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Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas
With our water front starting to fill in a bit, it makes sense that we'd start getting some taller ones further north in downtown. That's pretty much how I've always assumed it would be. The river flowing through our downtown is fairly wide and the whole area around it creates parkland. It's not like in a few other cities with narrow rivers that flow through the heart of their downtowns where they're lined with buildings right up to the water's edge in places. I sort of like the idea of having the taller buildings be farther away from the river, not because of Nimby sentiments, but because I think it'll make the skyline appear more interesting. I don't know. I just think a 700 or 800 foot building or even 600 foot one so close to the water would look a bit strange. The Austonian is at least two blocks north of the river. Besides, I'd rather be able to see a couple of 400 footers stepping up to an 800 footer (more layers and more buildings) than one single building blocking the others. Once the water front is completely filled in, we'll be appreciating any taller buildings that happen farther north so their construction can be seen from the river and parkland to the south of downtown. There really aren't many good vantage points of the north side of downtown and the northwest side of downtown to watch those areas fill in much, so having something taller than can be seen from farther away I think will be appreciated.
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These are some good thoughts and observations. I've often thought about that as well. I've gone back and forth on the step-down approach to the river, and I"m leaning more toward it for some of the same reasons you mentioned.
I also think that Lavaca and Guadalupe would be a pretty cool corridor for height going north, but it seems that there are quite a few CVCs between 7th and 14th streets...but there are a couple lots that could yield a pretty unique building due to said corridors, of course. The other thing is that these two streets travel all the way through downtown and then continue south via S 1st, so it would be good for more density anyway, even if not with significant height.
The fact that the CVCs sort of form a triangle split by the Congress CVC could bring some really cool effects with more and more height and density throughout. If the height was limited to the river, that would never be seen.
Edit: Another area with no real CVC limitations that seems to go under the radar is bordered by West, MLK, Lavaca, and 15th or so to the south. This area seems untapped to me...right by West Campus, UT, the Capitol area, and the downtown core to the south.