AUSTIN | Projects & Construction III

[JoninATX]

Awesome, hope whoever buys the property gets his or hers plans off the ground. In other news I went by Streetlights on Barton Springs formally known as Aquaterra and saw what appeared to be several equipment moving along behind the fence. This is not to mistake the 7 story Hyatt parking garage, this was right in front of the white building.

[Mopacs]

Originally Posted by AusTxDevelopment

Below are screen caps from the Offering Memo that show what parts of the site were considered redevelopment opportunties ("Entitlement Summary") and what were not. Stacy's big "gumby" tower was planned for what's called the Annex, the low-rise building adjacent to BOA and the Valet Garage behind it. The upper floors of the Annex have office space in them, but they were cleared out about 6 years ago because the spaces contained asbestos (the non-friable kind - aka the stuff that doesn't get in the air - but still not good). Stacy was going to tear down the Annex and build the highrise there with a new BOA lobby on the ground floor.

Wasn't there an updated rendering, showing a more streamlined (and possibly taller) tower rising atop the valet garage, behind the Annex? I believe it was posted originally in an earlier development thread.

[KevinFromTexas]

Are you talking about the old building south of the Bank of America Center? I don't think that building is abandoned. It is the Bank of America banking hall. There's some offices in there, too. That building pre-dates the Bank of America Center also. It was built in 1959, where as the Bank of America Center is from 1975.

And agreed on One Congress Plaza and 100 Congress. They're two of my skyline favorites, but they don't offer anything to the street. I guess their location is a best case scenario, though. It could be worse, if they had been farther north on Congress they would have created a real big hole in the street level interaction in a more centralized location.

[Syndic]

Yeah, I'm talking about the BoA banking hall. That looks pretty much destined to be torn down. T. Stacy's original rendering had it being torn down. I'm assuming the purchase of the BoA building includes that, too, since they're actually connected.

[KevinFromTexas]

Really it would be possible to alter their ground floors so that street level retail could be added. There's no reason a whole building would have to be demolished when really it's just a matter of a single wall coming out to put in more windows and street facing shops. The Bank of America Center and Chase Bank Tower both make perfect candidates for it, too, since they have better street connection than buildings that are 10 to 15 years newer. The only buildings that would pose a real problem to adding street level retail to would be ones like One Congress Plaza, 100 Congress and 700 Lavaca which do not meet the street. And even so those buildings could still have different kinds of retail such as restaurants since they obviously couldn't have "shop windows" to draw people in.

[KevinFromTexas]

International Style architecture, while maybe not aesthetically pleasing, isn't a bad style of architecture for street level retail. And actually, it's quite the opposite. Since the International Style typically produces boxy buildings, they can conform well to downtown blocks which are also square/rectangular. For me, the worst offenders in Austin are One Congress Plaza, 100 Congress, Hobby Building, 700 Lavaca, Lavaca Plaza and 816 Congress. But even so, those buildings could be retrofitted to add street level retail. It would be more difficult with One Congress Plaza, although, I could see street level retail being added to the east side of that block where the bank drive through is. Bank of America Center originally did not have street level retail, but now it does. They could add retail to those other buildings also, even if they had to do some structural changes to their street level facades.

I don't think this has been posted here before. I saw it posted at SkyscraperCity a while back.


And here's the other one that I think most of us have seen.

[Komeht]

I vote for choice 5 - 56 stories - 795'! All in favor say "aye"!

[BevoLJ]

• Video Link

[wwmiv]

I wonder why they didn't also include the Manchester in that video. I don't think that's a bad sign, but it is peculiar.

It's amazing how much of a void that the JW is going to fill.

Edit: it seems they've been playing favorites for awhile. In one of their previous videos, they did the same thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlUr96EnNlg

[BevoLJ]

It isn't just them. Seems pretty common around town that the JW gets more mention/notice than the Fairmont.

I don't think it is really anyone playing favorites or anything. Mostly just that White Lodging is very well established in Austin. They know everyone in town, and everyone is very familiar with them. Manchester not so much. Or at all.

[Syndic]

Sure would be nice to get some nighttime renderings of the JW Marriott so we know what the lighting will look like.

[ROCrot]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

It isn't just them. Seems pretty common around town that the JW gets more mention/notice than the Fairmont.

I don't think it is really anyone playing favorites or anything. Mostly just that White Lodging is very well established in Austin. They know everyone in town, and everyone is very familiar with them. Manchester not so much. Or at all.

More likely because the JW Marriott is actually being built and has its opening scheduled for March 2015. The Fairmont is merely being talked about as one day built.

[priller]

I wonder if that SketchUp model of the JW is available online? Didn't see it in the warehouse.

[wwmiv]

I do admit that there are moments where the Fairmont seems to be a fantasy project. However, there are big backers behind the project AND didn't they just apply for a crane permit or do some other application that is necessary to move forward?

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

I do admit that there are moments where the Fairmont seems to be a fantasy project. However, there are big backers behind the project AND didn't they just apply for a crane permit or do some other application that is necessary to move forward?

They filed the site plan last October and it's going through the review and update process. Reading through the two PDFs attached to the application, there are three different references to the number of stories: 49, 52 and 53. Underground parking may account for part of the discrepancy.

[Syndic]

OMFG. The latest -- and 40th anniversary -- edition of Texas Monthly.

[The ATX]

Funny how San Antonio still doesn't have many high rises in that fantasy picture.

[KevinFromTexas]

To be truly accurate, the greatest area of population density is too far to the northwest. The "Texas Triangle" - the area that is bounded by I-35, I-45 and I-10 is farther east, and contains 18 million people, or slightly more than 75% of the state's population according to the 2011 estimates. I guess most people think DFW is the biggest urban center of the state, which it is, but it's funny that San Antonio and Houston were left out. Even Austin had some recognizable buildings in that bunch. And there shouldn't be anything between El Paso and Midland/Odessa. The least populated areas of the state are West and South Texas, some with counties with fewer than 100 people, even though a few of them cover more than 2,000 square miles.

[Syndic]

I don't think the intention was to make it accurate, just to make Texas look like one big metropolis. Some of those buildings are real buildings, though. It's not possible that all of them are, is it? I don't see the Austonian.

[The ATX]

Also, Big Bend National Park will not be paved over with high rises.