[wwmiv]

There’s still opposition to many in Bouldin Creek and Travis Heights to skyscrapers south of the river in their vicinity. My opinion doesn’t matter, but I’d like to see a stepping down in height from the Statesman site to the edge of the neighborhood to create a transition zone. 650’ and 500’ would accomplish this for these lots. Provided we get 250’ and 100’ closer to the residential areas.

Five bucks says this is all orchestrated behind the scenes to build political support for the eventual compromise.

To put 750’ towers in perspective here, consider this:

• the nearest residential lot is 800’ away (206 Bonniview)
• from that same lot, the closest Statesman tower is 1400’ away
• from that same lot, towers along the edge of the river in downtown range from ~1800’ (in Rainey) to ~4100’ (the Sail)

That’s an appreciable difference. Having a stair step approach protects people’s privacy on the street level in residential neighborhoods by obstructing sight lines from as many balconies as possible while also adding as much density as possible.

It’s a necessary compromise to protect existing investment and tax receipts in high functioning neighborhoods.