[lzppjb]

Originally Posted by Syndic

It's pretty bad. There's almost no street interaction at all. It makes me sad to see downtown Austin dying a slow death one sterile behemoth of an office building at a time. What reason would anyone have to go to this place during the weekend or off-peak hours? None. Too many of these and you have a ghost town like downtown Dallas or Houston.

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Floodplain issues. It's unavoidable. Also, retail ground level this project has.

Originally Posted by Syndic

Sorry, I just randomly navigated back here and saw your comment. And I would go with no. Stairs and railings and shit have no place in a downtown environment (unless it's like a government building or something).

Originally Posted by ChrisBBradford

As someone else pointed out, it's a floodplain issue. The ground floor has to be elevated above the flood plain. The Memorial Day flood shows why it's necessary.

All of the buildings along Shoal Creek are like this for just that reason - Monarch, Austin City Lofts, the forthcoming 5th & West. It's not because the developers think that stairs and railings are swell things.

Originally Posted by Syndic

Well, they're already shitting on the urban fabric of downtown Austin by putting in steps and a railing, ruining any chance of any street interaction, so I can't say I'm surprised.

Originally Posted by paul78701

Because the building has to deal with the flood plain. Which is certainly not the developer's fault.

lol