This one pisses me off. Refuse to renew Gingerman's lease. Kick out one of the best bars in Austin. Force them to move to a shitty location, ruining one of the coolest bars in Austin.
Then, just a few months later, change your mind and let some new bar sign a lease at its location.
The thing is they do not need to mess up the Austin club and bar scene....
What's going on... no more tallest = no buzz???? The W will be very prominent forever...being at the head of the First Street Bridge!!! And not much excitement.
We have been overdosed for a good long while. Our skyline is just amazing now. What a great time to be living in this city for building freaks like us...we still have one rising folks...
What's going on... no more tallest = no buzz???? The W will be very prominent forever...being at the head of the First Street Bridge!!! And not much excitement.
We have been overdosed for a good long while. Our skyline is just amazing now. What a great time to be living in this city for building freaks like us...we still have one rising folks...
I've noticed the strange dropoff in posts too. Maybe it's the weather, we've had many cloudy days and rain. The vast majority of posts are from a handful of regulars, though, and maybe they are all just busy at the same time..
And regarding the W, for me personally it's hard to be very excited about a building that may have to stop construction. I'd really rather not think about it too much, although if completed will be a great addition to the skyline.
Seems like a pretty impressive move to me by Starwood, and secures this project to continue until completion.
I hope you're right, but I'm not sure that affects the Austin W because Stratus bought the loan back from Corus before it failed.
"Corus, headquartered in Chicago, was the primary lender on the $300 million W Austin Hotel and Residences. Last month the project's developer, Stratus Properties Inc., said it had bought the loan back from Corus and was seeking a replacement lender."
Even with the banks assets bought, there is nothing that says the new owners have to continue financing the projects the old company started. It isn't as though Corus has given the W developers a lump sum. The new owners could have easily pulled the purse strings closed anyway or charged more.
Now the developers have the ability to secure financing on their own terms.
It is more likely the new owners are interested in trying to secure payments on some of the existing loans that are outstanding more than financing projects under construction.
Ah, I forgot about that part Scottolini. Its hindsight, but yes looks like they should have just waited but who knows.
But I still think this is good news. Since the FDIC is involved, they will want Starwood to get every dollar possible out of the old Corus assets so the taxpayer is stuck with as small of a claim as possible. I think one way or another Stratus and Starwood will work together and get this completed.
Pictures seem to be the major contributing factor to having others post. We don't seem to have many discussions about other topics too often.
There hasn't been a lot of news lately, so not much to discuss. Although I'm surprised that Cap Metro's head resigning didn't get more discussion.
And the overcast skies and rain does put a damper on photo taking. I like sunny days with puffy clouds in the sky for building pics, most of the time.
Plus the Austonian is topped out and isn't going to change too much more. Same for the Four Seasons. The W has just now gotten to the point where it's starting to make an impact on the skyline, so it should get more interesting to photograph in the near future.
i would assume we all should get used to the austin thread slowing down? no new "major" skyscrapers after the W... (skyscrapers as in 20+ stories; i'm spoiled now) i wish the marriott, 21c, ovation and 7 rio would have gotten started before the economy tanked. at least started AND fully funded w/a guaranteed completion. those 4 would have really created aheckuva skyline. it looks ok now tho.
BTW, page 1 shows "Updated: 10/17/08". wow almost a year & no updates? not complainin, just mentioning it
For some reason I was under the impression that the completion of the W was pretty secure?
I just can't imagine them going this far and then just stopping. Especially on a project that involves sales and such. It would become such a ugly part of the skyline, and why would they want to be associated with that?
I'm just saying, I'll be shocked if the W doesn't continue on schedule.
OU812 I agree with that it is boring without any new major or past project being annouce, hoepfully lenders will start lending money to new and/or already annouce projects by the end of the year or next year...
Just came across these months old photos taken from when I visited a friend's place at Austin City Lofts in Downtown. I figured this thread may be less active in the coming weeks so I thought I would take us back in time, circa March 2009 to show the construction and new development at the time.
Double height living space
We later went on a tour of East Austin with UT-Austin's Urban Development Society. I forgot the name of this infill development adjacent to the MLK Station.
Its coming!
....I think.
Anyway I am glad we reached this point as a city that we have a 50+ floor skyscraper to brag about.
I'm not too worried about the W. The partners involved in it's construction have a lot of money invested in this project already... finding financing shouldn't be a huge problem. Finding financing that they like the terms of may be.
They may not find something that they would have accepted had they not already broken ground.. but given the outlay of cash, they may be willing to bite the bullet on pricier financing just to recoup the money they already have in the project.
I'm also somewhat hopeful of another downtown boom in 2-3 years. There are a lot of projects that have been announced that have done a good deal of preliminary work. A lot of these projects will just die and never be heard from again.. but once the economy turns around and money starts flowing, it is very possible several of these projects will be in a position to hit the ground running.
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