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Nov 9, 2021 11:52 PM |
A Developer’s Opulent Plans Along Lake Austin Include Luxe Condos, a Park, and a Funicular
A sign of the times on a showstopping Hill Country peak
https://www.texasmonthly.com/style/d...ark-funicular/
The 145-acre Camelback property on Lake Austin, just west of the iconic Pennybacker Bridge, rises straight up a series of limestone cliffs to a densely forested ridge 380 feet above the water. It’s as close to a proper mountain as you can find in Central Texas. And what a mountain. From the top, you can see the sweeping semicircular curve of the Colorado River below, and off to the east, a gap in the hills frames the Oz-like cluster of high-rises in downtown Austin, ten or so miles away.
It’s here that property owner Jonathan Coon has built a four-story metal-frame viewing platform that rises above the treetops and affords lucky visitors one of the most commanding views in the state. The platform won’t be here for long, though: It exists only so that Coon can sell people on his new plan, announced Tuesday, to turn the Camelback into the site of an ultra-luxury condo community with 179 cliffside homes, a private marina, a sprawling athletic center with outdoor and indoor tennis courts—and an air-conditioned, glass-box funicular that will whisk residents from hilltop to lakeside in two minutes flat. Four Seasons, the luxury resort company famous for such properties as the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat on the French Riviera as well as high-end hotels and residences in Austin, Houston, and Dallas, will manage the property, to be known as the Four Seasons Private Residences Lake Austin. |
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