AUSTIN | Shoal Creek Walk | 219 FEET | 15 FLOORS | COMPLETE
 

Construction cam:

http://shoalcreekwalk.com/construction/

http://downtownaustinblog.org/2009/1...-walk-concept/

I believe this was a project description presented to the City of Austin by the developer.

http://downtownaustinblog.org/2009/1...-walk-concept/

Because the property has a Capitol View Corridor (CVC) slicing through it, it will require the tower to be set at an angle to miss that corridor (view of the Capitol dome).

Renderings of the conceptual design that were presented to the City of Austin.

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/1...alk350feet.jpg

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/9...alkrender2.jpg

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6...alkrender3.jpg

Diagram showing the CVC and how if affects the the property.
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/2...alkrender4.jpg

Whole Foods plans major downtown office expansion
By Brian Gaar
Austin American-Statesman
1/18/12

Definitely an exciting part of town for development! I had no idea that Whole Foods had this type of expansion in mind. Wow!

Well that sucks that they have shortened the tower to only 20 from 28 floors, a 28 floor tower would have been more impressive for that end of Downtown.

Exciting that Whole Foods will be expanding though.

How much space is WF going to occupy? Surely not the whole building?

This project has gone through some changes. It was originally being called "Shoal Creek Walk" and was proposed as a 350 foot office tower with 28 floors.

Whole Foods later expressed interest in expanding their headquarters (their main building is across the street). The project now looks like it'll be 20 floors with a 4 or 5-story retail building nearby.

A Capitol View Corridor runs through the southern portion of the lot, so that is limiting the height of what can go there. The north end has no height restriction.

So this will probably be shorter than the 350 foot height we heard about at first, but it'll probably still be around 300 feet tall.

And with the size change, I'm sure the design is changing also. So I would expect something different than what those images above show.

The map in the link below shows the site. It's number 5 in the map (west side of downtown).
http://paulsellstx.com/wp-content/up...r_oct_2011.pdf

http://www.statesman.com/business/ev...inglePage=true

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I think this project may have shrunk even more. There's a recent cover letter from Longaro & Clarke Consulting Engineers recently posted on the city's website. It says Building 1 will be 15 floors (180 feet) and Building 2 will be 5 stories and 75 feet tall at it's maximum.

I counted 18 floors in the rendering. I would estimate it'll be around 225 feet basing it off the old plan. The reddish building in the rendering to the right is Whole Foods' existing headquarters and flagship grocery store.

http://www.sdcaustin.com/ShoalCreekWalk.html
http://i.imgur.com/FPU7e.jpg
http://www.sdcaustin.com/ShoalCreekWalk.html

By pushing the office space square footage back to ~430,000 sq ft it looks like this building may be 28 stories after all. This will make a huge impact on the skyline in this area of downtown.

Did y'all really not see on the Projects & Construction page where I posted a site plan for Shoal Creek Walk? I don't know why these reporters are talking about a tall building. It's going to look nothing like that rendering. It's going to look like this:

That layout was taken from the original 2006 site plan. It has nothing to do with what may actually be developed on the site today. It could be the same, or it could look completely different as long as it adheres to what has been approved by council.

Actually, it's looking like what will be developed will have a similar layout as that. See my post on the Update Thread.

This article's from last month:

Proposed office tower near Whole Foods back on track
Robert Grattan
Staff Writer- Austin Business Journal
April 12, 2013

It says the building was originally intended to house new offices for Whole Foods, but a Whole Foods spokesperson says the company is at an impasse in negotiations for the space.

It also said that in a 2010 agreement that Schlosser was required to participate in the Great Streets Program and to keep at least 30,000 square feet of the property as green or open space.

Schlosser now wants the requirement for open space reduced to 20,000 square feet because:

I say Schlosser can go to you know where. Clearly they are trying to build a short stubby building if they want to reduce the amount of open space but you know what, the council should say no, they can build a taller, slender tower but instead they want to be cheap and build the least expensive way. If you are going to invest in our city, invest the right way and build up, not out.

is this dead?

Not sure it has ever really been alive. Lots of talk over the past few years, but not much else. Something will get built there sooner or later, but it might not be this project.

No, actually I think this project is perfectly alive. It's just moving really slow. They were drilling for core samples a few months ago.

Those owners will never give up that lot, IMO.

welp, I work at Whole Foods Lamar and have heard stories....most recently: My good friend in corporate told me the city is giving them trouble because it's in the flood plain. He said it was a no-go....although that was about 6 months ago. I don't see why on earth they can't fix it and build.

Guess it's time for the Shoal Creek Tunnel Project. :D

No, they won't give up the lot, but the project they have been tinkering with for the past few years may not be the project that ends up happening on that lot. It is a very sexy location that just gets better with time. They may eventually go with their fairly modest proposal, but why haven't they already done so? I suspect that eventually Schlosser may partner with a bigger developer and build something more substantial. I am sure that any flood plain issues can be worked out in the design and engineering process, assuming that it is time to begin building something on that site.

I could see an 700 ft office/hotel/condo building at this location. Could you imagine 15 floors of Class A office space under a Ritz Carlton hotel/residences here?

YES. I am surprised Ritz or Magnolia haven't jumped into the Austin market yet. Out of all the brands, i want to see 21c come back.

That location is begging for some seriously tall development :cool::cheers::cool:

That height would have to be slivered into the sight which compromises the size of the floor plate as the building goes vertical. There are others on this site more familiar with the CVC imact and resulting design issues than I am. Maybe somebody could give a refresher course?

You know, it's funny because in one of those Block 1 Residential renderings it does show Shoal Creek as a nice clean full waterway.

This is where the CVC runs through that lot. As long as they avoid the CVC as they did with at least one of the plans for the building, they could go as high as they wanted. Of course I'm sure they'd have to get a different FAR number.

I think eventually we'll see a really tall tower on one of these CVC lots. Them slimming down a lot pretty much will necessitate it eventually.

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/2...alkrender4.jpg

Shoal Creek through that segment has water year around because it's level with the river so the water tends to flow up into the creek for a little ways.

Austin is pretty lucky to have two creeks traversing through Downtown and the huge opportunities that come with them which Waller is beginning to be realized. These creeks are a major asset to Downtown and I have no doubt that sometime in the future, the city will do something similar with Shoal Creek as they are doing with Waller. Maybe a percentage of the tax income from development in the Waller Creek District can be set aside for a Shoal Creek flood control system.

That would be amazing. They're both beautiful and very different creeks. I would love to see more park space and connectivity for Shoal creek. It's so damn beautiful and vast.

Whole Foods taking 40M SF of office space in The Bowie does not bode well for this project...

I think they did it because they needed the office space sooner rather than later. 311 is almost done. This project has yet to break ground if it does at all.

I would rather see a tall tower on this site anyways.

^^That was my thought as well, because this latest article in the American-Statesman noted

This may be another old project that still has a pulse. There was a new permit filing a couple weeks ago for this as a mixed use project. But there are no other details in the new filing.

https://www.austintexas.gov/devrevie...erRSN=11224354


...and I know this means nothing. But Schlosser still has the 18-story version rendering on their website:

http://www.sdcaustin.com/images/2012...KNORTHFACE.jpg
http://www.sdcaustin.com/ShoalCreekWalk.html

The west end is the hottest area in terms of real estate right now in Austin. This property must be burning a hole in Schlosser's pocket right now. If not because they want to develop it, then at least because of all the potential buyers bugging them about selling it. The west end of downtown combines that high end West Austin feel with downtown urban living. News of 5th and West breaking ground soon takes away all of the doubt about developing for Schlosser. Or, at least, it should.

I really don't get what has taken them so long, tbh. They should have been more bullish. This building should be built already.

It's in the flood plain. WF doesn't or can't develop a certain parcel from what I've heard...I believe they still own that block.

They completed all of their floodplain studies, last I heard. They were able to work around it.

I agree, the West End is one of my favorite areas of DT. The atmosphere is great. I am looking forward to the continued buildup of that area.

Without a major tenant, this project is dead (or at best mothballed). It was originally designed around the notion that Whole Foods was going to take the majority of space in this development. Oh, times have changed...

Schlosser may be trying to position the property for a future sale...by obtaining the max amount of permitted flexibility for the site (see Tom Stacy's former plan for the Bank of America block at Sixth & Congress - seems to have worked for him).

This parking lot is closed off now with no parking signs. Anyone hear anything about this?

http://i.imgur.com/pX2qlMU.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/qsrcj49.jpg

You know, from that side, I'm not that crazy about the Bowie.

Architecture is art, and everyone has their own opinion. I personally think the Mona Lisa is an over rated piece of crap that a high school student could paint. Just sayin...:)

The only current actions I could find (there are a few from September, though), are for a temporary right of way use permit. Apparently they're relocating a driveway on the property.

https://www.austintexas.gov/devrevie...erRSN=11229401

The most recent filings indicate that this will be an office/apartment/retail project.

My friend who works at WF was told that parking there was no longer available due to pending construction. They were told to park at the new garage on Lamar near the Nakona.

The Bowie is butt ugly from that side. The parking structure just looms over everything, and it is barely disguised. A nice building across the street would at least distract the eye from that bulky podium. Here's hoping for something nice.

Wrong thread for this, but it's in context: I still think they have a long way to go toward finishing the base portion of The Bowie. Did anyone notice that they're covering the exposed concrete portions with glass now? I think it will look fairly decent when all is said and done.

http://i.imgur.com/pX2qlMU.jpg

alright y'all, I'm gonna try and dig for info tomorrow at work... Let's hope it's a mixed-use glassy monolith ready to sprout up! :cheers:

They were supposed to go before the planning commission and request a rezoning on the 28th of October but got postponed until the 11th of November, I think. So there's definitely some activity here.

Here's an update from TWC News Austin.

http://austin.twcnews.com/content/ne...st-5th-street/

http://images.texas.ynn.com/media/20...5690857f3d.jpg

YES! Hoping this one is tall

Yes! At least 450'! :rolleyes: That 450' foot mark is the sweet spot for developers. I'm guessing that as the surface parking lots ourside of the CVCs disappear the sweet spot will get taller.

Let's hope so...I'm trying not to be such a pessimist (It's a new year's resolution)...but I'll bet 5 bucks this won't be taller than 10 stories.