AUSTIN | Projects & Construction III

[Kotliz]

Is there something going on at 5th and San Jacinto? Is that where the Westin is supposed to go up? I see that open patch is largely void of cars and there is a little digger there today.

[zedaref]

Originally Posted by Kotliz

Is there something going on at 5th and San Jacinto? Is that where the Westin is supposed to go up? I see that open patch is largely void of cars and there is a little digger there today.

Westin is the NE corner of that intersection.
Soil nail retention system permit from May 31. From what I can tell from Google, those are the walls put in place whenever they dig down.
Tower crane permit from June 21.

[Austin_Expert]

Originally Posted by zedaref

Westin is the NE corner of that intersection.
Soil nail retention system permit from May 31. From what I can tell from Google, those are the walls put in place whenever they dig down.
Tower crane permit from June 21.

Sounds as though this may break ground fairly soon.

[The ATX]

Here's an updated street level rendering from the White Lodging website:



The website:

http://www.whitelodging.com/about/ga...ustin-downtown

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by Kotliz

Is there something going on at 5th and San Jacinto? Is that where the Westin is supposed to go up? I see that open patch is largely void of cars and there is a little digger there today.

Saw that too! I assumed they were starting to rip up the old surface
!

[pscajunguy]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I'm not sure that's true, but if Austin has been labeled that way and has gained that stereotype then it certainly might be perpetuating something there. There are other factors at play. Austinites tend to be nice caring (giving) people. And then there's the climate thing. It's hot here, but as long as you don't run around like a headless chicken it won't kill you. It's not like you're going to freeze to death and we have little in the way of truly bad weather. And then there's the pedestrian friendliness factor. And less face it, most homeless are pedestrians. And we still have just the right amount of undeveloped lots in a few areas of the city that make perfect homeless camps.

When I went to San Francisco, I couldn't believe the homeless population, but Austin's got to have 10X as many. And homeless, sometimes multiple homeless people, panhandling at every major intersection, and that's many, many, many people who I have no idea keep from getting run over in the traffic. In Philly, they would get mowed over like bowling pins. This is the only place in the country that you see this.

[migol24]

Originally Posted by pscajunguy

When I went to San Francisco, I couldn't believe the homeless population, but Austin's got to have 10X as many.

Where are you getting this from? Here in San Francisco you have blocks flooded with homeless people. Just go to Turk from Market to Larkin. And this is just in one neighborhood. You still have SOMA and Mission and as well as other neighborhoods. San Francisco is regarded as having the highest population of homelessness per capita. Wikipedia also has the population at 13,500 with about 6,000 living in the streets. Meanwhile austintexas.gov has the number of homeless people living in the streets at around 2,300.

This website ( http://www.austinecho.org/community-data/ ) has a more detailed number of homeless people being served in Austin. It's not small but it certainly doesn't look as chaotic as here in San Francisco. They are also less aggressive in Austin. I've had too many confrontations with homeless people... even to the point where i have been threatened. In Austin they're just annoying wanting to make friendly talk... but I can see some of them being threatening and aggressive.

[Syndic]

The thing that struck me when I was working downtown recently was this one group of 5 or 6 young homeless people. They just loiter on the benches all day, smoking weed (and maybe other things), and intimidating people. It actually felt legitimately scary to have to walk past them. I didn't know what they were going to do. I can't imagine what that would feel like if you were walking by them at night. It just didn't seem like something native to Austin. These weren't your typical homeless people. It's obvious to me that they came from somewhere else. Which makes you wonder, why here?

[Kotliz]

Hate to break into the homeless thread—I found the west coast homeless more aggressive than here in Austin—I took this panorama from the top of the Convention Center Parking lot on the South East corner of 2nd and Brazos a week ago.

[hookem]

Beautiful pano, thanks.

Although it just reminds me how much that crappy Hyatt Place building belongs on an access road in the 'burbs somewhere, not on prime real estate downtown. It's so bad it makes the Hampton look like classic architecture.

Hopefully the JW Marriott makes up for it!

[Kotliz]

Originally Posted by hookem

Beautiful pano, thanks.

Although it just reminds me how much that crappy Hyatt Place building belongs on an access road in the 'burbs somewhere, not on prime real estate downtown. It's so bad it makes the Hampton look like classic architecture.

Hopefully the JW Marriott makes up for it!

That is a particularly ugly view of the Hyatt too. Did they design it with that giant blank wall, expecting another large building to rise on it's western side?

[KevinFromTexas]

Nice view. I guess the best thing the Hyatt Place did was add density there. But yeah, it looks like someone took a hunk of modeling clay and threw it at a wall. It's just so awkward looking. I guess something could be built to the west of Hyatt Place. There is that small parking lot which should go. I guess they could build something there and also replace the U-Ship building.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by Kotliz

That is a particularly ugly view of the Hyatt too. Did they design it with that giant blank wall, expecting another large building to rise on it's western side?

It is a cheap/ugly building. And yes, they assume that the small brick warehouse to the west will go away at somepoint. Itis par for the course. If you look around town, any building that has the potential to have another proerty build right next to it will always plan for that.

[ahealy]

I think it's time....for someone to create a NEW future Downtown Austin skyline rendering with all current/proposed projects

[ATXboom]

Originally Posted by ahealy

I think it's time....for someone to create a NEW future Downtown Austin skyline rendering with all current/proposed projects

From what angle / base picture? I may have some time for photoshop this weekend. Where can I find the best project list? Thanks.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by ATXboom

From what angle / base picture? I may have some time for photoshop this weekend. Where can I find the best project list? Thanks.

I've always thought Doug Sahm Hill was the best vantage point for the city....

[migol24]

Where is that?

[zedaref]

Originally Posted by migol24

Where is that?

Butler Park

[nixcity]

Yes, that is my favorite spot too. Although those new apartments on E. Riverside may take that from them when the cranes are down. It would be nice to see one image with just the buildings already under construction and another one with all those and those that look likely. This city is in the midst of its largest boom in history!!!!

[BevoLJ]

Originally Posted by ATXboom

Where can I find the best project list? Thanks.

On the first post of this thread I have a list that is up-to-date for everything over 100 feet.