AUSTIN | Projects & Construction II

[hookem]

Can't wait to catch that night view going north on Mopac.

Having lived most of my time in Austin north of 35th street, and only in the past 2 years having moved south... I must say, the south area has FAR superior views of downtown. Mopac S of the river going north, I 35 S of the river going north, SoCo / SoLa / SoFi ... great views.

Most of downtown "faces" south... probably all started with the capitol facing south so long ago...

[KevinFromTexas]

I've been kind of disappointed about not seeing The Monarch from around my neighborhood though. It seems to be too short since it sits so near Shoal Creek. I haven't even been able to spot it from the train bridge on William Cannon, and that's odd because you can see just about every 300 footer in downtown from that spot. I'm hoping Spring pops into view from my neighborhood too, but it may be too far west and behind the trees. 360 on the other hand has really been a visible building from places around South Austin. I was pumping gas at the (Chevron?) station at I-35 and William Cannon, and man, the skyline view there is quite nice. I stood there pumping the gas admiring it off in the distance ~5 miles away. Even at night it was clearly visible.

There's an article in today's paper about the Escuelita del Alma daycare vacating the Marriott block on Congress.

Congress Avenue daycare finds new home
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/realestate/index.html

[Aiphanes]

What about the views of downtown from Loop 360 west of barton creek mall to the bridge over lake austin?

What about views from mount bonnell?

[deerhoof]

the view i seem to always be most impressed by is on the flyover from ben white to I35 north. downtown looks so impressive from up there.

[Displaced_Austinite]

Originally Posted by jowens

It's amazing how the nighttime skyline has been transformed in the last month with the lighting of 360, AMLI and now Monarch. It's very impressive when driving north on Mopac and the skyline comes in view at Zilker park and then unfolds when crossing Lady Bird Lake.

I experienced this tonight. It seems you can feel the energy from downtown!

Your telling me. I can home in May, and I didn't even reconize it. Then again, I've had been in podunk Florida for 2 years.

[hookem]

Originally Posted by Aiphanes

What about the views of downtown from Loop 360 west of barton creek mall to the bridge over lake austin?

What about views from mount bonnell?

West of Barton Creek would fall under the catergory of South, at least to me (meaning south of the river). In fact, that is where I moved to.

Mt Bonnell does have fantastic views.

[zx14]

Any estemated dates for topping out the current structures.

[KevinFromTexas]

BartonPlace Condos site being cleared of the trees. Really kind of sucks. I had hoped they'd plan around the trees a bit better. You know no one gives a care about having a view of the parking lot or the other buildings. So they should have left the trees between them, and cleared the ones on the edges of the property to make room for the buildings instead. Kind of a dumb move. Article below has a map/diagram of the trees that were removed.

For Zilker-area condos to rise up, trees are cut down
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/12/0612pecans.html

[427MM]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

BartonPlace Condos site being cleared of the trees. Really kind of sucks. I had hoped they'd plan around the trees a bit better. You know no one gives a care about having a view of the parking lot or the other buildings. So they should have left the trees between them, and cleared the ones on the edges of the property to make room for the buildings instead. Kind of a dumb move. Article below has a map/diagram of the trees that were removed.

For Zilker-area condos to rise up, trees are cut down
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/12/0612pecans.html

I’m surprised that this bothers you Kevin. It seems to me that if the more mature trees were spread out randomly throughout the site that to build around all or most of them would have been nearly impossible. Aside from the more overzealous AAS bloggers, there are some good points brought up about the article. Losing 1/10 of a mature tree per home doesn’t seem too drastic to me. I’ve seen entire forested razed to make room for a couple dozen single-family residences out in the ‘burbs. Quite frankly I’m appalled that the Statesman would single out an urban project tearing down less than a score of mature trees to build hundreds of homes while ignoring the plight of the city's surrounding forests. Barton Place as well as Zilker Place both appear to be responsible projects and will both help to further densify the urban core in a more sustainable way. Ideally, we will have a streetcar in place to run from downtown to Zilker via Barton Springs. This will give Austin’s urban population a direct route to their back yard and enable them to leave their cars parked in their garage.

[Austinite]

I understand what Kevin's talking about. Those were big, beautiful pecans that a lot of us grew up seeing. The forests that are cleared for new homes in the suburbs are either cedar and escarpment-live-oak scrub (to the west and north) or elm and hackberry riparian stuff along creek bottoms in the blacklands to the east. I'd prefer that the suburban forests you mentioned stay in tact, but they're less important - for good reasons and not good reasons - to a lot of us than the huge urban hardwoods. It's not the end of the world that some pecans are being removed for a condo project - you won't see Austinite chaining himself to a tree anytime soon - but it does kind of suck a little bit.

[Jdawgboy]

Monarch finally has the entire fins colored now. I guess they were testing the lighting over the past week or so because lastnight, it was amazing looking.

Now as far as the tree issue is concerned for every tree that is cut down, at least three new trees should be planted in its place. I would hope that the development will plant more trees than what they cut down. Granted it will take years for them to mature but then they do, that is what is important in the end.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

.

Now as far as the tree issue is concerned for every tree that is cut down, at least three new trees should be planted in its place. I would hope that the development will plant more trees than what they cut down. Granted it will take years for them to mature but then they do, that is what is important in the end.

Yeah... I agree..... 1:1 is not enough ..... should be 2 or 3:1.... that would make up for the lack of size.......

[shanny]

just a few pictures i took yesterday morning with my new camera!

[jowens]

I noticed last nite, the 360 south spine was lit all the way up into the "syringe". No gaps!!

[OU812]

Originally Posted by jowens

I noticed last nite, the 360 south spine was lit all the way up into the "syringe". No gaps!!

I just drove back from Houston the other day. Arrived in Austin at about 1 am and drove on the northbound I35 connector ramp from 71. The needle thin strip of light along the edge of 360 looks rather trippy from that distance in the dark. You can't really see the rest of the building so it just looks like this lone narrow light sticking up into the skyline.

[Northcrossed]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

Yeah... I agree..... 1:1 is not enough ..... should be 2 or 3:1.... that would make up for the lack of size.......

The Austin tree ordinance requires inch-for-inch replacement (one 20" tree could be replaced by five 4" trees or ten 2" trees) and since tree costs are a parabolic function of their size, you can bet that the actual replacement ratio (by enumeration, not size) is well above 3:1; but they'll take years to provide enough shade for even a lone squirrel's nuts.

"Trees are your best antiques." ---Alexander Smith

[Northcrossed]

Originally Posted by shanny

just a few pictures i took yesterday morning with my new camera!

Congratulations on the camera. If it has an exposure adjustment feature you might try setting it to +1 or even +2 (a reference to f/ stops, which don't actually exist in most consumer digital cameras, but there's an electronic equivalent) when you take pictures with a lot of daytime sky or bright clouds. Otherwise the automatic exposure control takes average readings for the entire shot, but the buildings (and SRV statue, for example) are darker than the sky so they get underexposed. You'll get better subject detail if you overexpose the sky a little, although that doesn't pertain to dawn/dusk or nighttime sky, nor if the clouds are your subject.

[KevinFromTexas]

Congrats on getting the new camera, shanny. I'm definitely looking forward to see your pics.

Originally Posted by 427MM

I’m surprised that this bothers you Kevin. It seems to me that if the more mature trees were spread out randomly throughout the site that to build around all or most of them would have been nearly impossible. Aside from the more overzealous AAS bloggers, there are some good points brought up about the article. Losing 1/10 of a mature tree per home doesn’t seem too drastic to me. I’ve seen entire forested razed to make room for a couple dozen single-family residences out in the ‘burbs. Quite frankly I’m appalled that the Statesman would single out an urban project tearing down less than a score of mature trees to build hundreds of homes while ignoring the plight of the city's surrounding forests. Barton Place as well as Zilker Place both appear to be responsible projects and will both help to further densify the urban core in a more sustainable way. Ideally, we will have a streetcar in place to run from downtown to Zilker via Barton Springs. This will give Austin’s urban population a direct route to their back yard and enable them to leave their cars parked in their garage.

But look, most of the big trees weren't spread all over the lot. They were centered in a very straight line right down the middle of the property. The smaller trees on the edge could have been removed, leaving the larger ones in the center to cover the entrance area/parking/outdoor areas for this project. That stand of trees was actually one of the last urban planted groves in the country. That's right, a grove. It was intentionally planted to grow pecans. That's why they grew in such a neat straight row. I thought surely they'd take advantage of that, since it would have been pretty simple to design around them.

Also, most of the tree types you find in the suburbs are what are called trash trees. Hackberry, mulberry, small shrubby trees like small mesquites and cedars. Most of Central Texas' grand hardwood trees are actually right in the City of Austin.

[Northcrossed]

http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/06/13/0613austininc.html

Don't believe rumor, insider says; the Austonian will rise as planned

Rumors are common in today's real estate market, but developers of the Austonian condominium tower downtown say one that's been floating around about their project is not true.

The buzz was that the developers would suspend construction once the parking garage was done and then assess market conditions before deciding whether to proceed on the $275 million project.

"The Austonian was designed to stand as a 56-story, sleek and elegant residential tower. There are not and will never be any plans to modify its height or to stop construction in order to assess the market," said Terry Mitchell, strategic market director for the Austonian. "We project the base podium (the first 10 floors) will be complete by early August, at which time construction on the tower will begin, with roughly one story completed per week."

The money behind the Austonian is Grupo Villar Mir, one of the biggest companies in Spain, whose subsidiary is Austin-based Benchmark Development.

Benchmark has been developing communities in Austin for almost 20 years, Mitchell said.

"GVM is known for its luxury developments around the world and is strongly committed to developing the Austonian as its U.S. centerpiece," he said.

[priller]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

most of the tree types you find in the suburbs are what are called trash trees. Hackberry, mulberry, small shrubby trees like small mesquites and cedars.

When I lived in a house in NW Austin we had 2 big mulberry trees in our yard. In the spring, when the berries came out, the grackles would flock to them to eat the berries, then leave copious amounts of purple bird poop behind. My mailbox would be covered with the stuff.

Grackles and mulberries -- a match made in hell.

NEW CAMERA!

Excellent, shanny! Those Canon A-series cameras are quite nice. Several years back I had an A90 and I was surprised at what good photos it could produce.

On your Spring photo, you can just make out the glass they started putting on the first tower floor. I'm going to try and swing by there this evening and get some more shots of the glass.