AUSTIN | Projects & Construction II - Page 43

AllBusiness · #**841** Posted **May 30, 2007, 6:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RocTX

What do you guys mean when you refer to the "Loop"? Is it 360? We in Houston have 610 and Beltway 8, but I don't see anything like that on the map of Austin.

Yes- Loop 360 AKA Capital of Texas Highway

MichaelB · #**842** Posted **May 30, 2007, 6:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RocTX

Wow!! Lots of great info!! I can't thank you all enough--this is immensely helpful. I just found out that the location is very close to Barton Square Mall. They may move to Bee Cave, though. From the conversation so far, that area sounds quite exclusive.

What do you guys mean when you refer to the "Loop"? Is it 360? We in Houston have 610 and Beltway 8, but I don't see anything like that on the map of Austin.

"We" (the royal we) refer to the loop as 35/183/mopac/benWhite. It makes an intown loop. There is actually a larger loop being pieced together..... but nothing as official a 610.

All the info will only make sense when you drive around here. There are many beautiful areas to the SW that have varying degrees of "Suburban" that are not that far out..... and even if it is, has a very different feeling than Round Rock. (not saying that's good or bad dear Round Rock

)

Best of Luck!

Saddle Man · #**843** Posted **May 30, 2007, 6:27 PM**

"We" (the royal we) refer to the loop as 35/183/mopac/benWhite. It makes an intown loop. There is actually a larger loop being pieced together.....

HUH? I've never heard that before, and seems to be a bit of a stretch to define a 'loop' for Austin.

Saddle Man · #**844** Posted **May 30, 2007, 6:46 PM**

Mopac (Loop 1) and Cap of Texas Highway (Loop 360) are State Highway Loops. Which the Texas Transportation Commission defines as a roadway usually created as a by-pass.

ATXboom · #**845** Posted **May 30, 2007, 7:26 PM**

If your job is near Barton Creek Mall with potential to move to Bee Cave I would look off Escarpment/Davis, Oak Hill, Circle C, off Southwest Parkway, etc...

In regard to loops. There are "general notions" of boundries that define "central city"... to me they are Oltorf to the south, North Loop to the north, 35 on the east and Mopac on the West.

http://www.campotexas.org/pdfs/Map5-2.pdf

In regard to bypass loops... take a look at a map there is a nice smaller loop about the same dimension as 610 in H-town but you have to use Loop 360, 183, and William Cannon/71, to complete it.

Take a look at this map for the loops in progress that would be similar in scale to loop 8. It is taking shape with one continuous highway loop 130 on the east, TX45 on the north, south and eventually west where 620 is and currently loops the west side.

These loops exist right now but but are not all highway at the moment.

MichaelB · #**846** Posted **May 30, 2007, 7:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingkirbythegreat

"We" (the royal we) refer to the loop as 35/183/mopac/benWhite. It makes an intown loop. There is actually a larger loop being pieced together.....

HUH? I've never heard that before, and seems to be a bit of a stretch to define a 'loop' for Austin.

So I like to stretch things! I am simply refering to how 130 and 45 are being pieced around at the N, E, and S at this time. OK how about : 3/4 of a loop!

(Give me a break..... still in detox from Memorial day !

)

RobDSM · #**847** Posted **May 30, 2007, 7:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingkirbythegreat

"We" (the royal we) refer to the loop as 35/183/mopac/benWhite. It makes an intown loop. There is actually a larger loop being pieced together.....

HUH? I've never heard that before, and seems to be a bit of a stretch to define a 'loop' for Austin.

It's not technically a "loop," but those highways have formed the loop around the city for many years, since 360 was completed. 360 loops around the west side. 183 loops around the north and east side, and Ben White forms the southern half of the loop.

Both 183 and 290 used to go right into downtown many, many years ago (before my time), and they have long since been moved out to loop around or bypass downtown.

Of course, I never refer to it as "the loop," but it's clear what is meant when it is mentioned.

ATXboom · #**848** Posted **May 30, 2007, 7:54 PM**

http://www.campotexas.org/pdfs/Map5-2.pdf

its all right here loopy.

KevinFromTexas · #**849** Posted **May 30, 2007, 8:15 PM**

Ahem...so does anyone want to know how tall The Austonian will be?

I have the heights right here.

I sent an email the day before yesterday to the folks at http://theaustonian.com/

I chatted with David Mahn who is the Vice President of Benchmark Development, the company developing the tower. I had to get clearance from him to release the heights. I also asked for permission to use the building's renderings for its page at Emporis.

So...

Unfortunately, it looks like it won't be 700 feet tall afterall.

682 feet, 11 inches to the top of the mechanical penthouse.
679 feet, 11 inches to the mainroof.
634 feet, 11 inches to the highest occupied floor, (the 56th floor).
621 feet, 11 inches to the 55th floor, (skylounge).
90 feet to the top of the podium, (10th floor).

I think the reason it has such a small difference in height between what is considered to be "mainroof" and mechanical penthouse is that the tower really doesn't have any setbacks at the top. I believe most of the mechanical stuff, air condition and elevator equipment is in that "cab/crown" at the top. There's probably some open air service floor up there which is what is considered to be the mainroof. Then the 3 foot height must be the parapet, or barrier wall between you and the big drop.

I also asked him when we can expect to see it breakground. He says summer of 2007.

But wow, 683 feet and 56 floors tall. When I go to enter in the heights for Emporis, the site will automatically round up the height to 683 feet, since it's only one inch shy of it. Also check out the highest floor - 634 feet, 11 inches. Nearly 235 feet higher than the top floor of the Frost Bank Tower which is just 400 feet up.

MichaelB · #**850** Posted **May 30, 2007, 10:04 PM**

that is going to make an incredible impact on the skyline! Wow! Can;t wait to see how high that crane will get up to! Any guesses?

BTW Kevin: "<--shit" ? Bad day? Maybe a downtown walk would help!

Texas Tuff · #**851** Posted **May 30, 2007, 10:23 PM**

That's great news on the Austonian breaking ground soon. It's gonna look awesome!!!

crewer · #**852** Posted **May 30, 2007, 11:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuffaso

That's great news on the Austonian breaking ground soon. It's gonna look awesome!!!

So they're breaking ground soon? Any info on pre-sales out there? Would be really curious to know how many are reserved.

Saddle Man · #**853** Posted **May 31, 2007, 2:21 AM**

My issue is with the 35/183/mopac/ben white 'loop' reference. I would still say that that is a stretch. 183/360/ben white already looks loopish (although it has some pointy areas) on a map. Though it's still not really a cohesive loop. While 35/183/mopac/ben white could technically be a 'loop', it's not really a city circumnavigating loop (which loops like 610 and 410 are). You don't see many hour glass-like loops. It's just too narrow with mopac and 35 through downtown. Just not round enough.

KevinFromTexas · #**854** Posted **May 31, 2007, 2:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB

that is going to make an incredible impact on the skyline! Wow! Can;t wait to see how high that crane will get up to! Any guesses?

Yep, I can't wait to see this beauty get built. I told David Mahn that I thought it's one of more beautiful towers going up in downtown, and he thanked me. Not sure about the height of the crane. The crane for the Frost Bank Tower that went all the way up above the crown was 600 feet tall. I'm sure the crane will certainly be over 700 feet tall, though. They'll probably only have one crane on the tower portion since this building will be so skinny.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB

BTW Kevin: "<--shit" ? Bad day? Maybe a downtown walk would help!

Nah, it was a fine day. I got the height afterall.

The little spinning orb and "shit" refers to the forum being slow. Whenever the forum is slow, on Firefox it has these little spinning orbs next to the post reply buttons, save button, edit, etc. I just saved the spinning orb as an image file and used it as an avatar. It seemed to be lagging a bit earlier today. Remember back a few months ago when it was REALLY slow? The guy that owns the server company that the forum is on is actually a member here on the forum Sky Tower. He says it's fine, though. I guess it was my internet connection dragging a bit, because my email was also being slow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crewer

So they're breaking ground soon? Any info on pre-sales out there? Would be really curious to know how many are reserved.

What do you want to know about? You can send them an email at http://theaustonian.com/ They're pretty quick to get back to you on stuff.

RobDSM · #**855** Posted **May 31, 2007, 3:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingkirbythegreat

My issue is with the 35/183/mopac/ben white 'loop' reference. I would still say that that is a stretch. 183/360/ben white already looks loopish (although it has some pointy areas) on a map. Though it's still not really a cohesive loop. While 35/183/mopac/ben white could technically be a 'loop', it's not really a city circumnavigating loop (which loops like 610 and 410 are). You don't see many hour glass-like loops. It's just too narrow with mopac and 35 through downtown. Just not round enough.

Everyone else has a loop but us. It's just not fair.

Saddle Man · #**856** Posted **May 31, 2007, 3:36 AM**

I believe Austin doesn't need a loop, because I believe that loops (like 610 and 410 as examples) encourage sprawl.

AustinGuy · #**857** Posted **May 31, 2007, 6:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by crewer

Speaking of Spring, I just noticed on ZipRealty that a three bedroom unit has been listed there (MLS 5441261). It's 1704 sq. ft. for $930,000. So much for the innovative condo tower designed for the poor working stiffs like teachers, nurses and policemen. Austin prices for downtown condos are now running neck and neck with new condos in Downtown DC.

My MLS tracker just alerted me that they lowered the price on this unit by 105k to $825,000. Now the teachers and firemen can finally have a go at it.

Seriously, this unit looks very nice. Is it the penthouse?

On another note, the whole Spring proposal/pricing/selling/construction has seemed quite mismanaged. Lowering the price of this unit by over 100k after 7 days in mls seems like just another bad decision.

tildahat · #**858** Posted **May 31, 2007, 2:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by AustinGuy

On another note, the whole Spring proposal/pricing/selling/construction has seemed quite mismanaged. Lowering the price of this unit by over 100k after 7 days in mls seems like just another bad decision.

Speaking of mismanaged, has any one else been participating in, following the Mueller "Pioneer" process?

Mopacs · #**859** Posted **May 31, 2007, 5:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strayone

Did anyone else notice that 360's webcam hasn't updated since 12:39 pm. yesterday. Hope it isn't a longterm thing.

Well, the 360 Webcam is still down... and has been down for almost a week now (5/25). I'm having serious webcam withdrawals right now

As of the last capture, work was underway on the 20th floor... anyone have updates?

G Lee · #**860** Posted **May 31, 2007, 7:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mopacs

Well, the 360 Webcam is still down... and has been down for almost a week now (5/25). I'm having serious webcam withdrawals right now

As of the last capture, work was underway on the 20th floor... anyone have updates?

The 21st is complete and working on the 22nd..the halfway point!
I miss the camera.. hope they plan to fix it. Fortunately, I can see the site from my office, but I have to walk outside.