Mixed-use apartment development planned downtown
 

Jan BuchholzStaff Writer- Austin Business Journal

A high-density apartment project could be built at the northeast corner of West Riverside Drive and South First Street in downtown Austin. The site is south of Lady Bird Lake and kitty-corner from the Long Center for the Performing Arts.

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...velopment.html

The Bouldin Creek NA seems pretty teppid to the idea. What strikes me as funny is they will complain about traffic citing 2,000 trips a day but with that location how many of those will be by car? Its reasonable that most of the people there will likely use mass transportation options, bike, or walk rather than use a personal car for most things.

Council OKs redevelopment deal for Green land
 

By Sarah Coppola | Thursday, May 24, 2012, 11:03 PM
Austin-American Statesman

At 1:46 a.m. Friday, after a discussion that lasted more than four hours, the Austin City Council unanimously agreed to sell a downtown block to Trammell Crow Co. to transform into a $500 million mix of shops, eateries, offices and housing.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...een_lan_1.html

Now I just hope they work around those beautiful heritage oaks. They add such charm and character to an urban setting.....it would be a sin to chop them down

Anyone know if the council passed Imagine Aistin?

for every decade there will be people saying that. and in a way they are right, only that the current austin will change and form another cooler and newer austin. just like it's been occurring for the last several decades.

Who is Aistin and is he hot?

Sorry Jdawg, I am probably the last person of this forum who should give anyone a hard time for spelling, but I just couldn't help my self. :P

In related news, from last weeks commencement, the UT LBJ School of Pubic Affairs.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/...49_233x298.jpg

They printed and handed out thousands of those before anyone noticed. lol

Opps I was typing on my droid phone my bad.

LMAO that is so funny.

Well we have to remember a few things though. MARTA began its train service in 1979 when Atlanta was a metro of 2,284,100 people which is considerably 500,000 or so more than what Austin is today. Give Austin time to get it.

Austin's topography is the main reason it sprawls more like Atlanta than either Dallas or Houston. Austin's development pattern has a lot of 'leap frog' effects and it becomes harder to build high density on the hills. The reason I bring this up is because Austin's got the same form of development as Atlanta, which is now the least dense major urban area in the world and Boston (another city with similar constraints) follows up on that. Austin in contrast is the least dense major urban area in our state, its behind Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, El Paso, and San Antonio.

Austin's future:
http://www.houstontomorrow.org/image...ap-325x294.jpg

Just got back yesterday, took a short trip around the city there is a new crane up for the 8 st. project at 22 1/2 & Rio Grande, also there are 2 trucks parked where the new Skyhouse Austin will be, I believe they are taking soil samples.

But Austin has more urban residents than Dallas or Houston will ever have....

I saw an article that Runtex will be included and not have to move. So that is great news.

Maybe I missed something but I have to know, where did you find that image? Can I see it bigger? :D

Austin also has the densist neighborhood in Texas. While I can see where N90 is coming from on a metro level, Austin on a city level is becoming fairly dense and if Imagine Austin becomes the blueprint of all future growth inside the city limits, Austin will become the densist city in Texas.

That area is the University of Texas, which is where I graduated from recently. For what its worth I picked Austin to live in over Houston and Dallas.

Although I prefer big cities, Austin became a sole exception for me. A pleasant surprise, the place really grows on you more and more.
No, more like it will have the densest and most vibrant core not the entire city (I mean really, Houston to Sugar Land or Katy and Dallas to Irving or Frisco are MUCH more continuously developed than Austin is to Round Rock (which feels like a semi rural farm to market road type of drive almost)). Its the same way in California, San Francisco's core far outpaces Los Angeles's but outside the core 15 miles (radius) its complete Los Angeles take over from there on out. Actually on radius Houston and Dallas take over right after 5 miles where Austin's lead ends but considering they're over 3X larger and much more decentralized it goes without saying.

Dallas and Houston can learn from Austin on what to do with their downtowns, and while their downtowns improve those areas will NEVER be as desirable as areas like Binz, Upper Kirby, Uptown (both for Houston or Dallas), Midtown, and so on let alone have the effect that downtown Austin has. Austin doesn't have areas like those (like Upper Kirby, areas as lively or developed as that miles away from a "downtown"), it has the university area and the downtown and adjacent areas. Much more Atlanta like, strong core but falls fast outside of the core.

Either way, the only states I could ever live in are Florida, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Washington, and California so that should say quite a bit about what type of cities I prefer. :D
Right here: http://www.houstontomorrow.org/livab...m-rail-vision/

I think that is the point of Imagine Austin to keep the core and most of the growth compact within 183 south to 290/71 and Mopac to I-35 rather than spreading out more to Round Rock and other areas, though in the plan the empty land between Austin and Round Rock is slated to become a regional center with highrises. My guess is that would act as a Downtown for far Northern Travis County and most if not all of Williamson County. Another regional center is planned right on the southern edge of Travis at 35 and SH 45 south.

I haven't kept up with "Imagine Austin", well partly because who actually has time to even catch their breathe between a project announcement in Austin. Seems like a new one every single day or something of the sort.

Do you have information, renderings, blueprints for this project? The fact that you mentioned several highrises between Austin and Round Rock is the part that caught my attention. Now that's infill, city altering infill at that.

New Apartments off Riverside/Run Tex Apartments:\
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/pr...de-living.html

Here is the plan: http://issuu.com/jgoodman/docs/iacp_..._2012-4-20-web

And a little video on what it is

• Video Link

Austin Planetarium moves forward with development

http://www.kvue.com/news/Austin-Plan...154556155.html

New Austin Planetarium
 

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...building_a.png
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b.../buildinga.png

omggggg:D:D

I know... :).

This NEEDS to happen!!!!!! I'll sell my body on the streets to raise $$$$:banana:

Is that song the official generic background song for infrastructure and urban planning videos? Check out this Denver FasTracks video that uses the same song...don't get to discouraged looking at the plan and thinking "man, wish we could do something like this."

• Video Link

That is one nice looking tower! And it will have a planetarium! I hope all of the big proposals get moving quickly.

OMG! Awesome!

:banana::banana:

PM incomeing! Only because my money would be going to such an awesome cause of course! :P

OMG with the Planetarium/tower, I might die.. :banana:

Op updated. Just need Kevin to make a thread for it now. =)

How exciting! And I love the building. It looks great. Hope they build it just as they show it. :)

I just thought of something else. That site is a good 100 feet higher than the lakefront. So it will even stand out more. :)

It's so amazing... #skyscraperboner
Out of everything proposed for the Nov bond (besides rail), this is one that SHOULD be built. I'm tired of integral projects that are announced, and never see the light of day.

same here... so for all the projects that are being announced, its very nice and all, but i'd like to see some cranes more than anything.

you will. Seaholm and JW will start very soon. Let's all just donate a lot of money to the planetarium....any billionaire lurkers?

http://www.austinplanetarium.org/ind...mid=77&lang=en
:worship:

OMG, Austin will actually have a tourist attraction. Imagine that! We have festivals and the race track, but his will be there 365 days a year.

Is there actually some doubt that this will be built? It doesn't depend on bond money, right? I thought a non-profit was funding it.

It does depend on bond money. The developers want people to go to their website and sign a petition to get it on the November ballot.

So I contacted the people with the planetarium and got some wonderful news!

The proposed height is 655 feet. So that will put 33' taller than the roof of the Austonian and only 28' shorter than the Austonian spire, and 182' taller than the roof on the 360 and 74' taller than the top of the 360's spire. So it would be a new tallest for Austin! Which would make our 3 tallest residential. But since it is higher up in elevation I imagine that it will look even taller than the Austonian. Probably by like 50 feet or so. :)

Also, they might add more to the top. One idea they have is to add a restaurant with an observation deck to the top with elevators on the outside to reach it.

And if anyone wants to know more about it, every month they have a Southern Skies Social where they get together at House Wine in South Austin (408 Josephine Street at Barton Springs and S Lamar). It is the last Wednesday of every month (this Wed!!!) from 5 to 9pm and the bar donates 10% of its proceeds to the planetarium. They will be discussing all sorts of stuff from the building to the planetarium to space stuff too.

They asked me to ask all of y'all Skyscraper enthusiast to come and tell them what you like or don't like about it this Wednesday.

Also they have a fundraiser every second Tuesday at Opal Divine's on Mopac and Parmer if you can't make it on Wednesdays or if South Austin is scary to anyone. :P

Great research!

Oh, I just realized that the height for the Austonian I was using was the spire. So the new planetarium would actually be taller, and a new tallest in Austin. The roof would be 33 feet taller than the roof of the Austonian.

Also, I just checked the elevation of the two blocks and the Planetarium's block is 54' higher than the Austonian's. So that would put the roof of the Planetarium at 87' higher than the Austonian's roof and 21' feet higher than the Austonian's spire.

The Austonian doesn't have a spire and is 683':shrug:

:previous:

I was about to say the same thing. The Austonian will stay the tallest unless they add more to the tower. Though this tower will look taller due to the ground being higher.

Once it starts construction they said it would only take a year to build. Wow talk about super fast for a tower that size. Also correct me if im wrong but since this is state owned and controlled land, the city of Austin will have little to no say in zoning or height. I can just see a bunch of NIMBYS raising hell over this since its fairly close to the capital.

One of the TV news stories said the state already approved that site for development (But it didn't say if height was a factor) and that's why the site was selected. Besides the elevation, another good thing about that site is that it is the dividing line between Downtown proper and campus. It should help tie together the high rises in both locations by allowing for a continuous skyline.

YESSSSS. My best friend Kenny works at House Wine. We should all go. This has the potential to be such an iconic piece of Austin's skyline. I truly hope it gets support. I suggest we all email city council as well. Here's a direct link to email the Mayor, and CM: http://www.austintexas.gov/mail/all-council-members

I give the tower portion of this project less than a 10% chance of ever seeing the light of day and that's being generous. What banker in their right mind would loan $145 million to build a 47 story residential tower outside the core of downtown? And to a non-profit with zero experience in development? Don't get me wrong, the museum portion seems fabulous and their press release says they have "identified" one third of the funding for the $95 million it would take to build that. Plus they are too late for the bond party. They should have announced this a year ago and try to build momentum for it with the public. One last thought. Do you really want a 47 story tower looming over the capital? It would really be out of place. Great architecture however, would to see it built in the heart of downtown.

My money was on Spaceman to be the first wet blanket. :)

Holy crap a molly! Cool! ( and... I thought you already did that>>>!!!! LOL!!)

$hhhh

Well, the state has said it plans to repurpose the whole area with mixed development. No more state monopoly on the clear spaces between the capitol and the campus. Life comes at last to the mausoleum district.

This is a great and ambitious start. I didn't expect the tower, but I appreciate them testing the boundaries of the new policy. Go planetarium!

The Statesman was a little late to the planetarium party, but they have the best article about it:

http://www.statesman.com/business/re...y-2378684.html

The render looks to have all stainless steel panels on the north side of the tower(assuming the south side as well?). That would be very reflective on a sunny day. Very 60's futuristic!

that's a fantastic looking tower.