AUSTIN | Projects & Construction II

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by East7thStreet

Austin, San Antonio, and Fort Worth are very similar sized cities in the 1.7-2.1 million range. They also all have very diminutive skylines for cities of their size. I think Austin's skyline is finally catching up to what a city of ~2 million should look like.

On another topic.... does anybody have pics of the current developments in West Campus. Anybody have info on the developments on 22nd/Rio Grande/Nueces/San Antonio?

Fort Worth's metropolitan division is more like 2.7 million, which is more akin to St. Louis or Tampa than Austin and San Antonio.

[USMichael]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Fort Worth's metropolitan division is more like 2.7 million, which is more akin to St. Louis or Tampa than Austin and San Antonio.

Which also makes Austin's downtown growth even more impressive. I would love to see some new high rises in downtown Fort Worth. Not to turn this thread into an Austin v. Other Texas city thread but does anyone happen to know what the zoning restrictions in downtown Fort Worth are with regards to how tall buildings can be?

[BevoLJ]

For me what so impresses me about that picture is how many mid sized building it shows.

That is one of the hardest things to grab in a photo of Austin. Austin is so hilly, and there are so many nice sized buildings that just get lost in the city. You never see any of that in the pictures of Downtown Austin, but that photo captures many of them quite well as a night shot from a wonderful angle. Photos of downtown Austin all you ever really notice are the tall buildings near the water front, because of the hills extending into the deeper downtown. And the lights reflected off the W at that angle are also perfect!

But going from second and that area up to the capitol area and near UT, the hills in downtown really make impressive buildings come and go from view very fast. And more recently going from Mopac down 5th into DT is so different today than just a few years ago. And that is also very hard to really capture in a photo. There are just so many trees, hills and woods downtown it hides so much and makes it so hard to get a photo like the one above that show that many buildings.

[skys the limit]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Fort Worth's metropolitan division is more like 2.7 million, which is more akin to St. Louis or Tampa than Austin and San Antonio.

According to the 2010 census, the correct population figures for the metropolitan areas of Austin, Ft. Worth and San Antonio are the following:

Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos = 1,716,289
Ft. Worth-Arlington = 2,136,022
San Antonio-New Braunfels = 2,142,508


Which makes Austin's skyline look incredibly impressive for the size metro it is.

Austin is the smallest metro of those three cities by around 425,000 people yet its skyline looks FAR, FAR, FAR more impressive than either San Antonio's or Ft. Worth's.

Austin's skyline is truly impressive for the size city it is - and it is continuing to grow both in population and new buildings going up.

Kudo's to Austin!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Texas_metropolitan_areas

[MightyYoda]

Not to get city vs city on people, but Austin actually has one of the best skylines for a city of its size in the US (metro population which is what really matters). A few are arguable (Portland is denser, but less tall), but the only one I can think of that is heads above Austin still is Charlotte and it blows everyone for its metro size because of the banks. This is purely from a skyline perspective and not taking street level into account. I feel that some of you have too high of expectations as to where Austin's downtown should be development wise. Austin is about 1.8m in its metro which is quite a bit smaller than San Antonio or Ft.Worth or even Portland that I mentioned. We are just now growing into a mid-sized city.

Here is a link to Census rankings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas

[NYC_Longhorn]

I mentioned the possiblity of a twin austonian.... I can now tell you know that people involved in the 17 story Hyatt building may be involved in this plan.... the old statesman article below speaks of a desire to a bring a 1000 room hotel to the area, but I am still unclear if the twin idea is a secret or something.... The person I talked to was confident about the twin austonian.....

Originally Posted by JoninATX

The crane on the left is for a 17st. apartment tower.


http://www.burypartners.com/portfolio/detail/244

The crane on the right is for a 17st Hyatt Place hotel.


http://www.statesman.com/business/develo...t-for-downtown-austin-hotel-1055593.html

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by skys the limit

According to the 2010 census, the correct population figures for the metropolitan areas of Austin, Ft. Worth and San Antonio are the following:

Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos = 1,716,289
Ft. Worth-Arlington = 2,136,022
San Antonio-New Braunfels = 2,142,508


Which makes Austin's skyline look incredibly impressive for the size metro it is.

Austin is the smallest metro of those three cities by around 425,000 people yet its skyline looks FAR, FAR, FAR more impressive than either San Antonio's or Ft. Worth's.

Austin's skyline is truly impressive for the size city it is - and it is continuing to grow both in population and new buildings going up.

Kudo's to Austin!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Texas_metropolitan_areas

Heh. I always thought it was slightly larger. You win.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by NYC_Longhorn

I mentioned the possiblity of a twin austonian.... I can now tell you know that people involved in the 17 story Hyatt building may be involved in this plan.... the old statesman article below speaks of a desire to a bring a 1000 room hotel to the area, but I am still unclear if the twin idea is a secret or something.... The person I talked to was confident about the twin austonian.....

Wow. That would be cool to see. I love the color of the Austonian. It's like the big sister to Frost.

[Mopacs]

Originally Posted by ahealy

That would look pretty cool. I'd want to see some slight changes in tower II though.

Hello...it's me. Still among the living

If there is a twin tower, perhaps a perpendicular orientation would help. It would compliment the original, adding visual 'width' from a north-south perspective (if that makes sense). A slightly different height would help too (taller, preferably )

[Cloud92]

i don't like the idea of twin towers in downtown it sounds kind of dumb to be honest but that's just my opinion

[USMichael]

Originally Posted by Cloud92

i don't like the idea of twin towers in downtown it sounds kind of dumb to be honest but that's just my opinion

Same here. No matter how many twin skyscrapers appear anywhere there are only two towers which will be remembered by all Americans for being the real twin towers

Plus there are so many styles and so much variance in design there could be some super cool new designs for all cities, Austin included

[NYC_Longhorn]

I am not bringing up the twin austonian thing because I think it's good or bad, I know people all have opinions about twin towers.... (by the way, there are a lot of twins out there, I don't know why people keep doing the WTC comparison). Can anyone look at that article and see if there is a connection the developer of the Hyatt with the people that did the Austonian? The "twinning" person is connected to the 17 story project and assures me about the twin austonian.... I am having a hard time blowing off the rumor.... and figure people on this forum might know more about the underworld of secret building projects....

[JoninATX]

I can't find anything about the developers of Hyatt working with The Austonian, but I'm pretty sure there keeping it secret for now.

[JoninATX]

New 23-story apartment tower planned in Rainey Street area

By Shonda Novak | Wednesday, January 11, 2012, 06:02 PM

The developers behind a 44-story downtown condominium high-rise near the Austin Music Hall said today that they are planning their next project: a 320-unit apartment tower that would rise 23 stories in the Rainey Street area.

An affiliate of Novare Group Investments LLC and its Austin partner, Andrews Urban LLC, said they plan to break ground this spring on the project, to be named SkyHouse Austin. Located at 47 Rainey Street on downtown’s eastern edge, the tower would include significant retail space, Novare/Andrews Urban said in a statement.

Novare/Andrews Urban developed the 360 condominium tower with 430 residences at Third and Nueces.

“We are excited to be working with Taylor Andrews on another project in Austin,” said James Borders, president and CEO of Atlanta-based Novare Group. “SkyHouse Austin will complement a vibrant and growing Rainey Street District with a great new residential community with many amenities, the primary one being its location in downtown Austin.”

Taylor Andrews, president of Andrews Urban, said adding 320 more residences “will play a significant role in fulfilling the city’s vision for the Waterfront District and provide needed tax revenue for the Waller Creek Tunnel project.”

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/s...1/11/new_23story_apartment_tower_pl.html

[JoninATX]

New Rainey Street Apartment Tower Proposed: The Austin Skyhouse

by Jude Galligan
2012 January 10

According to an administrative site plan application filed with the city, the Austin Skyhouse is a proposed downtown Austin mixed-use apartment tower at 47 Rainey Street. If built, the tower could deliver 15,000ft of retail and 320 apartments to downtown Austin’s red hot rental market.

The ~1.4 acre site, shown below, is directly north of the Legacy apartments (187 units), and across the street from the Milago Condos (240 units). The CBD zoned property has long been expected to be developed into a tower, so this shouldn’t be received with much surprise.

According to the application: “The applicant is proposing to construct Apt. Tower/Retail and Garage/Retail with associated improvements.” The applicant is familiar to downtown Austin development – Novare/Andrews Urban – the same team who developed the successful 360 Condos.

http://downtownaustinblog.org/

[JoninATX]

Circuit of the Americas Update!





http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/s...at_cir.html?cxntfid=blogs_formula_austin

[photoLith]

Originally Posted by JoninATX

New Rainey Street Apartment Tower Proposed: The Austin Skyhouse





http://downtownaustinblog.org/

Arent there some really old houses on that lot? I hope that if there are, they move them at least.

[BevoLJ]

I don't thinks so. Lots of woods, like trees and brush. The blocks just north (down direction in that photo) going to 1st there are.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Arent there some really old houses on that lot? I hope that if there are, they move them at least.

That particular site has been cleared for some time.

[The ATX]

KXAN reported on their 5:00 PM news that the new Novare apartment tower should break ground in May and be completed by summer 2013. (That's seems a little too quick of a construction time frame.) They also said it should look similar to the 360 Tower. That makes sense because all of Novare's towers are real similar.