AUSTIN | Projects & Construction II

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by priller

I've typed out "Austonian" so many times that yesterday, when filling out a form online, I typed "Auston" for the city name.

Speaking of which, the Austonian moved up to 44th floor today! Now tied with with 360 for the most floors in Austin.

Originally Posted by Mopacs

Awesome! From my office complex, the eye-level height of the Austonian is now taller than the main roof of 360. This takes into account elevation differences. Both are roughly the same distance from my vantage point. We're perhaps a month away from the Austonian 'officially' taking the honor of Austin's tallest.

I just saw it a few minutes ago from Stassney Lane between South Congress & I-35. I'll have to ride up there and check and take a photo to be sure, but it looked like it had blocked the view of the Frost Bank Tower completely. Not sure, it was hard to tell with the smoke from Mexico, but it's definitely getting up there. I haven't gone out riding and taking photos lately. I threw my back out earlier this week and was walking like an old man. lol

Originally Posted by arbeiter

Is there any map out there or record kept on the empty lots downtown? I was walking through downtown a few nights ago and was still dismayed - there is a lot of room for growth.

The biggest parking lots that could stand to go away are the Las Manitas graveyard, the 3rd and Congress parking lot, the 4th and Colorado parking lot with the infamous steep staircase (how many drunk broads have slipped on their stilettos at that very spot?) and the lot in front of Republic Square. Forgive me since I've been gone for 5 years, but are there proposals out to put buildings on these three lots?

Las Manitas is planned to be redeveloped with a 31-story, 1,000 room Marriott Hotel convention center hotel. It will cover the entire block.

There's an 18-story hotel planned for the 3rd & Congress "lot". The building will be situated on the west side of the block, probably facing Colorado Street.

The block south of Republic Square was planned to have a ~446 foot, 30-story, 500,000 sq ft office tower. The Austin Museum of Art would have had a new museum in the podium level of the building. Hines was the developer, and the building was to be designed by Cesar Pelli. There are renderings of the tower on the first page of this thread. Hines pulled the plug on the tower though, so the museum too will have to wait.

And as far as I know, there isn't anything planned for the lot between Colorado & Congress at 4th Street.

[tgbAustinite]

Originally Posted by arbeiter

Is there any map out there or record kept on the empty lots downtown? I was walking through downtown a few nights ago and was still dismayed - there is a lot of room for growth.

The biggest parking lots that could stand to go away are the Las Manitas graveyard, the 3rd and Congress parking lot, the 4th and Colorado parking lot with the infamous steep staircase (how many drunk broads have slipped on their stilettos at that very spot?) and the lot in front of Republic Square. Forgive me since I've been gone for 5 years, but are there proposals out to put buildings on these three lots?

this is a link to the city of austin's emerging projects (pdf) that includes a map:

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/downtown/downloads/emerging_poster_jan09.pdf

[TXAlex]

I'm currently leasing at the Saltillo Lofts at 5th and Comal and the Metro Rail has been running past here multiple times a day. I guest they are testing it. Any word as to when it will start service?

[JGFrisco]

Guys, I think ANY project that has not yet started should be considered pretty much dead in its proposed form. In the current environment, NO ONE is planning anything. All those drawings and whatnot are sitting in drawers, waiting for things to improve.

Every project that hasn't been started is going to have to be re-evaluated to fit the current business climate. There's likely to be many that will be scrapped and never be built, and others will be put in a form that is completely different from what was originally proposed.

So in this climate, a unique project like 21c is VERY unlikely to get built, and an 830' office building isn't going anywhere either.

The next stuff to start will be smaller projects, or projects by group with established track records. I would think something like Ovation might go first, since Novare can show how successful they were with 360 and Ovation is the same basic business model. But even that probably doesn't break ground until 2011 at the earliest.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by JGFrisco

Guys, I think ANY project that has not yet started should be considered pretty much dead in its proposed form. In the current environment, NO ONE is planning anything. All those drawings and whatnot are sitting in drawers, waiting for things to improve.

Every project that hasn't been started is going to have to be re-evaluated to fit the current business climate. There's likely to be many that will be scrapped and never be built, and others will be put in a form that is completely different from what was originally proposed.

So in this climate, a unique project like 21c is VERY unlikely to get built, and an 830' office building isn't going anywhere either.

The next stuff to start will be smaller projects, or projects by group with established track records. I would think something like Ovation might go first, since Novare can show how successful they were with 360 and Ovation is the same basic business model. But even that probably doesn't break ground until 2011 at the earliest.

Just there are other schools of thought out there. There is a school of thought that this is the best time to get a project off the ground if at all possible. Why? Because they can lock in much lower costs in materials and labor and save money in the long run. (Just sat in on a design meeting yesterday where this was happening, had cocktails with the CEO of another "on hold" project a few weeks ago who expressed the same desire/goal ) So... some people are working to think out of the box in this economy. Not everyone is playing victim. I wish them luck!

[H2O]

The other day, I was talking to a very well known artist from California who does amazing public art projects all over the world for big name developers and architects. He was working on the Museum Tower project in Louisville, but said it is now on hold. I mentioned that they were also doing a 21C in Austin, but it was questionable whether or not it would really happen with all of the changes in the project, not to mention the economy. His response was that he knew 21C was very much still a go, because he had just been commissioned to do a piece for it.

[Downtown_Austin]

Originally Posted by H2O

The other day, I was talking to a very well known artist from California who does amazing public art projects all over the world for big name developers and architects. He was working on the Museum Tower project in Louisville, but said it is now on hold. I mentioned that they were also doing a 21C in Austin, but it was questionable whether or not it would really happen with all of the changes in the project, not to mention the economy. His response was that he knew 21C was very much still a go, because he had just been commissioned to do a piece for it.

21c is very much alive and working with stakeholders.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by H2O

The other day, I was talking to a very well known artist from California who does amazing public art projects all over the world for big name developers and architects. He was working on the Museum Tower project in Louisville, but said it is now on hold. I mentioned that they were also doing a 21C in Austin, but it was questionable whether or not it would really happen with all of the changes in the project, not to mention the economy. His response was that he knew 21C was very much still a go, because he had just been commissioned to do a piece for it.

yep.... I have same info.

[Scottolini]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

And as far as I know, there isn't anything planned for the lot between Colorado & Congress at 4th Street.

Is that not the Hixon property where there's been a hotel planned for years and years?

[Scottolini]

Originally Posted by zx14

Austonian is at about 463 feet now

Frost Bank Tower (515') does not look like it's 52 feet taller than the Austonian. I posted in another thread that they look to be almost the same height already. It may have been the angle and distance from where I was viewing, though.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by Scottolini

Is that not the Hixon property where there's been a hotel planned for years and years?

I thought that was at 3rd?

Kevin?

[H2O]

Hixon IS at 3rd and Colorado. The site doesn't go all the way through the block, so the alley remains as well as the vacant lots facing Congress. They just received zoning a few weeks ago, so it will probably take 12 - 18 months to get permits before they can break ground.

[priller]

Just a few photos from this morning, again from the Hilton pool. Sorry I haven't had much time for photos lately. Been working lots of weekends recently. Just grabbing a few photos here and there when I can.








Finally working on the crown part of the Four Seasons:

[TXLove]

Nice pics Priller! Loved the 2nd shot!

[KevinFromTexas]

Great pics, priller. The Austonian is really starting to dominate over downtown now, and it's not even the tallest yet.

Originally Posted by JGFrisco

and an 830' office building isn't going anywhere either.

That building will actually be condos and hotel space. As far as we've heard, it won't have a single square foot of commercial office space.

Originally Posted by Scottolini

Is that not the Hixon property where there's been a hotel planned for years and years?

Originally Posted by MichaelB

I thought that was at 3rd?

Kevin?

No guys, the Hixon Properties development is planned for 3rd & Colorado. It'll be located at the northeast corner of 3rd & Colorado. It's a Westin Hotel with 303 units.

Originally Posted by Scottolini

Frost Bank Tower (515') does not look like it's 52 feet taller than the Austonian. I posted in another thread that they look to be almost the same height already. It may have been the angle and distance from where I was viewing, though.

I think Frost is still a bit taller. I rode my bike over to those apartments on William Cannon Dr in South Austin yesterday. There's a really nice view of downtown from there. You can see pretty much everything in downtown, the Capitol Complex and UT that is over 150 feet tall. Frost Bank Tower was still poking above the top of The Austonian from that angle, even though Frost was behind the building and farther away. I'll post the pics later after my camera battery is charged.

[JGFrisco]

I thought the Stacy building was at least part office...and I'm still thinking 21c is going to be far different than what is proposed. Just me.

As far as whether Austonian is taller...we can figure this out. 56 stories = 622 feet, somewhere around 11 feet per. They are finishing the 46th floor now. To get to the roof of the 56th floor, that's 11 floors = 121'. So the 46th floor is right around 500' or so. So it's still a little shorter. I'm thinking that once they pass 48, it'll be the second tallest (before the end of May for sure). And six more floors from now gets them the tallest period, so look for Austonian to be the tallest in town by the 4th of July.

Then look for the main roof to be done by the first week of August or so.

I'm guessing it's topped out some time around Labor Day.

[priller]

No need to guess, we have the elevation plans posted with the city. According to those plans, the floor of the 44th level is at 488' 5". So it's already taller than the main roof of the 360. It will have to be up to 47th floor before it's taller than Frost. And it will finally be taller than 360 when it reaches the 51st floor.



And as a reminder, the 55th floor is the "club" floor, and 56th will be for the gym.

[KevinFromTexas]

So, then looking at your photo, priller, I see about 4 1/2 sections of crane shaft above the building's top right now. Each of those sections is 20 feet tall, so the crane is around 90 feet over the top of the building. So the crane is probably close to 600 feet tall right now. So it should be just above where the 53rd floor will be, with the 53rd floor being at 595 feet.

Originally Posted by priller

[jowens]

Nice pics Priller!

I'll be glad when the annual Smoky Haze Season is over!!

[priller]

Originally Posted by jowens

I'll be glad when the annual Smoky Haze Season is over!!

Man, isn't that the truth. Can't get a decent skyline shot.