AUSTIN | Projects & Construction II - Page 219

bigdogc · #**4361** Posted **Dec 14, 2008, 3:12 AM**

say I have a friend that bought the "U" unit on floor 45... what would austonian say to him if they decided to make this building ~30 floors?

"oh sorry, we are only builing to floor 30 now, we must void your contract, setup a new deal for the same unit on floor 30"

if that was to happen, then the word would have been around by now. luckily that hasnt happened!

genop · #**4362** Posted **Dec 14, 2008, 3:48 AM**

agh one of those my friends friend said rumors huh that old gag.

Dale · #**4363** Posted **Dec 14, 2008, 3:52 AM**

I also heard that they were going to demolish the Frost Tower and also remove the Stevie Ray Vaughn statue and move it to Dallas.

priller · #**4364** Posted **Dec 14, 2008, 4:48 AM**

Bigdogc brings up a valid point. My wife works for a law firm, and they actually have a few clients who have bought some of the higher end (and higher floor) units at the Austonian. The law firm helped them with the contracts. My wife made the same point -- that the contract to buy a unit works both ways. While the buyer is contracted to buy the unit when finished (and foregoes the substantial earnest money if they don't), the builder is also obligated to deliver the unit as described. And the floor the unit is on is a major factor in the price. So they would have to be renegotiating prices or either letting go of their highest priced units. Haven't heard of either happening.

OTOH, I've also heard from someone "who knows someone from the Austonian" saying the same thing, that they'll make it much shorter. I don't believe it, but I guess we'll see.

I wonder how many of these rumors are started by competing condos trying to spread some F.U.D. about the Austonian.

zx14 · #**4365** Posted **Dec 14, 2008, 9:58 AM**

great pics thanks and also the spring looks very impressive in the distance. what floor is it on?

Raining Inside · #**4366** Posted **Dec 14, 2008, 11:05 AM**

The posts concerning the Austonian not reaching its full height have often been by people with very few posts. This tells me that there are a few people out that are joining SSP just to spread rumors.

Tower Freak · #**4367** Posted **Dec 14, 2008, 3:46 PM**

I don’t think the rumors about the Austonian are true. The developer would have already secured most of the financing before they started construction right? My thoughts are that they would have considered the economy before starting a major project.

Anyway, they sure are taking there sweat time finishing the glass on the Ashton.

shanny · #**4368** Posted **Dec 14, 2008, 5:33 PM**

funny all the talk is about the austonian when the w is so far behind...not even to street leve....ohhh and what about the four seasons?

im not too worried about it...they would not have had that party this week had they planned to shorten the building...it would have been a huge slap in the face to the city

MichaelB · #**4369** Posted **Dec 14, 2008, 7:57 PM**

Wow! We are just desperate for development news! We were so spoiled for a while. Not to make it all less interesting, but all downtown projects have lots of people working on them and are all progressing at normal rates. It's just that simple folks. Oh, And the W is sticking up out of the ground! Today there is some scaffolding sticking up over the fence! Whooo!

KevinFromTexas · #**4370** Posted **Dec 14, 2008, 8:20 PM**

I seriously doubt a developer would slow down work on a project because of a bad economy. First of all, developers enter into a contract with the construction company to finish the building by a certain deadline or else the construction company pays fines for being behind schedule. I've heard some deadline fines can be up to $70,000 a day. The construction company that built the Grand Hyatt in San Antonio learned this the hard way. Also most of the construction equipment on the job site is rented. Most tower cranes can cost thousands of dollars a day to rent. So if a construction project sits idle, they'll still have to pay for the crane rental and other equipment. I would expect a project to continue on schedule and even at a faster pace if times were hard. The time that I would worry about a project is if equipment started to disappear from the site such as smaller equipment like trucks and forklifts.

As for the current projects, they all seem to be on schedule and moving at a regular pace. We've had a dry year this year, so there's been few rain delays. The Four Seasons seems to be doing fine as is the W. Below grade construction is always tricky, so as the W moves above street level I would expect it to shoot up fast. As for the Ashton, it makes no sense at all not to put windows on the building and make it weather proof. Who wants mold in their unit? That would only add to the cost of the project if mold took over and had to be cleaned up before the building could be finished and occupied.

Of course, stuff does happen. Just ask the Chicago forumers:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=119993&page=125

MichaelB · #**4371** Posted **Dec 14, 2008, 10:32 PM**

OK... here... a real question for the experts out there. We know the Austonian will have a slosh tank at the top. It was my introduction to the concept and term. So if the idea is to help a tall building counter the movement effects of wind (and earthquakes I have now read!)) by putting a tank of water at the top. (I know it is an oversimplification....so be kind to me). Would a pool on top a building do the same thing?

shanny · #**4372** Posted **Dec 14, 2008, 10:39 PM**

you mean like the four seasons? i suppose its possible. its essentially the same thing....thats a good question

KevinFromTexas · #**4373** Posted **Dec 15, 2008, 12:54 AM**

They aren't exactly the same thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seismic_retrofit#Slosh_tanks

priller · #**4374** Posted **Dec 15, 2008, 3:27 AM**

A few more photos.

Spring:

Barton Place:

Happened to drive by this building today, on the way out to McKinney Falls state park to go bike riding. This is where the fire department trains fighters to handle high-rise rescues. Basically the same function as the old Buford tower on Cesar Chavez downtown.

MichaelB · #**4375** Posted **Dec 15, 2008, 4:39 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by shanny

you mean like the four seasons? i suppose its possible. its essentially the same thing....thats a good question

The Four Seasons is what prompted my question!

Thanks Kevin..... I see that the "directed by Baffles" may be what would be different. I noticed that the site you referenced was also about seismic events. Interesting they work for both. I wonder if anyone has experimented in combining the technology with a pool?

If you find anything let me know. I have been poking around.

priller · #**4376** Posted **Dec 15, 2008, 4:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by zx14

great pics thanks and also the spring looks very impressive in the distance. what floor is it on?

About this much more to go, if I lined this up correctly:

Strayone · #**4377** Posted **Dec 15, 2008, 5:26 AM**

Nice job Priller on the topping out graphic for Spring. As for the Austonian gossip.. wouldn't the cost's of building 30? stories of a building proposed to be 56 stories be way above the norm. The proposed height and support of the building being that tall makes the structure cost more for the lower portion of the building. To scale back the project at this point would make all of the residences more expensive. Also is the financing at all in question for the project? Geez If someone has bought (signed/with financing in place) an upper floor property they surely would have a easy way out of any contract to buy the unit. This would make even a smaller building harder to sell it's units. Is there any real story here...where did this speculation begin?

bigdogc · #**4378** Posted **Dec 15, 2008, 6:03 AM**

speculation started on SSP. there was an old story in the paper where the developer promised the building would be built to 55 stories as promised and he denied all the rumors going around at the time. this was back when the parking garage was just finishing.

NThomas · #**4379** Posted **Dec 15, 2008, 8:41 AM**

It is kinda strange the Austonian already has so much glass on the building...

Seriously, there is NO way the Austonian developers would stop 1/2 way. Wouldn't we hear about a change from the Austin P&Z?

KevinFromTexas · #**4380** Posted **Dec 15, 2008, 3:09 PM**

It's normal to have glass that far up this early in the construction phase. I'm not sure of the exact reason, but from what I've seen of other big towers they try to get the glass on fast. I would imagine it's to weatherproof the building so that the interior construction can take place. All the dry wall can't go in until the it's weatherproof.

Check out the Trump Tower construction thread (Chicago). The glass went up fast on it before it was even topped out. With taller buildings they get the glass on early because they have so many floors of interior construction to do. All that takes a long time to do, so the earlier the glass goes on the sooner that can get done. By the way, there's some good skyscraper eye candy in this thread:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=128533&page=171