Do you mean to say that most of it will change or do you mean that none of this will happen at all?

If you mean that most of it will change just like Greenwater Treatment Plant well then I think its good news, because the first green proposals were hideous and looked very much like a sims city design. What is going on now with the designs are much better even if the heights were shortened. If the Waller Creek designs change just like the Greenwater, then its gonna be a whole lot something else but much better. If that's what you're comparing, of course.

:tup:Most of it will change. It will all probably be better and more thought out.

I just hope that it doesn't get delayed... Austin needs something real and legit already. F1 is right around the corner and Marriott is underway, but damn... there just needs to be that cherry on the top. Something that says bam motherbitch! Hell yes. :)

The Austin CultureMap website had what seemed like the best breakdown of this projects and proposals. They had a feature that listed the top 5 components of each design. Their analysis included information about the retractable pontoon bridge. I am a rower too; that's why I was so struck by such a ridiculous idea.

http://austin.culturemap.com/newsdet...-waller-creek/

Of all the projects, I definitely liked the CMG and Public Architecture team. They had a real bridge (with rail) and had a very urban design. I am supportive of the path that the current winners are taking (except for the bridge). However, let's be clear: these designs were for winning a contest. Now begins the hard work of making a feasible and executable plan. There will be many changes, just like with Green. Remember, there is no very little money allocated as of yet for all these changes.

Kevin, go here for the diagram and then click to zoom in. I think it's that bridge on the north side of Lady Bird Lake between that peninsula to the west and the MACC (?) to the east. Looks like it might be intended to make a swing to the southwest to connect to the boardwalk on the south side of the lake.

A pontoon bridge will also be unusable during floods and large water releases from other Colorado River lakes (which will eventually happen again).

I took a picture yesterday of the crane base at the Skyhouse site. I'll see if I can crop it because the picture turned out dark and really can't see anything. This week I will be downtown again for a movie that I'm doing.

I started filming last night at the park, I have to say that is one of the best locations for filming the skyline.

I facebook Ace Hotels and got a responds back saying " We do love Austin-- it would be awesome to have a hotel there one day!"

^They told me they don't have any concrete plans, but that they are very interested in entering the market. She even asked if I had any opportunities they might be interested in. Ha!

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

http://www.statesman.com/news/busine...wnbouti/nSpgr/
http://i.imgur.com/8RUbc.jpg
Chas Schreiber & Ziegler Cooper

Looks nice, so it looked like Gables backed out on there plan on building an apartment tower on that site.

It'll still have apartments - 215 of them on top of 160 hotel rooms.

Isn't that the exact same design that they had years ago.

This is the hotel at 800-804 Congress (8th & Congress).

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/pr...ity-counc.html
http://i.imgur.com/7xm31.jpg

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

http://i.imgur.com/82vYj.jpg

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http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/pr...h-century.html

Whoa, whoa, guys. Slow down. I need time to process all of this (awesome) information.

So, it looks like that Hotel Zaza won't be very charming from the outside. It seems as though all of their hotels leave much to be desired in the looks department and it's hard to tell anything from that rendering. I hope we're not just getting another bland-looking hotel. We've already got plenty of those.

This other hotel is one of my favorites, though. I'm not a big fan of the step-back, but it's a cool-looking building and will include a live music venue, which is different. I can't read the article because I don't have a subscription. But what are the chances of the City Council approving this?

Here's a better, closer image of the front.

http://i.imgur.com/ORN0u.jpg

Sort of, except the original design was for apartments only and was 16 floors.

see

Gables Republic Park

at Ziegler Cooper Architect's website for the old rendering.

I think there's got to be something good, urbanistically, about skinny buildings that mix with historic buildings rather than ones that take up entire blocks with parking garages...

But City Council probably just cares about aesthetics and if its new and different that scares the little old ladies and grandpas.