Yq.jpg

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

Hyatt Place

Finishing touches put on the facade, still ugly.

http://i.imgur.com/6abKw.jpg

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

Parking garage screens are up and the outside elevator is coming down.

http://i.imgur.com/yyX3q.jpg

I still hate the West side.

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

Although from the East it blends in nicely with it's neighbors.

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

http://i.imgur.com/65xxI.jpg

JW Marriott

The hole is getting deeper.

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

http://i.imgur.com/VSLb9.jpg

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

East 2nd Street is open again.

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

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

Eleven Apartments

http://i.imgur.com/nMe8O.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/xA6se.jpg

These will have some great views as long as you don't mind living on the access road of I35.

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

http://i.imgur.com/C1aXM.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/oOc4I.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/S3bu7.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/oupX2.jpg

Wow, that blank face on the Hyatt tower is god awful terrible. What were they thinking? Isnt that old warehouse a protected building and therefor that blank side will always be showing? Why didnt they put windows on it? Im all for density but it looks like a terd.

Great update. Thanks! It's good the view of The Monarch will still be there. That'll mean the views from it will be safe, too. And RiverView is looking nice.

I know, it's not turning out the way I hoped it would.

It does look a little better than when it was beige on the top and bottom.

http://i.imgur.com/98lxq.jpg

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

I almost think it could be salvaged if they painted fake windows on that wall.

That could work, or paint some kind mural on it.

I never doubted for one moment that the telephone poles on the north and east sides of the federal court house were going to be eventually removed and the power lines buried...until today. They aren't coming down. The brick in the side walk is being cut to accommodate those poles and I'm, well I don't know what the right word is. Confusion might approximate it.

Yeah, I'm all for a 10-story version of the "Hi How Are You?" frog/monster thing. Or a reproduction of the now defunct "We are all robots" mural on the train bridge. Just something so I don't have to cringe as I drive by twice a day. As for the power poles, I also hoped they would go underground.

Nice photo update. Good job!

public art
 

Yeah, I think we could use some good BIG public art projects downtown. Things are beginning to look a tad sterile.

Oh, and those power lines at he fed courthouse......are you joking???? Someone needs to be fired.

They are not doing it now because of the cost. It costs between $250,000 and $500,000 in the suburbs for just a couple of blocks, probably much more downtown, to bury existing above ground power lines. My company had done it for new construction before. Obviously the power has to be cut and rerounted for a short period during the transition. It's like closing part of the highway - you have to have a detour. The cost goes up if the lines are the main power lines to what are called 'protected' or 'exempt' buildings - in other words buildings that cannot have their power cut off. All those office buildings that were exempted from the rolling blackouts that hit the rest of us a couple of years ago? It's because they had tech companies in them who made deals with the city to exempt their buildings and not cut their power. To take existing lines off-line from exempt buildings, even for a short period, requires you to create secondary line when there is no redudant power - the cost can be massive.

Yes, these companies have backup generators, but that's only for emergencies and backup generators do not give off the clean consistently smooth power stream required by tech companies to run their computers and data centers. Some companies have huge (expensive) power cleaners that scrub the power coming in from the generators when necessary, but that's a luxury that only the Intels, AMDs and Apples can afford. As we learned from the rolling blackouts, the downtown grid cannot be partially shut off, so it never gets shut off. And there's not much redundant power downtown. Also, not many large backup generators for the downtown buildings either. Not the type that can run your whole office - just the emergency lights & elevators kind.

Official ground breaking of the JW Marriott today
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/a...round-on-hotel

Just found this too:
Waller Creek design winner to be announced this week!!



http://www.kvue.com/news/Waller-Cree...174349471.html

New hotel plans revealed: 20 stories, roof terrace slated for Austin

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

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/sl...ries-roof.html

Looks like a mix in design of the JW and Hyatt building built. I like it, especially the terrace portion. Want to see the facade though because not a fan of the Hyatt in the regard.