Austin | Hanover Republic Square | 516 Feet | 44 Floors | Complete
 

This is a real project now, so it gets its own thread. The height and floor count in the thread title are from the marketing flyer vision, so the numbers will change.

Here's the tower info that AusTxDevelopment first posted about:


Two Demo permits have been filed to make way for this "mixed use" project.
This one is for 301 W. 5th:

https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...pertyrsn=91742

Here's the location on Streetview:

https://i.imgur.com/Rqf8Gjo.png


Here's the Demo permit for 303 W. 5th:

https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...pertyrsn=91748

Here's the location on Streetview:

https://i.imgur.com/23UveLb.png


Here's 427MM's post about the developer:

Doesn't look half bad, and it's reasonably tall. It will add great density to that area.

Not to mention it doesn't mess with the Roosevelt room. I love that bar.

We don't have an actual rendering yet. That's just a vision from earlier this year.

Would be interesting to see if the original proposed 44 story residential building for 300 Colorado just relocated a couple blocks over to this lot. They both have the same corner footprint on a 1/4 city block.

It's funny -- Roosevelt's isn't part of this tract. If/when this gets developed, Roosevelts will be a single story lot in between two larger buildings.

Ideal for a bar, honestly.

I really wish whatever tower they build, that they incorporate those entertainment use buildings. Granted, those spaces are currently empty however I think it's important that new developments make room for more than just retail or restaurant space.

A third Demo permit was filed today. This one is for 305 W. 5th:

https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...ertyrsn=670084


Here's the former Rebel Saloon at 305 W. 5th:

https://i.imgur.com/C0BzqPK.png

One of the three demo permits to clear the site was approved. It's for the building along the Lavaca St. side of the project.

https://i.imgur.com/ib0Yt2p.png
https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...pertyrsn=91742

427MM was correct. This is a Hanover development. So we can be sure that it will be all or mostly residential.

https://i.imgur.com/nMyHlp0.png

If anyone is interested in the history of the buildings being demolished, there are four HLC backup files with extensive histories of the buildings. The demo is being discussed at Monday's meeting. But there is no hint of what Hanover's tower proposal will be. :(

http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=302313
http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=302314
http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=302312
http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/doc....cfm?id=302311

Approval for the Demo of all the buildings passed on consent at this weeks HLC meeting. I was hoping for some discussion that might provide info on the tower. But we'll have to keep waiting. :( I suspect (hope) something like the 300 Colorado residential proposal is planned for the site.

The site plan was filed today for "a residential tower with ground floor restaurant space and structured parking with associated improvements." No details yet as usual with a new filing.

https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...pertyrsn=91742

Based on the permits, it appears that demo could have started. Has anyone noticed if it started?

The site plan application was rejected, but it's back on track now. In about two weeks the formal site plan filing should be made public which should contain the actual height and floor count.

Wow and right near where the republic will be, our beloved city is really starting to get dense and I love it. Does anyone think Austin might be the densest city in Texas in the future? Where do we rank now?

Based on my very quick wikipedia calculations for major texas cities:

1. Dallas - 3,958.5 pop/sq. mi.
2. Houston - 3,857.2 pop/sq. mi.
3. San Antonio - 3,280.2 pop/sq. mi.
4. Austin - 3,191.4 pop/sq. mi.
5. Fort Worth - 2,554.6 pop/sq. mi.
6. El Paso - 2,542.6 pop/sq. mi.

I think we'll end up around 3700 pop/sq. mi., maybe 3850.

It’s funny that the full site won’t include The Roosevelt. It’ll be a weird little tooth-gap in the middle of that block.

Kind of amazing how quickly this thing is speeding along. Comparatively speaking.

Thats; great! I love that there will be contrast and texture...

AND the Roosevelt will stay!

That's wonderful!

I believe Austin has more residents in it's downtown (around 15k) than any other Texas city. That is way impressive considering our relative size compared to 1-3.

I'm not sure what the numbers for West Campus are these days, but I think it was getting close to 20k around 10 years ago. (I could be mis-remembering.) So I'm guessing West Campus may be close to 25k or so now. Add in the densification going on east of downtown (and whatever the population is there now), and those are some pretty good numbers.

The core of Austin is probably more dense than any part of Texas. It certainly feels more urban than any other part of Texas.

It's quite an impressive number.

Since there was a discussion on what is "downtown" and what is called "downtown" by folks from throughout the metro in another thread (city discussions, I think), I think it's relevant to consider the populations of downtown and the neighboring urban or somewhat urban districts also. For instance, I wonder how the downtown + west campus + east 6th (etc) areas could compare to Dallas with downtown, Uptown, Oak Lawn, Little Elm, etc. etc.... Then Houston with the surrounding areas (of which I don't know the names). Just curious. The downtown number is cool to consider, of course, but the urban fabric often goes beyond the CBD proper.


Back on topic: I like this building. I also like the fact that not all of the single story places go because it does provide some diversity. The discussion about losing the warehouse district brick fronts, etc., is certainly a relevant one, so I'm glad to see something left behind here.

Of the buildings being taken out by this development, the one furthest west (last occupied by Rebel's) is the only one that looks anything like a brick warehouse of old. The rest of them have been bastardized beyond belief. Maybe there's some old brick underneath those facades? I don't know, but they currently don't very much remind me of warehouses. Even if they previously had historic architectural value, I doubt they do now.

Also, none of the bars in these buildings really stuck around all that long. These spots were revolving doors. I'm fine with these buildings going. They hardly added much to the Warehouse District anyway. (Rebel's seemed popular and may have survived. It's sudden closure makes me think that it was pushed out for the redevelopment.)

Rebel's used to be Rainbow Cattle Co, a gay country music bar. Kinda sad we don't have that anymore, being in the capital of TX. Anyone who's been to the Roundup in Dallas knows how interesting it is - would be great to have something like that here in Austin again

I agree! We need a gay country western bar in Austin! :)

Why not invest and build one?

When you take out the spires on 360 and Fairmont this sucker is gonna be the 4th tallest behind the Independent, Austonian and Frost. Hopefully not for long though....

Forgot Block 71.....5th tallest....

You'd think so with all the buildings going up, but I remember we looked at this a couple of years ago, and the issue is that all of Austin's urban core housing is quite expensive.. so the units are occupied by single professionals, smaller families, DINKs, and some second homes even. Dallas and Houston have lower income sections in their urban core which tend to be much more dense; families living in small apartments, etc.

Now West Campus, that density would probably compare.

Yep... last I saw West Campus is the most dense sq mile in the state. (something like 30K). Downtown has to be between 15 and 20 within it's sq mile.

It sounds like you misunderstood. When I was referring to the core, I was including West Campus in that. Yes, downtown Austin housing is expensive, but I when I said it felt more dense it wasn't just the buildings I was referring to, but the number of people and activity on the street level. Regardless, the numbers don't lie. The makeup of the downtown population doesn't matter. There are in fact around 15k residents in the downtown CBD. That's not a guess on my part. DANA puts those numbers out.

The numbers I've previously seen (I don't have links or anything) for downtown Dallas and Houston were less than that. I want to say each was around 12k, but I could be off a bit. Also, I don't know exactly what areas of Dallas and Houston those stats were including. I assumed that was within their CBDs, but maybe it wasn't. If the stats encompassed more than their CBDs, then they are definitely less dense.

I still stand by the basic point I was making, Austin's combined urban core is probably the densest. If it's not, there probably aren't any other areas in the state that are much more dense than it is.

Sorry if I misunderstood. I did understand Austin's CBD has a higher population, no argument there. I was also referring to urban cores as a whole (not just CBD), and I'm thinking that the very dense low-income sections of Dallas and Houston (which are often forgotten but still in the urban core) probably still bump them up higher than Austin.

But to your point, if you include West Campus in the core then I'd probably change my guess.

I don't know how recent/accurate the data is here, but it is interesting. Dallas including uptown is surprising.

http://zipatlas.com/us/tx/houston/zi...on-density.htm

http://zipatlas.com/us/tx/austin/zip...on-density.htm

http://zipatlas.com/us/tx/dallas/zip...on-density.htm

For Austin, it shows 3,855 people living in the 78701 zip code. That's way off. These numbers are pretty dated it seems. We will probably have to wait for the Census Bureau to do their update in 2020.

Yeah, I noticed other problems with that site after I posted it. The color key varies based on the highest population zipcode in the area. That's why Houston has no visible red; they have a .1 sq mile zipcode listed with a 32K population density so nothing else is close to red.

Anyway, disregard, and I apologize for the off-topic tangent.

Yea... something is up with that data and interface. Downtown Austin will have 20K residents very soon (by 2020ish) when east 6th work is habitated. Factor in over 10K hotel rooms and you have a lot of people on the street every night after work.

What's happening with this tower? Something like 18 straight posts regarding other subjects.

The Roosevelt Room (307 W. 5th) is now planned for Demo. A permit for the "Total demolition of a 6,722 sqft office space (2 stories)" was filed today.

https://abc.austintexas.gov/web/perm...ertyrsn=762987

307 W. 5th:

https://i.imgur.com/1qRytcR.png

Cool. So, this is still inching forward. Eagerly awaiting more info and some renderings of this tower.

delete

I thought roosevelt room wasn't going to be touched by this development?

It's interesting. The original renderings didn't include it as part of the available footprint. It was always separate.

Actually looks like it belongs on The Plaza's 1/4 of the block -- not that that means anything, apart from it triggering my OCD.

It wasn't. The developer may have decided that they wanted to gobble up that last little bit for whatever reason and made them an offer they couldn't refuse.

I hope they are able to find another location downtown. It's a popular place that seemed to have staying power. It's one of my faves.

So f'in SAD......
hate this.

I heard a rumor that a local developer has control of that slice of the block separately from the Hanover development and the Plaza Lofts. Its supposedly someone who has presented VERY grand plans for downtown towers in the past but hasn't delivered anything (no, not T. Stacy). ;)

Edited to add: Not sure what you can do with that piece of land. Maybe just flip it to one or the other neighbors for some quick cash?

I hope it's not a demo with no function.

Gingerman was demod how long before zaza started going up? I certainly hope it's not some joker trying to flip it to the ajoining addresses without any real interest that winds up costing us a cool building and really good bar and it isn't included in a corresponding building.

Roosevelt room will be a big loss downtown. It's one of the ~10 or so "actually good" cocktail bars that we have in DT proper.

It's got to be Sutton...

or WCCG?

The 307 W. 5th (Roosevelt) Demo permit has the same case reference (SP-2018-0356C) as the 5th & Lavaca tower site plan. Same project.

True. However, I would not consider Nate Paul as "someone who has presented VERY grand plans for downtown towers." He's had only one major proposal - 99 Trinity.

I like the phrase "control of that slice". If you have an option on this one, the time to exercise it is now.

Sure, you are right. I'm just spit-balling.

The difference for me is, this smells like something NP would get into....an option on a bar downtown. He has prolific track record downtown.....Not sure if Sutton would jump on this sliver just to flip, but maybe.

Looks like the current owner has had it for a little over 20 years.

I mean, these aren't exactly works of art, and I know better than to suggest those 2nd story windows are original to that building. Of the buildings on that block, the Roosevelt is probably the least attractive building. Also, painted brick should be a crime. The only building on that block with a nice facade is the Rebels Saloon building, but even it is sort of hodge podge design. What is going on with the entrance?

Anyway, if you really wanna see something that is knock-down-worthy, turn around and look across the street:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/30...!4d-97.7461264

So true Kevin, and btw, I like your tribute avatar for the late great Bert Reynolds.