Austin Projects & Construction

[Stephenapolis]

The ZOM Tower looks pretty nice. Austin has alot going for it. It is a great city.

[Cory]

WOW. Central Austin needs more infill like the bottom right. Talk about dense.

[KevinFromTexas]

That's 404 Rio Grande, a really nice project actually even though it's not very tall, (only 4 floors), it does add some nice density to the area. It has 139 units. I just rode by there tonight on my way over to check out the ZOM Tower's status as a matter of fact. Nice landscaping and pedestrian level architecture.

There's another similar project the AMLI Downtown which is 7 floors and 100 feet tall. It adds a lot of density too with 220 units and street level retail facing all 4 bordering streets. That West 5th Street corridor, seen above can still have a lot of buildings built. There's also the West Avenue Lofts, which sits caddy corner to 404 Rio Grande to the lower right, outside of the pic. It has 337 units.

There's several nasty parking lots around there that I would love see bite the dust. It's inevitable though it will happen. The Intel skeleton there in the center of pic is the future site of the new federal courthouse. It's 8 floors, and should be around 140 to 150 feet tall. And caddy corner to that on land that Intel had planned for their parking garage is where the Novare Group Tower is planned for, a 520 footer with 40 floors. It's suppose to be breakground in January. In the shot above it would be in the lower right of that pic, directly above the corner of 404 Rio Grande.

By the way so far no construction activity for a few buildings we've been waiting on. I rode around downtown tonight after the Lance Armstrong/Sheryl Crow concert.

ZOM Tower - No construction yet, Miguel's Imports has moved out of course, and the site is still fenced off. The old Strait Music building is still standing. That's slated for demolition also in the project.

La Visita on Lavaca - Nothing yet. The site's still fenced off.

101 Colorado - Still no activity there yet either.

[Mopacs]

Thanks for the updates Kevin... I could have sworn that prep work had already begun for La Vista? Maybe not.

[KevinFromTexas]

Mopacs: - That's what I had heard also from several people. I think seeing the fence up there a lot of people assumed it had started. I had some time to kill last night since I actually missed a good bit of the concert. So I headed downtown and goofed off.

Now check this out.

Austin's West Campus area was rezoned last year for higher density buildings. The area isn't totally unfamilar with highrises. The tallest within it's basic boundry lines is 8 floors with another 8-story tower being finished right now. Many more on the way. The plan was to draw density near the university and away from the rest of the city. There's been some fear that with all the huge apartment complexes and cheap housing in other parts of the city for students that it might have had a bad affect on older neighborhoods. So West Campus is building up. The height cap is 175 feet, but there are other taller buildings nearby, there's the 367 foot Dobie Center, and the 237 foot Castillian, both of which are also dorms. By the way, SkyscraperPage got some credit for the building heights even though I'm technically the one that came up with the heights!

From the Austin American-Statesman
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/sunday/news_34f36865275ba0cd1092.html

West Campus is on the rise

A year after plan raised height limits, apartment projects are springing up

By Kate Miller Morton

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Sunday, October 2, 2005

One year after Austin officials approved a plan to encourage high-rise and high-density development just west of the University of Texas campus, well-worn bungalows and low-slung apartment buildings still dominate the eclectic neighborhood.

But signs of change are everywhere in the area known as West Campus, from the dusty 18-wheelers lugging building materials through the narrow, car-lined streets to the gaping holes in the landscape where run-down student dwellings once stood and sleek, upscale apartments are being built.

Developers already have plans for 12 projects with a total of more than 1,000 apartments or condominiums, and several are under construction. Developers have more projects on the drawing board, and some land owners are considering starting projects of their own or marketing their land.

The activity is unlike anything the neighborhood has experienced in 20 years, and developers and city officials say it is only the beginning of a building boom that will significantly improve the quality of housing and the look of the long-neglected area.

Change is inevitable, but UT architecture professor and former West Campus resident Larry Speck thinks that the development will not destroy the funky character of the neighborhood.

The outdated and often unattractive apartment complexes probably will be the first to go, as developers go after bigger pieces of land. Developers who want to build to maximum heights will have to observe design guidelines that require them to add wide sidewalks shaded by trees and set their buildings back from the street to avoid a concrete canyon effect.

"I don't see it as the destruction of the neighborhood moving quickly," Speck said. "I think in some ways it may be the enhancement of the neighborhood moving quickly."

West Campus' diverse blend of student housing is in dire need of enhancement.

Despite perennially high demand for student accommodations near campus and consequently one of the highest average rents in Austin, few new apartments or rental houses have been built in the area since 1984, when the city tightened the area's zoning to discourage high density.

The zoning change helped discourage new development because property owners who tore down older buildings often were not allowed to rebuild as many units as they had demolished.

That was one factor that led to a diaspora of UT students in rental housing all over the city, particularly along East Riverside Drive, where apartment complexes house as many as 8,000 students.

Improvised student housing also crept into nearby campus neighborhoods, where single-family houses were converted into apartments or replaced by so-called superduplexes.

A yearlong process involving neighborhood groups, property owners and UT students and officials led to the new plan that allows buildings as high as 15 stories in parts of West Campus, just west of the section of Guadalupe Street known as the Drag.

The height maximums are graduated within the area. For example, heights on some blocks near Lamar Boulevard are capped at 40 feet, while the limit is 60 feet along most of Guadalupe. The tallest buildings would be limited to a few blocks along San Antonio, Nueces and Rio Grande streets, roughly from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to 26th Street.

The impact of the zoning changes has surprised even the biggest supporters of the plan, who thought there might be four or five new projects a year.

"The pent-up demand has been tremendous," said Mike McHone, who participated in the planning process as a member of the University Area Partners, whose members include area business and property owners, tenants and churches.

Leading the wave of redevelopment is Austin-based Simmons Vedder & Co., which is tearing down several dormitories and the University Gardens apartments to build seven new apartment buildings with a total of 722 units and an eight-level parking garage.

The first three buildings -- The Quarters at Montgomery House, The Quarters at Sterling House and The Quarters at Cameron House -- will open next fall and rent for from $800 to $2,600 a month.

University Partners, the student housing division of Dallas-based First Worthing, broke ground in July on the Venue on Guadalupe, a 75-apartment project at 2815 Guadalupe that will open by next fall. Blain England Partners is the local development partner.

Houston-based Dinerstein Cos., which searched for development opportunities near UT for years, recently began work on Sterling University WestCamp, a 76-unit, six-story apartment building on Rio Grande Street. "We wanted to be within walking distance of campus," Dinerstein Vice President John Caltagirone said. "It's a nice part of town, but without being able to build a high-density project, it was tough for us to find enough land to make a deal work."

Rent for the two- to four-bedroom units that are scheduled to open in August has not been set but probably will start at $1,000 a month.

The so-called university area overlay is optional for developers. Those who want to build to the maximum heights have to price 10 percent of their units for moderate- or lower-income renters or pay a fee. But most of the apartments will rent for a premium.

West Campus already is one of the more expensive apartment neighborhoods in Austin, with average rents of $1,633 for a two-bedroom apartment, compared with $1,496 for Central Austin and $811 citywide.

Amenities such as resort-style pools, opera balconies and landscaped sunbathing decks undoubtedly account for some of the premium pricing, but construction costs also are to blame.

High- and mid-rise apartment buildings with multilevel parking garages are always more expensive to build than the garden-style apartment complexes that are usually found in the suburbs. West Campus construction is particularly difficult and expensive because the land, in addition to being expensive, is typically divided into small parcels that make assembling large sites difficult.

"It is no cheaper to build in the West Campus area than it is downtown," Simmons Vedder Vice President John McKinnerney said.

The cost will discourage some students, but market researcher Charles Heimsath, president of Capitol Market Research in Austin, expects demand to be strong.

"You're always going to have a value versus cost equation, but I think on balance that there will be a large number of people who are students who will choose to live closer to campus and pay an extra $375 a month to do that," Heimsath said.

Caltagirone said that land has gotten more expensive since the zoning change but that it is worth more because developers can build more apartments on top of it. The increased value also has prompted more owners to sell.

Escalating prices were not enough to convince the University Baptist Church that it should sell its three parking lots between Nueces and San Antonio streets, only one block from campus, but the church is actively seeking developers interested in leasing and developing the property. The property lies in the zone where builders are allowed to build as high as 175 feet, making it extremely valuable.

"It's just a matter of economics," said Brian Gryta, the church's business administrator. "As a church, we are responsible to all of our members to utilize all of our assets as best we can."

College Houses Inc., a nonprofit student housing co-op, owns two old apartment buildings and a historic house at 1905, 1907 and 1909 Nueces St.

The co-op wants to build a $7.5 million apartment building that would house 160 students. The project would more than triple the number of students the co-op currently houses, but the approximately 60-foot building would not come close to reaching the property's full potential under the university overlay, so the organization is considering selling the land and buying less valuable property elsewhere for its project.

High prices and the difficulty of assembling adjacent properties in West Campus also could help preserve the neighborhood's eclectic character by leading developers to buy the largest parcels.

Speck said the more charming old bungalows, the neighborhood's "smaller, sweeter things," will remain.

"There are things we like about West Campus, but there are a lot of really bad projects in West Campus," Speck said. "Just imagine those going. It's not all a bad thing."

Also working to preserve the look and feel of the neighborhood are the extensive design guidelines required for developers building under the overlay, such as the installation of wide sidewalks and irrigated trees in front of buildings, which must be set back from the street.

"The zoning ordinance itself is unlike most zoning we do in any Sun Belt city," Speck said. "It actually comes with design guidelines, and they are there to protect the character of the street."

[email protected]; 445-3641

Here's a rundown of the list of what's going on in West Campus.

{edit} - I see what they're doing with those floor numbers though. Those are rounded up heights. Ugh, I hate it when they do that.

Here's the site for The Quarters Residences, note that all the buildings in The Quarters Residences complex will actually only have 5 floors. They may be around 80 feet tall or so. But they're definitely not 8 floors.
http://www.simmonsvedder.com/projects/wcampus/wcampus.html

Apartments ~
1 - Venue on Guadalupe - 75 units - 7 floors
2 - The Quarters at Cameron House - 64 units - 6 floors
3 - The Quarters at Montgomery House - 88 units - 6 floors
4 - Sterling University WestCamp - 76 units - 6 floors
5 - Texan Tower - 60+ units - 6 floors
6 - The Quarters at Bandera House - 126 units - 8 floors
7 - The Quarters at Nueces House - 232 units - 8 floors
8 - The Quarters at Garage - 12 units? - 3 floors
9 - The Quarters at Grayson House - 100 units - 8 floors
10 - The Quarters at Sterling House - 100 units - 6 floors

Condominiums ~

Piazza Novonna - 75 feet - 8 floors - 55 units - This one's nearly finished.
Caswell House - 42 units - 3 to 4 floors.

The part that gave credit to SkyscraperPage was, they had a little diagram, (just boxes), showing the heights for the Dobie Center, (367 feet), and the UT Tower, (307 feet). The credit just said Source: University Area Partners and after that Skyscraperpage.com.

{edit} - Here are the diagrams. At the bottom of the first one they credited SkyscraperPage for the heights.



More pictures of the construction here. There are currently 6 buildings under construction in West Campus over 5 floors. That's more than the area has seen in probably 25 years.
http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/10/2westcampus.html

[KevinFromTexas]

And...

From the Austin Business Journal

Downtown's Second Street District finding traction with new retailers
http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2005/10/03/story7.html

Chantal Outon
Austin Business Journal Staff
When first-time small business owners Cami Cobb and Stephanie Coultress opened Estilo clothing boutique in July in Austin's up-and-coming Second Street District, they relied on a passion for fashion and a shoestring budget.

With only a $150,000 budget to lease the 1,989-square-foot store at 234 W. Second St., stock it with designer fashions for men and women, and open the doors, Cobb and Coultress knew they'd have to roll up their sleeves and face some unique challenges.

But one thing the pair knew would benefit their boutique is its location. Second Street, they say, fits Estilo like a haute couture glove.

About five years ago, the City of Austin came up with a plan for the Second Street District -- an area with boutique shops, restaurants and entertainment venues that would attract out-of-town visitors and Central Texans alike.

That vision is becoming reality, but business for Estilo has been sluggish as the district adds tenants and tries to draw shoppers.

"It's a slow time for business in general in this district," Coultress says. "Right now, we're just trying to get our name out there, and marketing is currently our biggest investment."

To attract shoppers, Estilo is set to spend about $40,000 a year on advertising and marketing, or 10 percent of its $400,000 annual sales goal. Cobb expects that number to fall to 7 percent once "we're a little more settled."

So far, a large chunk of the district's available 225,000 square feet has been leased, says Frank Seely, who works with district landlord Urban Partners to lease Second Street retail space. Block 4 (bordered by Lavaca, Second, Colorado and Cesar Chavez streets) and Block 20 (bordered by Lavaca, Third, Colorado and Second streets, where Estilo sits) make up nearly 80,000 square feet of Second Street's retail space.

"In those two blocks, just about all of the space has either been leased or is already committed," Seely says. "And Block 2 already has a couple of leases in the works as well."

When 75 percent of Block 20 is occupied, Urban Partners plans to use part of the retailers' rent to market the Second Street District, Cobb says.

"We wanted to create a very walkable retail environment that brought business into downtown and provided something for the people coming and moving downtown," says Sue Edwards, director of the city's Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office.

Because Estilo features national and international fashion designs with a classic yet whimsical, flair, Coultress says it was important for Estilo to capitalize on Austin's downtown resurgence.

"Our struggle initially was where in Austin should we be, because Austin is saturated with clothing boutiques," Cobb says. "But then Second Street came along, and it was a perfect fit for us."

So far, Estilo's sales ratio is relatively healthy, Cobb and Coultress say. They estimate that of their typical five weekday walk-in customers and 30 weekend walk-in customers, the majority are buying clothes.

Seely says those numbers likely will grow as the Second Street District fills up.

"It's going to be a tremendous retail district," he says.

"Already, retailers are seeing late traffic from folks walking down from the Warehouse District in the evenings. And the boutique retailers we have that are unique to Austin, like Estilo, will continue to draw locals and tourists to that district in droves."

Chantal Outon can be reached at ([email protected]) I (512) 494-2528.

[JRCool]

So this is getting irritating, hearing ALL this stuff about new buildings, but NO activity downtown.

[KevinFromTexas]

Actually I believe 2 of those in West Campus have broken ground, 3 counting the Piazza Novona. I sent an email yesterday to the developer of The Quarters at Residences, the guy's on a trip now, but next week I'll call him. He said he'd talk to me about the project. So hopfully I'll get some heights and info about it. That's a huge project with over 700 new units added to that area plus several thousand square feet of retail space.

[KevinFromTexas]

Decent aerial of downtown at Carr America's website, check it out.

They also have a shot of 300 West Sixth from the Bank One Tower.

Click on "Brochures" and scroll down towards the bottom. The pic from Bank One is at the top.
http://www.carramerica.com/carrsite/index.htm?3,2

[KevinFromTexas]

From the Austin American-Statesman
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/10/7equity.html

Equity Office Properties Trust is paying $131.7 million for 300 West Sixth, a 23-story office building downtown. The Chicago company, which is expanding in Austin while selling its holdings in Houston and Dallas, owns about 2.8 million square feet of office space locally.


Office tower fetches record price

Sale and plans for new suburban complex signal rebound in Austin's commercial market.

By Shonda Novak

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, October 07, 2005

In a dramatic sign of Austin's rebounding office market, 300 West Sixth, the 23-story downtown office tower with the vaulted roof, was sold Thursday for a record price to a major national firm that is expanding its holdings in Austin.

Chicago-based Equity Office Properties Trust paid $131.7 million for the four-year-old building. It is Equity's fifth Austin purchase in less than a year, totaling more than $250 million.

The company now owns nearly 2 million square feet of space in four major downtown buildings, plus about 800,000 square feet in four suburban properties.

Separately, developers of the San Clemente retail-office project on Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360) said they plan to break ground in the next two weeks on the first of five office buildings there. It's the first major new suburban project in several years.

Equity, one of the country's biggest commercial landlords, is expanding in Austin even as it sells its holdings in Dallas and Houston.

The company "is a big believer in the future strength of the Austin market," said Kim Koehn, senior vice president of Equity's Denver region, which includes Austin.

"Our belief is based on the history of innovation emerging from the Austin area as well as the desirability of Austin as a place to live and work," Koehn said.

The sale price is the biggest in Austin. At $295 per square foot, it also may be a Texas record, according to Real Capital Analytics, a New York real estate consulting firm. The building cost about $90 million to build.

"With this transaction, Equity Office has certainly put itself in a position to corner the Austin office market," said Dan Fasulo, director of market analysis for Real Capital Analytics. "Directly or indirectly, it will certainly affect the entire landscape of the entire Austin office market."

Equity paid $64.2 million for two other office complexes in Northwest Austin and just under $37 million for the Stonebridge II office park near the Arboretum less than 60 days ago. A price was not available for the fourth property, Research Park I and II.

The company now controls about 2.7 million square feet of office space in Central Texas, giving it the clout to call the shots on rents and lease terms.

CarrAmerica, a real estate investment trust based in Washington, D.C., owned 300 West Sixth with JER Partners, the private equity arm of J.E. Robert Cos.

The building opened in January 2002 amid an economic downturn that sent office rents and occupancy rates plummeting. Almost four years later, it's 78 percent full.

With a strong and rising market for commercial properties in Austin, the owners put it up for sale in July.

"We really would have loved to maintain our ownership in the building, but the sales price was simply too compelling to pass up," said Jeff Pace, managing director of CarrAmerica's offices in Austin, Dallas, Denver and Salt Lake City.

CarrAmerica still owns 18 office properties in the Austin area, totaling 1.5 million square feet, and Pace said the company plans to buy or build more "in the near future," although he declined to say where or when.

Meanwhile, Hill Partners Inc. plans to start construction soon on a three-story, 90,000-square-foot office building at its San Clemente development at Loop 360 and Westlake Drive.

Developers say they expect to have signed leases next week with two tenants who will occupy about 40 percent of the building, which will be completed in a year.

The company plans to build one building a year over the next four years in the $150 million project, adding 760,000 square feet of office space along Austin's high-tech corridor.

"We've had the best leasing activity this year of any year in the previous five years," said Sam Houston, a broker with Hill Partners.

"The job growth has been very strong," he said. "A lot of our clients are very bullish about their business prospects."

Five years ago, when his company bought the land, first-class office space in Southwest Austin was 99 percent full. By 2002, it was down to 78 percent.

But rents and occupancies are climbing, with first-class space in Southwest Austin now about 90 percent occupied and rents hovering around $25 a square foot. Some brokers expect those prices to approach $30 a square foot by this time next year.

Prentiss Properties recently started site work for an office building at South MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) south of Loop 360. However, the company is not commenting on its plans. It was sold this week to Brandywine Realty Trust.

[Mopacs]

Good news. Its just a matter of time before a new Office tower is proposed for downtown, especially with SigmaTel looking for a huge block of space in the area. I say by next year we should see the first office proposal for downtown. Thats assuming of course that the economy continues on its upward swing locally.

[KevinFromTexas]

By the way folks, I just noticed today that the Austin Forum is back up. Have a look: austinforum.net

[Adrian]

So Kev - good to see ya - without being a pain in the ass for not reading back the thread (slow link!) whats the odds on the Top 5 proposals getting up?

Can ya do a quick summary again (with renders if there are any!!) or post the page it's on??



OK yes I'm a lazy b'tard! But really pullin for Austin to get even more talls and well & truly overtake S.A. skyline (which it already has really) ..

[KevinFromTexas]

Alrighty.

Articles

How high is too high?
Soaring project could pave way for denser downtown
Article here with 2 beautiful aerials of downtown. This was in the paper. It asks the question, "What is too high for downtown Austin?" The cool bonus is that I helped with the facts and statistics for that article. I'm credited for the facts and quoted, the last 4 lines of the article are my own words. Check this link, I also did a rundown of the projects for downtown at that time on the same page. Have a look.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?threadid=70078&perpage=25&pagenumber=2

Downtown apartments on track to ascend
An article on this page about 101 Colorado, a 28-story condo tower which will rise directly to the west of 100 Congress. And also 805 West 5th Street, a 24-story condo tower which is slated for the West End at West 5th and West Avenue. The article also has prices for many of the projects.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?threadid=70078&perpage=25&pagenumber=3


3 residential projects set for downtown Austin
Article on 3 residential projects set for the west and east sides of downtown. 2 of them will be 8 floors, probably around 120 feet tall or so. 4 replies below that is an article about new hotels planned for downtown. One of them is the hotel portion in the new 680 footer. The other would be an upscale hotel, either a Ritz, or W-Hotel planned for West 3rd and Colorado. That hotel could have 300 to 400 rooms. It's been in the planning stages since 2000 but was put on hold. No renderings yet. The developers say they're moving ahead with development soon.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?threadid=70078&perpage=25&pagenumber=4

40-story condo tower planned for downtown
This is the Novare Group Tower, planned for 300 West Nueces, at West 3rd and Nueces Street. The building will be 520 feet tall with 40 floors. We're expecting a rendering of this tower any day now.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?threadid=70078&perpage=25&pagenumber=6

New downtown condo tower will rise 36 stories
The project's name is "Spring", it is planned to be 400 feet tall with 36 floors, residential. The architect, (Foad Raffi), is from Vancouver, and this is the first building in the United States that he has designed. The tower, which will be quite narrow and tall, is planned for West 3rd and Bowie Street.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?threadid=70078&perpage=25&pagenumber=5


Renderings

805 West 5th Street, aka "ZOM Tower", (ZOM is the developer). Planned to be 24 floors. It was suppose to breakground in September, but that hasn't happened yet. The newspaper estimated it's height at 264 feet.


805 West 5th Street, (ZOM Tower), rendering. Possibly an updated version. We're not sure actually.


This is not the actual design of "Spring". This is another building that Foad Raffi, designed in Vancouver. This particle tower in the rendering is actually 100 feet shorter at 300 feet.


This is the design for the 8-story federal courthouse. It's planned for a start date of 2007. It could start later if government fiancing isn't in place. This is being planne for the Intel building which was never completed. If you haven't heard about that blunder it was a 10-story office building that was suppose to be built 1 block to the west of Republic Square Park. In 2000 Intel halted construction on it and ever since it's been a 5-story concrete skeleton. This building will replace the skeleton. This should be farily tall too since the government has new laws saying all federal buildings be set back 50 feet from all bordering streets. There's a plan to close one of the streets and turn it into a plaza, the building would also occupy part of the street's former location. They're doing this so that the building will be able to have a larger footprint, therefore, larger floorplates. With courthouses typically having huge floor to floor heights it may be a round 140 feet tall or so.


Milago Condominiums, currently under construction, topped out. 142 feet tall with 13 floors, 250 condos. This is from the southwestern side, from Town Lake.


The otherside, east view.


712 Congress - 6-story residential building with office and retail space.


Diagram of the talls.


Under construction

Milago Condominiums, (formerly the Rainy Street Apartments). This building is going up in the historic Rainy Street Neighborhood in Southeastern downtown overlooking Town Lake. The neighborhood is being rezoned for high density commercial, residential and retail. I was able to sit down and view the blueprints, and I got all the heights. The building will be 142 feet tall with 13 floors. It'll be finished by next Spring. It will have 250 condos making it the biggest residential development in downtown ever so far. The building's frame is already topped out.

Marriott at Convention Center. Originally planned as twin 16-story towers connected with a lobby, it was downsized to a single 12-story building. It has two different Marriott brand hotels within though, a Courtyard Inn, and Residence Inn. The building will be 141 feet with 12 floors and 447 rooms. It's already up to the 4th or 5th? floor. It's going up at 300 East 4th, between San Jacinto Boulevard and Trinity Street, located exactly between the Frost Bank Tower and Hilton which are 2 blocks to the east and west of the hotel.

Piazza Novona. This project is rising in West Campus. West Campus was rezoned last year for higher density. The city wants buildings to be between 60 feet to 175 feet in this area. Along Guadalupe they'll be around 60 feet, further to the west they rise to 80 feet. Further west still they go to 175 feet and they may go higher than that also if they win certain approval by having wider sidewalks and more street level retail. Austin has been extemely agressive about promoting more retail and density throughout downtown. Piazza Navona is the first in many projects planned or under construction for West Campus. It will be 75 feet with 7 floors and 55 units. It's going up at 711 West 26th Street at Rio Grande. The developer was trying to keep this below what Austin considers to be a "highrise" which is anything that is 75 feet or taller. So they kept it short. It's topped out now, and should be wrapping up construction soon. I haven't seen it show up on the skyline yet. There have been 12 projects approved and proposed for West Campus in the last 12 months. There's one project with 6 buildings along that will add over 700 units to West Campus. Those buildings won't be very tall, just 5 floors, including street level retail, but they're making the area much more dense. By the time the area is fully redeveloped there could be 10,000 to 15,000 people living within West Campus. The city is trying to draw huge apartment projects away from the older neighborhoods which tend to hurt the character of them. They also get a good bit of criticism with college students filling their neighborhoods.

The list ~ 2006 is going to be interesting. :scraper:

501 Congress - 680 feet - 41 floors - Likely start date, 2 to 3 years out. 350 apartments or condos. 250 hotel rooms. 100,000 square feet or retail on the first 3 floors. 700,000 square feet in total. There's also plans for a department store, fitness center, including a pool area on the 25th floor I believe. The tower itself will have 200 parking spaces belong ground, but there will also be a 10-story, 1,000 space garage across the street. The tower is proposed for the corner of East 5th Street and Congress Avenue. The old grey banking hall at the Bank of America Center will be demolished. A parking garage behind it will also be demolished. The tower will rise there. The new 10-story garage will rise at East 5th and Brazos. If built this will be the tallest building in Texas outside of Houston and Dallas. It will also be the tallest partial residential and or hotel building in Texas. It's a $140 million project.

300 Nueces Street, (Novare Group Tower), 520 feet with 40 floors. Construction start: January of 2006. 420 condos. If built this would be the 3rd tallest all residential tower in Texas. Dallas and Houston both have a 600+ footer planned which are also all residential. The building will also have 10,000 square feet of street level retail. It's being planned for the corner of West 3rd Street and Nueces Street in the West End. It's an $85 million project.

Spring - 400 feet with 36 floors. Start date 3rd quarter of 2006. The building will have 220 condos. The building will also have retail. It's being planned for the corner of West 3rd Street and Bowie Street. It will have to win approval though since the site is zoned for 120 feet in height, this thing will be over 3 times that. It's a $60 million project.

101 Colorado - 28 floors - 196 condos. This is suppose to start in the fall of 2005. So far nothing. But a writer for the paper has seen renderings of it. She said it was reddish brick. The building is being planned for West 2nd and Colorado Street directly to the west of the 100 Congress office tower. There has been a building planned for that site for years. Originally it was to be a 22-story office tower, then 13 floors. Now with the residential market booming they've turned it into residential. The writer for the paper said the tower will be "fairly prominant on the skyline." The paper estimated it's height at 323 feet which would easily put it in the top 10 tallest in the city. The writer for the paper said that the taller portion would be on the northern end of the lot, to allow views of Town Lake and the hills to be protected for the neighboring office tower, which the developer also owns.

805 West 5th Street, (also known as ZOM Tower which refers to the developer). - 24 floors, with 290 condominiums and townhomes in a neighboring 4-story building. It'll also have nearly 10,000 square feet of retail. It was suppose to breakground in September, but it hasn't yet. It's being planned for the former Strait Music site at West 5th Street and West Avenue in the West End. Yes, this is on the WEST side of downtown! It's a $76 million project. The newspaper estimated it's height to be 264 feet.

602 Davis Street - 22 floors - 200 condos. The building is made up of 17 floors of residential above 5 levels of parking. This is slated for Davis Street in the Rainey Street Neighborhood in Southeastern downtown. The newspaper estimated it's height at 242 feet. This one's going to be fairly prominant since there's not much else around it. The other buildings in that area are 100 feet shorter. Groundbreaking is expected for 3rd quarter of 2006.

210 Barton Springs Road. This one is planned for the parking lot just to the west of the Hyatt Regency Town Lake. It will be between 18 and 20 floors with 213 units. The building will consist of 12 floors of residential over 8 levels of parking. This will be the tallest building in Austin south of the Colorado River. The newspaper estimated it's height at 200+ feet. The site is zoned for 200 feet. Groundbreaking is expected in 2006.

AMLI Residential Block 22 - 17 to 18 story tower with 220 to 240 units. The project will include a lot of retail, maybe up to 50,000 square feet. The could also be a museum of some sort planned for it. Groundbreaking is expected in November. AMLI Residential Properties had originally planned for a 7-story building here, then upgraded to a 14-story building. Now it could be 17 to 18 floors depending on how many units, and if there's a museum included in the project. The building is planned for West 2nd and Guadalupe Street.

Block 21 Tower. This is planned for directly behind the new Austin City Hall at West 2nd Street and Lavaca Street. The developer won the bid against 2 other developers. The original proposal was 15 floors which won. The other proposals were for twin 25-story towers with a residential tower and a hotel tower. The other was a 28-story residential tower. The current proposal which will have 175 units is expected to breakground in 2006. This building will likely get taller though because the developer had planned for a podium along West 2nd Street. But Mayor Will Wynn wanted a plaza to face south towards the city hall which is directly across the street. With that podium area being cutout, it will likely mean the building will have to be made taller. Also, the city has been pushing for more density. So it could go to 18 to 20 floors before all is said and done.

Gables Condominiums. Gables Residential is planning a project for just west of the Seaholm Powerplant. The project consists of two buildings, one which will be 12 to 15 floors tall and another 7 to 8 floors. The site was zoned back in the 80s for a 180 foot office tower that was never built. The site has been fought over by bordering neighborhoods that worried that this kind of development would drag the skyline too far west. The site is already approved for 180 feet so it's likely to happen. They were also looking into including a museum in the project and they also were saying they could pitch in money for expanding the James D. Phfluger Pedestrian Bridge across Town Lake which would terminate near the property.

Colorado Village. Huge project planned for EAST of I-35 and SOUTH of the river. This would be bordered by I-35, East Riverside Drive, and Shoreline Drive?, right? Anyhoo, it's suppose to breakground next year. The project will have over 1,000 units. The project will consist of a 9-story tower, 7-story tower, two 6-story towers and I believe a 5-story building.

La Vista on Lavaca - 8 floors. This building which will only have around 50,000 square is being planned to have office space, residential and retail. It's planned for 17th and Lavaca Street. Right now the site is just fenced off, with a sign up saying they're marketing. It was suppose to breakground originally in 2003.

Pecan Grove Plaza. Not much on this other than it's planned to be an 8-story office/retail project. This would go up along Barton Springs Road at the Pecan Grove Park, (camping park). I'm sort of against this. The Pecan Grove Park, which is a trailer camping park is the only one of it's kind in the US in an urban environment, within sight of the skyline. The site also is shaded by 70 foot tall Pecan trees as the name suggests. This is also the only Pecan grove in Texas. So I'm sort of against it. It would sigificantly hurt the vibe of Barton Springs Road being more of a distraction/disruption then benefit to the area.

Neches Oak Tower - 8-story office and residential building planned for 901 Neches Street at East 9th Street and Neches Street. It will have 117 units with retail.

Lofts on Shoal Creek - 7 floors of condos and retail. Proposed for northwest corner of West 6th Street and West Avenue. No word on the start date but I'm guessing maybe late 2006/7.

721 Congress - 6 floors of office, condos and retail for East 7th Street and Congress Avenue. It will be just 2 doors north of the State Theatre and Paramount Theatre. It's suppose to breakground in 2006. The Wild About Music store has already moved out of the building. It's small, just 16 units, but it's really anice project for Congress Avenue. Great infill.

UT Hotel & Conference Center. UT wants to build a new hotel for faculty, students and parents. It would have 250 to 300 rooms. As space is limited at the campus the building will likely have a small footprint, meaning it will be fairly tall, possibly 10 floors or so. It's suppose to breakground in 2006. The board of regents has already approved money and planning. Architects have already been chosen so I'm guessing it's in the designing stages.

Federal Courthouse - Probably 8 floors. Start, hopfully 2007. It will have 230,000 square feet. It should be around 120 to 140 feet tall. Courthouses typically have 15 to 19 foot floor-to-floor heights. At 7 floors they had said it would be around 125 feet. There's been little info about it actually other than the site chosen which is directly west of Republic Square Park at the Intel building site. In 2000 Intel haulted construction of a 10-story office building as a result of the economy downturn.

Seaholm residential. There are plans to redevelope the Seaholm Powerplant into a huge music venue possibly housing a the Texas Music Hall of Fame, a new home for the Austin City Limits Music show, along with Austin's PBS affliate KLRU. There's also plans for a 9-story residential building at the site along with retail.

COMPLETED: (Since 2000).

1--Frost Bank Tower - 515 feet - 33 floors - 2004.

2--Austin Hilton Convention Center Hotel - 377 feet - 31 floors - 2004.

3--300 West Sixth Street - 325 feet 23 floors - 2002.

4--Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center - 204 feet - 11 floors - 2000.

5--Austin City Lofts - 176 feet - 14 floors - 2004.

6--The Plaza - 174 feet - 12 floors - 2001.

7--Hampton Inn & Suites 162 feet - 16 floors - 2002.

8--Whole Foods Headquarters - 130 feet - 7 floors - 2005.

9--The Nokonah - 126 feet - 11 floors - 2002.

10--Stonebridge Plaza I--120 feet - 9 floors - 1999. Located in Northwest Austin.

11--Stonebridge Plaza II--120 feet - 9 floors - 2001. Located in Northwest Austin.

12--Texas Assocation of Counties Building - 120 feet - 8 floors - 2003.

13--Texas Department of Health Building - 7 floors Estimated 120 feet. Completed sometime around 2001. Mopacs?

14--Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum - 110 feet - 4 floors - 2001.

15--AMLI Downtown - 100 feet - 7 floors - 2004.

16--Computer Sciences Corporation I - 90 feet - 6 floors - 2001.

17--Computer Sciences Corporation II - 90 feet - 6 floors - 2002.

18--404 Rio Grande - 6 floors.

19--Austin City Hall - 65 feet - 4 floors - 2004.

[Adrian]

Geez Kevin thanks for that - comprehensive update!

So no render yet for 501 Congress? Can't wait to see it..

[KevinFromTexas]

No, nothing yet. I'm not even sure they've hired an architect yet.

Thanks to Mopacs for scanning this and hosting it.

They did release this image, which shows the approximate height and location of the tower. This is NOT the design though. They also show the 10-story parking garage just to the east of it, (purple outlined bldg. lower right).

[CTroyMathis]

First post of the thread updated with that list and the renderings.

[KevinFromTexas]

Glad you did that Troy, thanks.

Maybe a future guideline for the forum? Compile a list of the completed, under construction, approved, proposed and so on projects for a city. Then renderings of projects. Then the rest of the body of the compilation thread could be for discussions and new articles/annoucements. Any new information like new buildings and renderings could then be updated to the main, first page of the thread like you did above.

I think I'll make a suggestion about this over in Forum Issues.

[KevinFromTexas]

Office market on the rebound too.

From the Austin American-Statesman
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/10/13office.html

Area office market continues rebound

Amid strong job growth, rents hit a three-year high; vacancy rates are lowest in four years.

By Shonda Novak

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Central Texas office buildings have more tenants than they have had in four years, and rents have rebounded to a three-year high, according to the latest report on the region's commercial real estate market.

Area brokers say companies of all sizes are hiring, feeding a demand for office space and underscoring the growing strength of the region's job market.

In the third quarter, office space in Central Texas was 14.7 percent vacant, the lowest level since mid-2001, according to Colliers Oxford, a commercial real estate firm. Overall average rents hit their highest level in nearly three years, with space leasing for an average of $20.27 a square foot.

That's down from a vacancy rate of 19.4 percent. Average rent was $18.54 a square foot in the same quarter of 2004.

The pattern was similar for premium, or Class A space, with the vacancy rate at 15.4 percent, down from 20 percent a year ago, and rents at $22.46 a square foot, up from $20.02 a year ago.

In downtown Austin, some landlords are getting as much as $40 a square foot, Colliers said, a figure not seen since the tech boom.

"Markets tend to run in seven- to 10-year cycles, so this may be the beginning of another upward swing," said Mike Kennedy, president of Commercial Texas, an Austin-based office brokerage. "Austin has doubled in size every 20 years since it was founded, so it comes in fits and starts, and this looks like it's another start."

That demand is thanks to job growth, which drives the health of any office market. Central Texas' jobless rate was 4.3 percent in August, the lowest in more than four years.


New arrivals


Aside from expansions by local companies, brokers say new ones are moving to town from Dallas, Houston and California, among other places.

"The last time we saw this much activity (of companies entering Austin) was in the late 1999-2000 time period," said Kevin Kimbrough, an associate vice president at Colliers.

Not only that, but "the fundamentals of the companies in Austin today are much stronger than they were during the tech boom of the late '90s," said Sam Houston, a broker with Hill Partners. "They're making profits, they have better balance sheets, and they are expected to do better over time."

Office values are rising as a result.

Last week, Chicago-based Equity Office Properties Trust paid $131.7 million for 300 West Sixth, a 23-story office tower in downtown Austin. At $295 per square foot, the price is thought to be a Texas record.


Healthy prices


There have been numerous other sales at healthy prices.

"It really is just an indication that the real estate market is recovering and is going strong, and people are very positive about Austin's future," said Mike Morris, who values office buildings for the Travis Central Appraisal District. "We've had more sales in the last eight months than we had for the last three years."

Signs of a turnaround are most dramatic in Southwest Austin. There, rents for first-class space increased 22.4 percent to $21.89 a foot, and the vacancy rate fell nearly 13 percent to 10.9 percent compared with a year ago.

Brokers and appraisers say the outlook is for continued improvement, leading to some of the first major new construction in the office market in recent years.

Hill Partners is starting work on the first phase of a 760,000 square foot office project at San Clemente at Davenport, at Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360) and Westlake Drive. It's the first new project in Southwest Austin since the Terrace 7 building opened in May 2002.

[StoOgE]

that is very good news.. maybe some new office towers will start to pop up 2-3 years down the road.