AUSTIN | Projects & Construction II

[cvalkan]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

...I wouldn't really call this brutalist architecture...

I believe the original poster was referring to the old Communications Building (Dean Keaton and Guadalupe) as blocky and perhaps brutalist, not the new building.

[WestAustinite]

I am sure many on this forum are aware of it, but the City is nearing finality on the Downtown Austin Plan. The Mother Lode document (135MB) can be downloaded here:

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/downtown/downloads/dap_report_111510.pdf

Make sure you have a fast internet connection....

[KevinFromTexas]

Fox7 just had a story on Rainey Street, and they mentioned a planned 16-story boutique hotel on Rainey Street. They showed the site next to The Shore. That's not really new news, but it is the first we've heard of that project in a while. Originally they had planned a 34-story "Hotel Van Zandt" on that lot, then rolled it back to 16 floors.

[photoLith]

Originally Posted by WestAustinite

I am sure many on this forum are aware of it, but the City is nearing finality on the Downtown Austin Plan. The Mother Lode document (135MB) can be downloaded here:

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/downtown/downloads/dap_report_111510.pdf

Make sure you have a fast internet connection....

Oh my god, that cover photo on the first page of the report almost made me have a heart attack, hopefully Ill see that in my lifetime!

[Complex01]

Looks very nice. Woo Hoo...

[KevinFromTexas]

The architects. Look under hospitality.
http://www.wdgdallas.com/

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2011/03/15/rainey-street-hotel-moves-ahead-in.html

Rainey Street District hotel moves ahead in Austin

Austin Business Journal - by Jacob Dirr, Staff Writer
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 10:25am CDT - Last Modified: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 11:26am CDT

Developers filed a site plan for Hotel Van Zandt in the Rainey Street area, initially planned in 2008, but stalled.

According to the developer JMI Realty’s website: Hotel Van Zandt will be a 327-room, 16-story Kimpton Boutique Hotel with three levels of underground parking, a three-meal restaurant, 6,800-square-foot pool deck and bar, about 12,000 square feet of meeting space and a 1,300-square-foot exercise facility.

[KevinFromTexas]

It looks like Star Riverside is indeed moving forward.

http://www.statesman.com/business/riverside-condo-plan-reborn-as-apartments-1324143.html

Riverside condo plan reborn as apartments
Failed project along I-35 gets new life; will have 300 units and four buildings

By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 10:50 p.m. Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Published: 9:34 p.m. Tuesday, March 15, 2011

A Dallas firm plans to build a 300-unit apartment complex to replace a failed condominium project on Interstate 35 and East Riverside Drive.

The developer, CDK Riverside LLC, intends to stick to the previous plan for the project, which called for four buildings and underground parking on 4 acres of land on Lady Bird Lake.

The developer has started utilities and site work, and a building permit is expected soon, said Hank Smith, president of Texas Engineering Solutions LLC , the local civil engineering firm for the project.

Michael Whellan, an Austin lawyer for CDK Riverside, said the project — called CityView — will include two five-story buildings closest to the lake, plus one 9-story and one 11-story building.

[KevinFromTexas]

Bongos? This is hardly gang type graffiti.

I'm posting this since we had our discussion last month about the graffiti on the bridge.

It really is dumb that he was up there in broad daylight. I really sort of wish these guys would just come forward and put their cause to City Council or the railroad if they're the proper authorities to allow them to paint the bridge legally.

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/cent...-county-traffic-stop-yields-1324123.html

AUSTIN

Police: Tagger jumped into lake

A man had to be rescued from Lady Bird Lake on Tuesday morning after he was caught writing graffiti on a railroad bridge over the lake and jumped in to avoid capture, Austin police Sgt. Chris Gwaldo said.

Just after 10:45 a.m., police received a call about someone trespassing on the railroad bridge near the 800 block of West Cesar Chavez, east of the Pfluger pedestrian bridge.

When the 23-year-old man saw that police were on both sides of the bridge, he threw his bongos and backpack off the bridge before making the roughly 40- to 50-foot leap, Gwaldo said.

The man, whose name was not released, held onto one of the bridge's concrete support pillars for about 20 minutes before emergency personnel rescued him, Gwaldo said. He was taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge with a sore back, Gwaldo said.

Gwaldo said the man, who got his bongos and backpack back, faces several misdemeanor charges including evading arrest, criminal trespassing and graffiti.

[JoninATX]

Rendering of the 167 Student Apartment planned for UT.



http://www.multifamilybiz.com/article.aspx?id=3187

[M1EK]

Originally Posted by Omaharocks

Hey Austin peeps, I need some help. I live in Albuquerque and am doing a graduate thesis/professional project on a TOD oriented around a commuter rail line.

Incidentally, I'll be in Austin next week visiting family and am hoping to get a case study for my research - I know Austin has a recently opened commuter line, and the lamar/airport/"Midtown Commons at Crestview Station" project looks like it may have some locational similarities to what I'm looking at in ABQ.

So, what I'm wondering is, do any of you know anyone I could meet with to talk about this project? Any insiders? I've been trying to contact folks who do TOD for the city (Molly Scarborough) for the last month, but to no avail. Anything you guys could point me too would be helpful! I know this probably isn't the place for a post like this, but I figured you guys would know as well as any...

None of the Austin projects remotely qualify as TOD (they fail to meet background levels of density elsewhere on the same arterial without the rail station nearby) nor have any other US cities seen any TOD around commuter rail.

Light rail yes (sometimes); commuter rail no.

Just because Capital Metro and the city call it TOD doesn't make it so. You ought to be able to see more density than the Triangle if Crestview were really TOD, for instance, and the train station ought to be more convenient than driving, not less.

[migol24]

Originally Posted by photolitherland

Oh my god, that cover photo on the first page of the report almost made me have a heart attack, hopefully Ill see that in my lifetime!

I wonder how events like SXSW would be like when Austin finally looks like this. No doubt, Austin will grow and I don't doubt that the downtown vibrancy will also grow. And now just to wonder how SXSW would be like then, makes me want to be frozen in time so that when I wake up it will be 20 or 30 years later and Austin would finally look like this. (ok not really)

I've shown that picture to many friends of mine. And nobody, not a single one, believes that Austin will ever get like that.

500k people? I don't even doubt that one second that in 30 years from now DT Austin will grow by that much. People like Austin and there's no hiding that even the media likes it too. How could anyone doubt Austin's growth at this point? Heck, we haven't even fully recovered from a recession and look at how Austin has moved along. It's not too bad.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by JoninATX

Rendering of the 167 Student Apartment planned for UT.



http://www.multifamilybiz.com/article.aspx?id=3187

It's looks a little better than their other fare.

[KevinFromTexas]

Yeah, that's not too bad actually. I was hoping it would have been 15 to 20 floors. They really could have done that comparing to other projects of similar size. But this isn't bad. At least another parking lot is biting the dust. I've been meaning to get up to West Campus for a photo thread. I haven't even really yet explored all the new projects there's been so much built.

[Omaharocks]

Originally Posted by M1EK

None of the Austin projects remotely qualify as TOD (they fail to meet background levels of density elsewhere on the same arterial without the rail station nearby) nor have any other US cities seen any TOD around commuter rail.

Light rail yes (sometimes); commuter rail no.

Just because Capital Metro and the city call it TOD doesn't make it so. You ought to be able to see more density than the Triangle if Crestview were really TOD, for instance, and the train station ought to be more convenient than driving, not less.

Oh, there are a few examples of TOD along commuter rail (though its really a practice that has only recently gained momentum) - including established projects in Vancouver, Boston, and Chicago as well as planned TOD projects along a newly built commuter line for Salt Lake City. As for background levels, the established minimum density for TOD is 18 DU's/acre (townhomes, pretty much), but higher densities result in more successful TOD's of course.

But anyhow, this thread is about Austin and I don't want to "derail" it, heh. I've had a great visit and have found some folks at the city to talk with - Austin's downtown is even more vibrant than I remember and the skyline is just so sharp. I honestly believe (as weird as it is to say this) that Austin now has the best skyline in Texas and perhaps the entire southern region of the U.S. Beautiful town all around!

[Syndic]

Time lapse of construction of the Belo Center:

http://communication.utexas.edu/support/...new-media-construction-images-and-videos

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by Omaharocks

...I've had a great visit and have found some folks at the city to talk with - Austin's downtown is even more vibrant than I remember and the skyline is just so sharp. I honestly believe (as weird as it is to say this) that Austin now has the best skyline in Texas and perhaps the entire southern region of the U.S. Beautiful town all around!

I wouldn't go that far about Austin's skyline - Houston's will always be impressive. But there has been an incredible transformation during the past five years or so.

I agree about the downtown's vibrancy. Austin's downtown is more active than most cities's downtown. I work downtown and all the events that go on year round there make driving around there a pain in the ass much of the time.

[hookem]

Originally Posted by Hill Country

I agree about the downtown's vibrancy. Austin's downtown is more active than most cities's downtown. I work downtown and all the events that go on year round there make driving around there a pain in the ass much of the time.

Driving around downtown should be a pain in the ass! Then people will get out of their cars and start walking. And that will make it seem even more vibrant!

Seriously, though. Driving around should be easy in the suburbs or out in the country, in downtown car-friendliness should be a suitably low priority.

[AusHou]

Originally Posted by Omaharocks

Oh, there are a few examples of TOD along commuter rail (though its really a practice that has only recently gained momentum) - including established projects in Vancouver, Boston, and Chicago as well as planned TOD projects along a newly built commuter line for Salt Lake City. As for background levels, the established minimum density for TOD is 18 DU's/acre (townhomes, pretty much), but higher densities result in more successful TOD's of course.

But anyhow, this thread is about Austin and I don't want to "derail" it, heh. I've had a great visit and have found some folks at the city to talk with - Austin's downtown is even more vibrant than I remember and the skyline is just so sharp. I honestly believe (as weird as it is to say this) that Austin now has the best skyline in Texas and perhaps the entire southern region of the U.S. Beautiful town all around!

I tend to agree. Austin's skyline isn't as massive as others in the south, but there's something about the layout and architectural styles that is just incredibly nice. Also, seems to me that Austin's downtown is one of the most vibrant in the country. It's a very exciting place to be.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by NewTex

I tend to agree. Austin's skyline isn't as massive as others in the south, but there's something about the layout and architectural styles that is just incredibly nice. Also, seems to me that Austin's downtown is one of the most vibrant in the country. It's a very exciting place to be.

I agree.

It's easily smaller than Miami, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, and Charlotte.

[M1EK]

Originally Posted by Omaharocks

Oh, there are a few examples of TOD along commuter rail (though its really a practice that has only recently gained momentum) - including established projects in Vancouver, Boston, and Chicago as well as planned TOD projects along a newly built commuter line for Salt Lake City. As for background levels, the established minimum density for TOD is 18 DU's/acre (townhomes, pretty much), but higher densities result in more successful TOD's of course.

But anyhow, this thread is about Austin and I don't want to "derail" it, heh. I've had a great visit and have found some folks at the city to talk with - Austin's downtown is even more vibrant than I remember and the skyline is just so sharp. I honestly believe (as weird as it is to say this) that Austin now has the best skyline in Texas and perhaps the entire southern region of the U.S. Beautiful town all around!

There's more than # units/acre to consider (in isolation). For instance, if on the same ROAD but not anywhere near the TRANSIT, you can get as much or more density without any relaxation of development restrictions and/or incentives to produce, you can't call the other development a TOD.

In other words, Capital Metro and the city call Crestview Station a TOD, but it's less dense (in its developed parts) than the Triangle, which has the same road/bus access but no rail access.

Is that more clear?

The city is using TOD ordinances as a way to get around NIMBY neighborhood objections to sorely needed density, but this doesn't make it TOD by any accepted definition of the term - which, again, among many other things requires at a bare minimum more density than similar areas without the transit access and orientation that provides preferential access to the transit route compared to automobile access. If the apartment buildings are shorter than something down the road (that was built long before the train station / too far to walk to it) and/or the automobile parking is cheaper and more convenient than the transit access, then you've got something other than TOD - you've got TAD (transit adjacent development).

And I have yet to see an example of TOD which passes a non-trivial number of the VTPI metrics on a commuter rail line - while there are quite a few around light rail, and, of course, too numerous to count around urban rail (subway and/or other heavy rail that focuses on urban travel rather than suburban travel).