The guy with the long grey hair was probably Dave Sullivan; he chairs the Planning Commission; and is an urbanist (although he gets along pretty well with the neighborhood interests, he has never kowtowed to them).

The Zoning & Platting commission is a different beast. Much more short-term, specific zoning cases. I don't remember them even getting to look at the IA plan.

And the ANC has fought Imagine Austin the whole time - even though IA put a lot of hedging in there at their behest (claiming to not want to conflict with neighborhood plans - even though the majority of the neighborhood plans passed here in Austin, unlike the one Dave and I worked on in OWANA, are irresponsible garbage).

You are right about these neighborhood plans, totally out of touch with reality. My neighbohood Association Southwood NA is begining the process of developing a plan to which im intent on attending some of these sessions and I plan on making some noise.

IMO the ANC should be abolished, their ideals are out of step with the city and they act like they are a totally seperate governing entity than the city council. The ANC may have worked when Austin was a small city, but its redundant and obsolete now.

Crane is up at Gables II
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...xs/crane-2.jpg

Thank you! They looks so big.

The cranes are definitely back!

Nice. Yep, I went on a crane spotting ride today and dropped 4 pounds in the process! Bicycling rules. There's some sweet skyscraper views forming west of the convention center.

Oh yeah, and I saw Evan Smith (from Texas Monthly) downtown across from the W. I snapped a photo of him from across the street and he gave me a glare. lol

They totally are...Just wait until August or September.

A glare?
 

That's funny that Evan Smith gave you a glare. He is my neighbor and even though I see him every day, sometimes he does the same to me when I'm sitting on my porch. On the other side, my second neighbor is Juan Miro who designed the observation tower at the F1 track. I love my street and my neighborhood.

More Seaholm/Westside shots
 

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/photo-60.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/photo-58.jpg
7 Rio spot has some work happening. Anyone know if they're building soon?
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/photo-57.jpg
Also saw work happening at the proposed "Bremond" site
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/photo-59.jpg

What was proposed at the Bremond site?

I'm wondering if they're readying the site for construction...?

I would say yes....there were core sample drills there this week.

Interesting to note: At the time of these renederings they did not plan on having the property on the corner. You can see the old aparmetns sill there in the rendering!

yeah but the photo posted by ahealy, the other buildings are still a few lots further up. was the building scaled down?

OMG those old efficiencies are gone!!!!
:(((((((( They better fucking build something nice there.

I wonder if they did change the design of the project? Since that one place is now demolished will it be for more parking?

Ugh, I really hope not

Being bored and unable to sleep, I went on a late bike ride and saw old gingerman/ghost room and was curious if this is going to be revived? Anyone know?? :shrug:
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...intexs/4th.jpg

Manchester hotel
 

Found this online. Some interesting facts in it, but no surprises.

http://www.manchesterfinancialgroup....e_7%201311.pdf

3rd and Guadalupe
 

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but it has a couple of sketches of the proposed supertall commercial building on the same block as the new Travis County courthouse at the "farmer's market" parking lot.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/...urting-change/

Thanks for posting...these sketches depict the largest of the proposals for what "could" be built on that site.

The lot at MLK and COlorado ( behind Cambridge) sold this weekend at auction from the state for 4.2 M. It was sold to an LLC that was apparently formed for this purchase. Does anyone have any info on who this is and the inteneded use?

That seems like a healthy price for that size of a lot. Hopefully that portends a high-rise.

Nope cant be a highrise. 60' limit. Cap view corridor. The state sold it trying to tell investors they could apply for a vairance, but that is one of the most protected views in the city..... UT to the Capitol. That's not happening. The state was considering passing a law that exempted state land from those laws, but that did not happen. Perhaps if it had that could have conveyed. So this land is subject to the CVC laws. ( thank "god")

So... having said that. We are very curious what the use could be.

You do know that the state can still pass laws like that just because it leans heavily Republican and you know how the state loves to pass Austin bashing laws. I agree with you that these corridors should be protected, they are the main reason why Austin now has some fairly tall highrises in the first place, to lessen their impact would be bad for Austin IMO.

and 60 feet isnt all that bad for that area

yeah I agree.... depending on the plate height you could squeese 6 floors in....more likely 5 or 4. Best guess is that it will be office and hopefully retail on the ground. We need more things facing MLK.

Who ever bought it did so with a plan in place. The LLC was formed for the purchase..... so we shall see. !

On Tuesday we can all go visit with the 4 groups hoping to get to design the new Waller Creek downtown. The meet and greet will be Tuesday, May 15th, @ 5:30 @ the Blanton Museum.


Meet the Waller Creek Project designers
15 hours ago - KVUE-TV Austin 3:17 | 130 views

Im kinda shocked at the lack of interest for city elections on this forum, I would expect everybody here being fairly interested but I guess I was wrong. Luckily all the incumbents won but what is disturbing is it was the lowest voter turnout in Austin city election history. Despite the problems our city faces due to still having a system where every council member is voted city wide instead of districts, I still don't understand the lack of interest from the majority of our citizens. Even people who move here from other areas may not know or get interested in city politics and they don't participate, but they are Austin citizens now so they should care about what happens with this city. This problem is serious and we need to deal with it. Because if we don't it will get worse and will eventually come down to just a couple of thousand votes to decide who leads a city of over 800,000 people and growing rapidly. We are not far from it now.

Agree Jdawg. I hate that I can't vote in the Austin elections. :( I would for sure. But even this time around I found it hard to get into the elections. Austin is just doing so well there really didn't seem like much need to change. And it never seemed as if anything was going to change in the elections.

I think they REALLY need to do away with the May elections and only have then in Nov. However I imagine the NIMBYs like having them in May. It is likely much better for them, even though it didn't help them this time around even with the low turn out.

Glad the old council is still in a job! :D

Here is something on the new Children's Museum. I am sad to see it leave DT. But it will have much more room and I am very happy they are going to expand their activities and exhibits from ages up to 6 to ages up to 11.

Children's museum unveils design for $20 million building at Mueller
By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 12:51 a.m. Sunday, May 13, 2012
Published: 12:26 a.m. Sunday, May 13, 2012

With the Children Museum moving.... I respectfully resubmit the rumor of.... TWIN AUSTONIANS! Everybody sing!!

"I... love.... towers sproutin' like trees... cranes swaying in the breeze... a world with no NIMBY's..... and Twiiiiiiiins!!!!!!" :-)

:previous:

Love it!

Your right BevoLJ about the NIMBYS prefering May becuse they know they can affect the elections as the come out in large numbers, thats what happened to Randi Shade when by all rights she should have won a second term. They didnt get the chance this time around. But as you said things are doing well for the city but that still doesnt mean people dont need to vote. Everybody assumes that and the NIMBYS take over council. This election should have wiped Shea clean out but it didnt, she ran a nasty campaign and for that fact we dodged a bullet, barely.

Well that children's museum looks positively bland.

I don't know about y'all, but Mueller has been a big disappointment to me, starting with the big box stores they put in there. Then, all the unnecessary parks. There's very little mixed-use. It's all basically suburbs with moderately more density. It's not like you can just walk to a corner store there and buy a gallon of milk. I'd prefer a bunch of little stores to one big H-E-B store. And the plans just keep changing.

It sucks because it's such good, vast real estate and it had/has so much potential. I still think a parcel of land should be saved for a new special events center to replace the Frank Erwin Center, which could be torn down and developed. Either that, or a NASL/MLS stadium for the Austin Aztex.

Admittedly, seeing Houston open their stadium yesterday made me a little bit jealous.

• Video Link

is anyone going to The Blanton at 5:30 for the waller creek "meet the designers" thing? I'll be workin :/

I have a dinner meeting. :(

I really REALLY want to go though!

you are always "workin".

Take good notes. I expect a full report. I'm skipping walking over cause it's just thier "vote for me" dog and pony show!

( stop by on way back)

Lol.. :previous: I was going to go but something came up.

Working on the 11th floor of the Hyatt Austin

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...41349607_n.jpg

Aross from Amli on W. 3rd & Lavaca.

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...48095083_n.jpg

RE: The picture above at 3rd and Lavaca.. That is going to be a Steak House. I am so curious what it will look like when done. They have blown out the roof and are obviously going up in some way! Hum.... can't wait to see.

Cool... I had forgot what was going in. Definitely worth checking out once it's complete.
:)

I am so relieved that they're putting a steakhouse in! We need one on EVERY CORNER!!!! Just like wine bars and fro yo! It keeps Austin, ya know....weird!!!

............................ :koko:

[QUOTE=Syndic;5700054]Well that children's museum looks positively bland.

I don't know about y'all, but Mueller has been a big disappointment to me, starting with the big box stores they put in there. Then, all the unnecessary parks. There's very little mixed-use. It's all basically suburbs with moderately more density. It's not like you can just walk to a corner store there and buy a gallon of milk. I'd prefer a bunch of little stores to one big H-E-B store. And the plans just keep changing.


I totally agree with you here. I love Austin and I'm glad to see they are getting some attention to their skyline, but I visited recently on a trip home to FW to see my family and I don't like what they are doing DT.

I know I'm going to get slammed on here, but I am just commenting on my impressions about my recent visit. I was initially excited about because it had been a while since I have visited Austin and I have not been since all the new skyscraper growth. I like a lot of the buildings and the effect on the skyline, but I was actually disappointed with what I saw at ground level where one can truly measure the vibrancy of it's central core.

All the new buildings seem too far apart and the areas surrounding them felt lackluster and sterile. There are too many parking lots and all they do to an urban environment is create a void between each development. It's like going to an art exhibit where each of the works of art is shown in a different venue. Just when I was starting to get excited I was interrupted by 2 or 3 parking lots. It didn't feel urban, but instead felt like a residential/office park near DT.

I really hope they start to focus more on infill in between to create more of a neighborhood feel. More small corner stores and independent grocers and drugstores to discourage people from having to drive for their goods & services. Less car centric, although that can be difficult in TX cities, but Austin has the where-with-all and the intelligent people to pull it off.

it's going to take some time to plug up all the holes and fill in the gaps that are surface parking lots. my impression is that all the issues and problems that you have with DT Austin, are the very concerns the city is trying to address as they continue their development and density plans.

of course there are surface parking lots in downtown austin... nobody here would deny that. but things can't just be done from night to day. given austin's current boom its doing quite an exceptional job. and it's not as if they've been tearing down buildings to replace them with parking lots. Those parking lots have been there for the last 2 or 3 decades. And if you've been following these forums as much as everyone here has been for the last several years Austin is working slowly but surely on fixing this "empty surface lots" issue. If you'd of gone to 2nd st back in 2004 that place was dead. There wasn't anything there at the time, but go there now and it's a total 180 turnaround and it's still growing.

Look up on all the designs posted, particularly Seaholm and Greenwater Treatment. 2nd St District and Seaholm will just be what you see now but continued and expanded. It's on its way and growing very rapidly. But there are other sorts of issues like the Capital View Corridor and financing that delays many projects from breaking ground. Things don't just happen. There's politics and money involved. I don't see how anybody would want it to go faster, because given the circumstances it already is. It's impossible for it to go any faster.

Yeah it is a lot different from the last time I was there and in a positive way. I admit I haven't read much from the last couple of years with what they are doing with the "surface lots". Like I said it was just my initial impression with what I was expecting and what I experienced.

It feels like they are moving in the right direction, but I know it will take time.

He was talking about Mueller which is not downtown.

But as for downtown I have to wonder where you went downtown to not be able to find anywhere with out blocks of vibrancy without parking lots? Second street has one parking lot. Granted it is a huge one that takes up a whole block, but that entire block is being built into a huge 1000 room hotel this summer. But still that is one parking lot for a total of 7 block long. Congress is the main street in Austin and it has the one parking lot I mentioned above and then tiny parts of two others (no more than 70 or 80 feet). And it is 10 blocks long. 6th Street has no parking lots until you get on the west side of downtown. That is 10 blocks with zero parking lots. 5th Street also has like 10 or 12 blocks with no parking lots. Edit: correction with only one tiny (80x80 foot) parking lot. That is like 80 feet out of over near 4,000 feet of street. Brazos has like 11 blocks with only the one big one I mentioned above, and the tiny one I mentioned on 5th. With the exception of 2nd (due to the convention center) all those streets I just mentioned there that is over a full kilometer each (over 3,200 feet), and after this summer that big parking lot I mentioned for Congress, 2nd and Brazos is no longer going to be there.

In most cities I would totally agree that big surface parking lots are bad. But not in the case of Austin as it is right now. Austin has tons of vibrant areas downtown. It is an extremely lucky city to have such a vibrant downtown. How you missed those parts I am not sure, but they are there. HOWEVER, one of the problems Austin has is the skyline is highly restricted due to such things and view corridors. Views of the Capitol building are protected to many parts all around Austin outside downtown. So tall buildings can't be build in many areas of DT. That does two things. One it lowers the value of what those lots that have those restrictions as development potential is limited. But most importantly it makes the lots that don't have those restrictions MUCH more important. There are two lots like that in DT. One Travis County owns and is building a new courthouse. The other one is the over 1,000 room hotel on the lot I mentioned in the previous paragraph (on Congress, 2nd and Brazos.)

Given that Austin has so much great vibrancy as it is downtown I do not think that the smaller areas that don't have the restrictions and have large development potential should just have infill thrown in for the sake of infill. I think they should sit until the full developmental potential can be filled with a kick ass project. Just trowing some half-assed infill in there is not needed. At least not in Austin, because our downtown is not hurting for vibrancy in the least.

Yea rriojas71, it was the Mueller redevelopment site not Downtown that we are complaining about but since you put in how you feel about downtown Austin, let me put how I feel.

I think Downtown Austin is transforming wonderfully, to see what we have now compared to what we had 5 years ago is amazing and there is so much vibrant activity now than there was 5 years ago. What we are seeing now is still only the beginning so to be disappointment in our downtown is misplaced IMO. Austin is ahead of the other big Texas cities in many respects to zoning as well as new steps to develop our central core, I urge you to come back in 5 more years and see the difference compared to now and I think you will realize what Im trying to say. Sure Austin is not a dense urban mecca yet, but we are on the right track and as I said earlier we are still only just starting our transformation.

Couldn't have said it better.