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Originally Posted by davinSA
Emporis.com has 22 never built highrises listed for Austin. Just kind of surprised. Need to get all these other ones built!  |
I need to be elaborating more on those never built projects at S.COM. I added all of those. And actually the true number is 21. I had added the first design for Frost Bank Tower, (then Congress at Fourth), the design changed and I just left it listed and added the new design as a new building. I've since deleted it, the page needs to be updated now so it doesn't show it. Some people gripe that it makes the city look bad to still list all of those never built towers, but my aim with the site is to announce, and document all projects wether or not they get built. For history and knowledge not ego or gain.
Most of the those highrises that were never built though were office towers during the 80s when the office market suffered horrible vacancy rates. Like Mopacs mentioned earlier developers were still putting up over a million square feet of space in 3 large towers downtown, One Congress Plaza, 100 Congress and the San Jacinto Center. We also had one suburban office building that year.
Of the 22 never built highrises 12 were for office space. One was a 12-story parking garage, (the one for Intel). 2 were hotels, one being attached to a office project. 1 was the earlier city hall design during the 80s. That project was scrapped by the city because of the nationwide economy bust. 5 of them were residential projects. None however had to do with low sales or demand. Most were due to zoning, or neighborhood critism. For instance, the Waldorf Tower, a 256 foot, 14-story residential tower was canceled after the city and state both complained that it would block views of the capitol. 65 feet of the top of the building on one side would have blocked the view of the capitol from certain places. The state senate, even the governor himself, (Bush), was opposed to it. So it was canceled. The 2nd was the Gotham Condominium Tower, a 12-story, 120 foot tower that would have been at 200 S. Congress south of the river near downtown. The neighborhoods in the area complained it would raise traffic, and block views of the skyline. There was also an issue of not having enough space on the site for a driveway and parking. So it was scapped. The Monarch, which was slated for the Rainey Street Neighborhood which would have been 120 feet with 8 floors was shot down by the neighborhood groups there opposed it. The tables have turned now however as residents there support the idea of being bought out by developers, (which they will be) so they can move away. Currently there is a 142 foot, 13-story condominum tower going up on the very same site as The Monarch had been proposed. Now a 22-story tower is being proposed 1 block to the east of that building as well. The West Avenue Lofts which was built has 337 units, it's a squat 4-story? building. It was completed and the developer planned a 16-story tower, phase two nearby at 805 West 5th Street. That tower was very much a go, infact they even tore down the music store, (which is where my brother bought his violin.) Anyway, with the tech bust sales were slow. So it never happened. But now there is a 24-story tower proposed for the very same site and will breakground in September. The last project which is the Four Seasons Residences truly did die because of the techbust and economy woes. I actually need to update that to neverbuilt. But anyway, I was reading in a recent tidbit that the developers saying they will not build the project in the first design scheme which called for a 320 foot 28-story tower. They did however hint at a possible comeback in a different form.
For me, I'm not so worried about looking at the neverbuilt list and worrying over wether stuff will get built. To me it's not what hasn't been built, it's what has been built. Since 2000 a good number of downtown residential have been built. And let's face it, Austin has dragged it's butt for years in building substantial residential in downtown compared to the rest of Texas. So when I started to see a surge in new residential development in downtown in the form of towers or otherwise, I was surprised and caustiously excited. But I think now with Frost Bank Tower under our belt, and the Hilton residences filling up and developers actually coming out and making annoucements I think it shows a sign of change.
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