Austin | 82 Rainey | Feet ? | 3 Floors (Reduced from 9) | Proposed
 

This is an interesting project, so it's probably worthy of its own thread. The site plan has been released, and its nine stories and about 160'. Construction is set for January:

ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/ATD_AULCC/...reet_PLANS.pdf

From the site plan:
https://i.imgur.com/xP3libv.png


I don't recall any nine story rendering, but this is the seven to eight-story rendering:
https://i.imgur.com/fSbsgWk.png
Austin Towers: http://austin.towers.net/refresh-you...d-use-project/

Huge fan of this project. Thanks for making a separate thread.

I like this one too. It has a certain je ne sais quoi.

:cheers:

I still like it despite the fact that the underground music venue isn't in the new site plan. It actually adds to the Rainey St. Bungalow vibe instead of erasing part of it. I'm really looking hard at you Millennium Rainey.

This is a project that helps keep the rainy st vibe, looking forward to this.

I definitely wasn't expecting it to be that tall.

The site plan was formally submitted one week ago. But I didn't see any info that we don't already know about.

https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...pertyrsn=92570

Site plan was posted to the AULCC site.

ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/ATD_AULCC/...reet_PLANS.pdf

No major news. But the site plan seemed close to approval before it went inactive this week. So a change to project appears to be in the works. It shouldn't be a major change because that would require a withdrawal and resubmit of the site plan.

https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...pertyrsn=92570


Sackman is now featuring this project on their 70 Rainey website.

https://70rainey.com/

The site plan has still not been approved. It' been Inactive for a long time. But we should get some new info from Monday's (02/11) HLC meeting. It's on the agenda:

13.NRD-2019-0013 – 82 Rainey Street – Rainey Street Historic District
New construction

http://austintexas.gov/cityclerk/boa...tings/31_1.htm

This is the lot where the food trucks are currently, right?

The backup file for the HLC meeting is online now. It has some schematics including elevations. It also has photos of the two house that are being integrated into the project which is also the reason why this is being discussed by the HLC. There doesn't appear to be any changes to the project which is a good thing.

https://i.imgur.com/ZnrC2tr.png
https://i.imgur.com/NmZwrPi.png
http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=314569

Looks like a really nice project that tries to incorporate the vibe of the district. If they value engineer this and get cheap, it's going to have the vibe of the Railyard Condos in a decade or so. Some architectural styles are just not timeless and i'm not sure this one will hold up in the long run. Hope i'm wrong.

Any South Park fans here will recognize this as our very own SoDoSoPa project.

"...with views of historic Kenny's House!"

Their marketing commercial spoof is spot on.

https://youtu.be/miXMWJyOdgw?t=24

https://i.imgur.com/SOjq6gq.jpg

I wish someone would reopen Blackheart and rename the bar 'Historic Kenny's house'

Love this so much. This is how the entire Millemium development should have gone.

The HLC approved the plans.

http://austintx.swagit.com/play/02252019-1105

An update to clear the comments for site plan approval was made on 02/28, but the site plan application status changed to "Expired" this week. Not sure what this means for the project.

https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...pertyrsn=92570

Between this and 90/92 Rainey they're effectively killing the vibe of the street.
Instead of freestanding open air converted houses, we'll now have a tacky facade of fake "storefronts" on this project and whatever abomination they do with Container and Bungalow.

Plenty of other lots downtown for high rise residential to be built on. Not a fan.

This is an office project, not residential.

Rainy's vibe was temporary and was always going to be temporary. When looking at projects in the area we should remember that Rainey was never meant to be an entertainment district. Without the 2008 economic crash Rainey would be just another outcrop of the CBD.

Both this project and 90 Rainey are at least trying to preserve the entertainment aspect of the district. That should be appreciated because they could just bulldozer the district like the awful Millenium Rainey project did.

I feel ya buddy. Regardless if Rainey was meant or not meant to be an entertainment district, the fact remains that it is an entertainment district now and a popular one at that for many Austinites. It is apart of our city's culture so that should be more than enough reason for it to be preserved.


Oh and I don't think Rainey itself was expressly meant to be torn up with rows of highrises. I remember a rendering way back with the Downtown Austin Plan that the houses fronting Rainey would be preserved along with all the Pecan trees and would be surrounded by highrises. That was something that people wanted to see left alone.

Then what exactly is the point of "Rainey Street Historic District" ?

Or is that just some unofficial moniker coined by realtors and developers to make it sound trendy to investors?

Historic designation that predates the area's redesignation to CBD. Pretty much useless nowadays and only really serves as a name.

The charge to make it a "historic district" was led by one person with the primary goal of making sure the city's new convention center didn't land here. She was successful and I'm glad she was.

With regard to the houses that will be included in it's design, I fail to see how this particular project is killing off any vibe. They are not currently being used for any businesses or whatnot that cater to the public.

Just because they are currently unused is missing the point. Instead of rehabbing them in their current form, as others have done on the street quite well and lucratively, they'll now be chopped up and cladded onto a tacky facade of this planned larger building.

Will people still go to the new incarnation once the dust settles? Maybe? Probably? Point being, whether the district happened by accident or not, what's there as a whole in its current form has become a pretty unique area.

I applaud the developers for at least attempting to incorporate whats there now (unlike Millennium) but that doesn't mean its not going to completely change things. Rainey certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea for entertainment, and I get that, but once you alter what it's become and what's attracting folks to that area, you lose something greater. You end up with just another disposable generic entertainment district that lacks any sort of character and uniqueness.

I think this project is probably doing a better job of keeping the neighborhood intact than just about any other Rainey area project so far. Just short of putting skyscrapers on stilts to cantilever out over them, there's not much else you can do to protect the bungalows.

I didn't realize this area was being eyed as a possible "convention center district". Egads. That would have been a waste of the waterfront and the views of the river and hills.

https://i.imgur.com/iRdH1Hn.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/l5o3peN.jpg

That's going to be quite the imposing structure if it's taking up the 4 lots from 78-80-82-84.

Unbarievable is already juxtaposed right up next to 70 Rainey's massive parking podium.

This one is still kicking - the site plan was withdrawn and resubmitted today. It is still nine-stories with underground parking.

https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...pertyrsn=92570

This one has been severely scaled back. An "updated application" dated last Friday was added to the site plan and describes this as a three-story mixed use project with underground parking. :(

https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...pertyrsn=92570

That is very disappointing.

Well, at least the parking is underground. And the scale should be nice for the existing bungalows. But this will look as outdated as the Google Fiber building downtown before long.

I really think downtown needs to implement minimum height restrictions.

I could be wrong, but I think that may already exist. I think there is a minimum of two stories.

Agreed. Particularly considering that this is the same developer as 70 Rainey, and looking at the quality and appearance of that building -- I was excited for what was going in here. Now, I'm not sure what the purpose of building a 3-floor office would be.