AUSTIN | Projects & Construction II - Page 311

MichaelB · #**6201** Posted **Aug 15, 2009, 5:56 PM**

[QUOTE=SecretAgentMan;4407303]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB

Harrison, shut off that computer and go outside and play!

Or......get whatever this generations version is of an "erector set" AND START BUILDING ONE!!!!!!!!!!

jeremyz · #**6202** Posted **Aug 15, 2009, 6:10 PM**

There were more surveyors at the courthouse site yesterday. I asked one of them when he thought they were going to start working on it. He was under the impression that real work would begin in 2 to 3 weeks.

Mopacs · #**6203** Posted **Aug 15, 2009, 7:14 PM**

Hello everyone,

Here's a set of photos taken early evening yesterday (8/14). The 'A is looking great.

Just in case you were wondering where i was standing

The ghosts of Las Manitas were telling me to "Get your ass off my sacred foundation"

This is from Robertson Hill. Just an aside... my car battery died just after taking these pics. Waited 45 minutes for my insurance co. to send out Roadside Assistance. BUT... There are certainly worse places to break down... You know, with a dusk view of the skyline

Was it all worth it? Hell yeah

Mopacs · #**6204** Posted **Aug 15, 2009, 7:34 PM**

Here's a quick video pan of the skyline from Robertson Hill. Hey, I had to do something while stranded

• Video Link

Mopacs · #**6205** Posted **Aug 15, 2009, 8:29 PM**

Here are a few distant shots from Mopac/183 (taken 8/13)

AustinSkyscrapers · #**6206** Posted **Aug 15, 2009, 8:53 PM**

Nice stuff you got there Mopacs. You can see floor 57 in the works for the A'. Why do we now refer it to the A' more than ever now??
The W's yellow crane will probably be raised or removed early next week.

Those mid-rises around the I-35 exit on 290. How did they pop up so clearly from your location? And the SEU!!??

shanny · #**6207** Posted **Aug 15, 2009, 9:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by AustinSkyscrapers

Nice picture shanny. You really captured it. I think the Austonian's crown will look a bit more different than that.

thanks! and yea i know the crown isnt perfect...its really hard to draw

priller · #**6208** Posted **Aug 15, 2009, 10:21 PM**

Very nice photos, Mopacs!

I'll add my own meager output from today.

TXLove · #**6209** Posted **Aug 15, 2009, 10:29 PM**

Great shots Mopacs and Priller!!!

Priller those shots of Monarch and Spring truly look like renderings!!!

KevinFromTexas · #**6210** Posted **Aug 15, 2009, 10:46 PM**

Great pics you guys. Now I'm wanting to go out and take some!

And Mopacs, only a skyscraper geek would be ok with their car battery dying so they could sit and watch the skyline. And only a photography geek would need to make a distinction between their dead battery being for their car, and not their camera.

I added you as a friend on Youtube btw.

Mopacs · #**6211** Posted **Aug 15, 2009, 11:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Great pics you guys. Now I'm wanting to go out and take some!

And Mopacs, only a skyscraper geek would be ok with their car battery dying so they could sit and watch the skyline. And only a photography geek would need to make a distinction between their dead battery being for their car, and not their camera.

I added you as a friend on Youtube btw.

Great shots Priller!

My DSLR's in repair (shutter mechanism went kaput..somehow)...So my pocket camera has been doing most of the heavy lifting the past 4 weeks (that's right, 4 insane weeks to repair).

Yes, Kevin. We are a rare breed. Though after yesterday, I might be the rarest of them all

Glad to have you as a 'Tube friend too.

Speaking of, check out this amazing aerial footage of Austin, published by www.allabovephoto.com. Be sure to select the HD option (must be opened via the link). The HD video has almost a 3-dimensional feel to it.

• Video Link

AusTex · #**6212** Posted **Aug 15, 2009, 11:23 PM**

The photo quality on this site is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

priller · #**6213** Posted **Aug 15, 2009, 11:50 PM**

That's an awesome video! And it's amazing how things have changed in just a few years. In that video neither the Four Seasons nor Austonian had even gotten started.

breathesgelatin · #**6214** Posted **Aug 16, 2009, 1:57 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by priller

Re: that shot, does it ever strike anyone else that those townhouses are now almost completely outmoded? I mean, compare them to the rest of downtown. When were they built?

I mean, I think they're better than a parking lot, for sheezy, but it just seems like there would be a better use of land.

RE: the shots from 183 and Mopac, I go through there almost daily and I can't get over how the Austonian looks from there.

actham · #**6215** Posted **Aug 16, 2009, 2:59 AM**

They delivered crane parts to the W yesterday. I saw black and yellow 20' sections arriving on flatbeds. They also put the "collar" thingy that raises the crane on the white crane today, which Priller caught in his pics. That yellow crane is almost scraping the top floor! Gotta raise it this weekend or very soon.

On another note...the top of the Austonian has the thick vertical concrete all around top. I was looking at it with my binoculars the other day and noticed holes centered on the side of it. They are located and are about as far apart as what I think would be the supports for the little "hat brim" that was proposed way back when the first renderings came out. As I recall, they said they were going to delete the brim because it would cast shadows on the penthouse. I tried to get a pic of the holes but the zoom on my camera isn't strong enough. Maybe one of you guys with the cool cameras can check it out the next time you're out shooting. The holes are most visible on the west side south vertical section. I really liked the brim so I’m hoping its back on.

hookem · #**6216** Posted **Aug 16, 2009, 3:18 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by breathesgelatin

Re: that shot, does it ever strike anyone else that those townhouses are now almost completely outmoded? I mean, compare them to the rest of downtown. When were they built?

I mean, I think they're better than a parking lot, for sheezy, but it just seems like there would be a better use of land.

Those are the old Railyard apartments... they were not built as condos, but converted later. They used to be pink! And they've been there at least since the late 80's. There wasn't much going on in downtown at the time... just 6th street. So these were the apartments you lived in if you wanted to be near 6th street all the time. IMO, it was kind of pioneering -- it may have been the first hipster digs downtown. There were other DT residences, condos and such (Penthouse and Cambridge come to mind) but those were geared towards an older crowd... UT profs and stuff. And they were closer to UT and the old west Austin neighborhoods. Railyard was a different kind of downtown location.

breathesgelatin · #**6217** Posted **Aug 16, 2009, 3:22 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by hookem

Those are the old Railyard apartments... they were not built as condos, but converted later. They've been there at least since the late 80's. There wasn't much going on in downtown at the time... just 6th street. So these were the apartments you lived in if you wanted to be near 6th street all the time. IMO, it was kind of pioneering -- it may have been the first hipster digs downtown. There were other DT residences, condos and such (Penthouse and Cambridge come to mind) but those were geared towards an older crowd... UT profs and stuff. And they were closer to UT and the old west Austin neighborhoods. Railyard was a different kind of downtown location.

Thanks for the info. I kinda figured that was the story. By "the story" I meant a late 80s downtown residential pioneering thing.

I definitely see them as of their time and pioneering, but I wonder if they haven't outlived their use downtown. Wonder what the property values on the condos must be.

Raining Inside · #**6218** Posted **Aug 16, 2009, 3:32 AM**

I went to many an after hours party in the Railyard apartments in the late 80s/early 90s after the bars on 6th St closed. The apartments seemed so cool back then.

hookem · #**6219** Posted **Aug 16, 2009, 4:03 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raining Inside

I went to many an after hours party in the Railyard apartments in the late 80s/early 90s after the bars on 6th St closed. The apartments seemed so cool back then.

Me too! I had a friend leasing there in the early 90s. Quite a few parties... I remember crime was a problem, though. I'd always worry about my car. I recall some bad crimes there, too, over the years.

You can still look south and east of Convention Center and kind of get a feel of what the neighborhood was like... imagine it before the Convention Center existed, before anything east of I35 was gentrified, before the warehouse district and west 6th street were around to offer safer entertainment options, and before any other real downtown living was available. Railyard was the only option! Forget the design, it WAS cool when you think about all those other things. But cool in a hipster way, not in a laid-back-Austin-hippy way.

LoneStarMike · #**6220** Posted **Aug 16, 2009, 7:45 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TXLove

Great shots Mopacs and Priller!!!

Priller those shots of Monarch and Spring truly look like renderings!!!

I was thinking the exact same thing.

And priller, that shot of the Austonian from the Whole Foods Terrace -

priller

is almost the exact same shot (including weather and lighting) thatI took a couple of months ago.

LoneStarMike

Anyway, here's my measly contribution from August 15 speeding down Mopac.