Thats the unknown project on Rio Grande, I wanted to go friday to talk to the foreman but as usual got caught up in doing other things, so hoping this friday I can swing by.

Ah, what corner is this at?

By the way, I saw either 2400 Nueces or Callaway House sticking up on the skyline from St. Ed's this afternoon. I could see the concrete pumper on top of the building sticking up on the horizon. A few more floors and it should stick up.

W. 23rd & Rio Grande, went up on the 2 story balcony which btw has some great views.

Kevin, I copied the google map link to give you a good idea on where it's at.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&cl...ed=0CAcQ8gEwAA

In Texas’s Capital, Construction on Many Corners
 

By MATT HUDGINS
Published: August 14, 2012
New York Times

AUSTIN, Tex. — Amit Sudharshan, 28, dons shorts and flip flops to walk the two blocks from his downtown apartment here to his job as a quantitative researcher at RGM Advisors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/re...Y9XLQKNV6dSkFQ

Great article, but it doesn't tell us obsessed forumers anything we don't already know :haha:

Yeah, and not only that, but Gables Park Plaza II is already 3 floors up, not digging. ;)

What it does show is Austin continues to be in the national spotlight. Every person I met while I was on vacation in Los Angeles recently either had been to Austin, had family or friends living here or heard a lot about the city. All good signs that we are going to be a hot city for awhile.

I was at the JW site earlier looking at all the work they are doing and think it should be moved up to Under Construction since there is so much work going on there now. So I bumped it up to the U/C list from the Approved list.

It looks like this is getting closer to being for real:

Austin Business Journal, August 16, 2012
Austin Planetarium closer to securing prime property

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...-securing.html

That is such an ugly building - the tower part, anyway - so I hope it gets redesigned. At least it's TALL.

Holy balls, that would be the coolest modern building in the whole state if built

:previous: This!! :previous:

:banana::banana:

Awesome news...

:previous:

And it would go in this parking lot? (Where the Lego tents are?)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...-2010-08-c.JPG

(photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Yes, in that parking lot.

It would make a nice little area being across the street from both the State History Museum, and Blanton Art Museum, a block from the AT&T Conference Center and a 10 min walk to the Archer Gallery & Texas Natural History Museum and the LBJ Presidential Library on UT Campus to the north and the State Capitol to the south.

• Video Link

Very awesome news, its about time that side of town lost some of its barren parking lots. Whats the actual feasibility of this project going through? And whats the tower going to be? Offices?

I know its supposed to be a planetarium but I'm not sure what the actual tower is going to be.

This question was answered in the article.

Condos. The Planetarium has been raising money for the museum for a long time now, but the money for the condo tower they will hit up the banks. From what I understand now that they have the state's approvals they have one more approval from some sort of state planning board and then they are allowed to ask the banks for the money for the tower or something like that. I'd bet that the money from the banks will come pretty easy as long as they have done their homework and have a solid plan to show them. There are no condos U/C downtown currently, nor any planned to start in the next few years. And the condos that are not sold yet from the last building boom that ended with the finish of the W 18 months ago (W, Austonian, Four Seasons , ....) if current sales continue as they have been will be sold out by early next year. So with out any likely new stock if the banks can jump on this one which is noticeably different than the recent ones I'd assume they will do so.

The tower will be residential, most likely condominiums. BevoLJ, I remember you had emailed them and gotten the height for the tower. 655 feet. That would be our 2nd tallest, 3rd tallest if and when the Fairmont Hotel gets built.