AUSTIN | Project Updates Thread Part II

[JoninATX]

I drove by that site 2 wks ago, glanced over and saw the name "Dallas Demolition". I immediately thought there was something big in the works. It sure made my day.

[JoninATX]

Also I just looked up to see if there was a height limit in that area. As you can see it's not effected by the Capital view corridor.

The site is right above the "view" lettering.

[The ATX]

[QUOTE=KevinFromTexas;6840948]I wasn't sure where it is either, but I found out it's at 407 West 18th Street.
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2808...n2fg5NST9Q!2e0

That is one ugly building. Demolition would be that neighborhood's best friend.

[Tech House]

Yeah, good riddance to the old clunker. If they put anything remotely like a 38-story tower there it will be HUGE for that part of town, and could herald a general transition of that area into an apartment jungle. It would be nice if the ground floor of the residential buildings around there would provide some street life, but so far so little on that front. With such an increase in density between there and west campus, I wonder how there will be adequate services provided with so little commercial space in the area.

[airwx]

Yesterday council approved a resolution directing the City Manager to negotiate with a carousel vendor to provide a manufactured carousel and manage its operation with revenue sharing for the City and to present Council with options no later than March 1, 2015.

The resolution mentions that it should be located downtown and that both public and private properties be among the sites given serious consideration. I found this presentation from the Spring which mentions Zilker Park, Butler Park, Mueller, Waterloo Park, and Lamar Beach as preliminary possibilities. Obviously, Mueller isn't in Downtown, so that's probably out. Either Morrison or Tovo also mentioned the possibility of Republic Square park when they were discussing that park during the meeting yesterday. Anyone know anything else about this? I think this could be a nice addition to Waterloo Park when it reopens, or in Zilker near the Zilker Zephyr.

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by Tech House

Yeah, good riddance to the old clunker. If they put anything remotely like a 38-story tower there it will be HUGE for that part of town, and could herald a general transition of that area into an apartment jungle. It would be nice if the ground floor of the residential buildings around there would provide some street life, but so far so little on that front. With such an increase in density between there and west campus, I wonder how there will be adequate services provided with so little commercial space in the area.

That would be excellent. I've often thought that this part of downtown was ripe for some densification. The city should be encouraging dense development there. Especially since it sits along a major transit corridor.

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by airwx

Yesterday council approved a resolution directing the City Manager to negotiate with a carousel vendor to provide a manufactured carousel and manage its operation with revenue sharing for the City and to present Council with options no later than March 1, 2015.

The resolution mentions that it should be located downtown and that both public and private properties be among the sites given serious consideration. I found this presentation from the Spring which mentions Zilker Park, Butler Park, Mueller, Waterloo Park, and Lamar Beach as preliminary possibilities. Obviously, Mueller isn't in Downtown, so that's probably out. Either Morrison or Tovo also mentioned the possibility of Republic Square park when they were discussing that park during the meeting yesterday. Anyone know anything else about this? I think this could be a nice addition to Waterloo Park when it reopens, or in Zilker near the Zilker Zephyr.

I'd say they should pair it with a ferris wheel. That would provide a nice tourist attracation with some stellar views of downtown.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by Tech House

Where exactly was the Ambassador located? I tried finding it on Google but all I get is hotel search engine spam.

I think the reason you couldn't find it on Google is because it wasn't a hotel. It was called the Ambassador Apartments.

Link

Ambassador Apartments

407 West 18th Street. Apartments have carpets, stoves, and refrigerators. Laundry room on premises. Owner pays gas, water, and electricity. Resident pays own cable. Located walking distance from the University of Texas and Capitol Complex.

[LoneStarMike]

Here's something I found that might be related to the Ambassador Apartments lot at 407 W. 18th. The adjacent lot at 405 W. 18th is vacant land, but used to house what was known as the Travis House. It burned down in 2010. As the article notes:

The building, which is vacant, was at the center of a City of Austin fight last year [2009] on whether it should be zoned a historical landmark site or torn down. Several neighbors and the owner of the site, Travis Hotel Group LLC, filed protests against the historic zoning move.

In November [2009], the Austin City Council voted down the historical zoning move and entered into an agreement with Travis Hotel Group to improve the lot if the building was demolished, according to Austin Historic Preservation officer Steve Sadowsky. The agreement includes provisions on widening the surrounding sidewalks and putting up a commemorative marker tied to the building's history with the Young Women's Christian Association.

The sidewalks were given the Great Streets treatment and the commemorative marker is what's known as the The Travis House Ghost Door (link is from Jude at the Downtown Austin Blog.)

Another posting about The Travis House (also from Jude's blog in 2009)

The structure currently known as Travis House is sort of downtown Austin obscurity. The building has been vacant for years and was victim of a fire in January. In past this building has served as a YWCA and also the Guadalupe Hotel. Before 1946 the site was the location of a Southwestern Bell garage. I recall while at UT, the building was a halfway house.

Interestingly, directly across the street at the burned out Guadalupe Arts Center, 1705 Guadalupe and 1715 Guadalupe have jointly obtained entitlements for 350 foot height and a 12:1 FAR which translates into a 30 story tower.

Here's a nighttime photo of the ghost door from someone's twitter account:



https://twitter.com/cubbie9000/statu...426560/photo/1

I'm wondering if the Travis House might have had two addresses - one on Guadalupe (1710 Guadalupe) and one on 18th St (405 W. 18th.) The Scarborough Building downtown is like that. It has one address on Congress and a different address on Sixth Street. If so, I'm thinking this ghost door faces Guadalupe, and that the Ambassador Apartments might be the building off in the distance in the upper right hand corner of that nighttime shot. Maybe someone who lives in the area can verify.

Anyway, if those two lots on the other side of Guadalupe (1705 & 1715) can have a 350 foot building, I'm thinking that if The Travis House lot and The Ambassador lots are combined and they could build something similar in height.

Edited to add a historic photo of the William B. Travis House



http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675...pth63133/m1/1/

The Building in the foreground is the one that burned down. I believe the 3-story building behind it is what is being torn down now. Together, it does seem like a pretty big lot.

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...s-wary-of.html

Punished for protesting? Businesses wary of proposed change to Austin incentives
Dec 11, 2014, 8:05am CST

Michael Theis
Digital Editor-
Austin Business Journal

A proposed change to Austin's economic incentives programs could make it a dangerous proposition for an incentivized company to challenge its property tax bill, reports the Austin American-Statesman.

Under the proposal, put forward by City Councilwoman Kathie Tovo, companies that dispute their tax bill would automatically have any city economic incentive agreements reviewed with an eye to reduce or entirely revoke the incentive package, according to the paper.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by Tech House

If they put anything remotely like a 38-story tower there it will be HUGE for that part of town, and could herald a general transition of that area into an apartment jungle. It would be nice if the ground floor of the residential buildings around there would provide some street life, but so far so little on that front.

For some reason, I'm in "detective mode" tonight.

Anyway, I went over to the Travis County Appraisal Districts website and did a property search by owner name for "Headington."

Headington Armory Partners LP is listed as the owner for

406 W 17 ST - Dog & Duck Pub
412 W 17 ST - parking lot
407 W 18 ST - Ambassador Apartments
1708 GUADALUPE ST - 3-story building with the black mansard roof to the right of the vacant Travis House lot in that night photo above.

The lot where the Travis House used to be (405 W 18 ST) shows the owner as Travis Hotel Group LLC.

Headington Armory Parters and Travis Hotel Group both have the same parent company - Headington Oil of Dallas. They all have the same address on Haskell Ave. in Dallas.

It looks like they're putting all these parcels together, and if so, I guess there could be a 38-story building go up.

Maybe the homeless guy was right.

[Tech House]

Originally Posted by LoneStarMike

Anyway, if those two lots on the other side of Guadalupe (1705 & 1715) can have a 350 foot building, I'm thinking that if The Travis House lot and The Ambassador lots are combined and they could build something similar in height.

Thanks for all that great information and history! Wow, if there is serious planning going into the eventual development of 2 30+ story towers across the street from one another, it's hard to conceive of what that area will look like in 20 years. It's a perfect spot for intensive residential for many reasons --- access to downtown, Capitol and state buildings, UT; very walkable, with decent sidewalks unlike so many other residential areas in Texas; easy transit access as Paul78701 said. I wonder how loudly the neighborhood will protest. Students in the existing apartment towers won't care, but the non-students who live in nearby SF houses might throw a fit. And then there's the big question mark which is the new city council.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by Tech House

Wow, if there is serious planning going into the eventual development of 2 30+ story towers across the street from one another, it's hard to conceive of what that area will look like in 20 years.

I don't think the 350-foot tower across the street (1705 & 1715 Guadalupe) is getting built. At 1705 Guadalupe, there's a 5-story building going up. You can see it under construction on the July 2014 Google street view for that address.

Here's the rendering:



http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/18257...-St-Austin-TX/

1715 Guadalupe is where they built that student housing project called The G




http://thegaustin.com/gallery/

I think that crane and construction behind it is the 5-story office building at 1705 Guadalupe.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

What about IBC's hotel proposal for land they own at 6th & Nueces? Has anyone heard of this project?

Interesting...

I know you asked this question back in May, but here's a little bit of info I found on the City's latest emerging projects map.

ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/DowntownAu...2014-12-12.pdf

IBC is looking at developing this site on W. 6th street at Nueces
as a 28-story hotel.

It says construction could start in mid-2015.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by paul78701

I'd say they should pair it with a ferris wheel. That would provide a nice tourist attracation with some stellar views of downtown.

If you want to get on a ferris wheel and have some nice views of downtown, just go to the Trail of Lights this year. Apparently there's a 90-foot ferris wheel close to the Zilker Tree.

From the Austin American Statesman:

Critics, organizers put their spin on Ferris wheel near Zilker Tree

The story is behind the paywall, but there's a video that non-subscribers can watch.

It’s big and bright and shiny and offers great views of downtown — and some tradition-hugging Austinites say it’s got no place at a longtime holiday gathering spot.

At issue is the Zilker Tree’s new neighbor, a 90-foot Ferris wheel that Trail of Lights organizers brought in for the first time this year. Some, including Robert Nash, who wrote an op-ed in Thursday’s American-Statesman, say it’s more distraction than attraction.

[East7thStreet]

The new emerging projects poster has a previously unheard of project for the block on the east side of 12th & I35.

43. 12th & 35 (R103) Planned The project is proposed to have 363 high-rise apartment units, 297 attached senior adult housing units and a 70,000 sq. ft. supermarket

That's 660 units on top of a 70k sq ft grocery store....all on one block. That's gotta be a massive building and possibly east Austin's tallest tower.

[LoneStarMike]

^^I saw that, too. It sounds like a one-block highrise version of the Plaza Saltillo redevelopment about 7 blocks south.

The future of Austin's Plaza Saltillo: Here are four developers' visions
Robert Grattan
Austin Business Journal
April 17, 2014

I think Endeavor was the one that Cap Metro's Board chose.

Endeavor Real Estate Group, another Austin development heavyweight, has partnered with Dallas' Columbus Realty Partners, local architect Michael Hsu and engineers Bury Inc. The team has proposed a Plaza Saltillo with 800 total residences, including 100 set aside at an affordable rate and another 100 set aside at an affordable rate specifically for seniors. The project would be built on 112,500 square feet of retail space – including a supermarket.

And the Plaza Saltillo development spans several blocks, while this other one at 12th & IH-35 is just on one block as you noted.

Something I wonder about, though is this (from the Plaza Saltillo article)

After a development team is selected, many of the proposed visions could be changed to incorporate suggested features or to better suit the economics of the project – what the board will really be selecting is a development team and a broad vision, not a specific project outlined. For example, the presentations that included larger buildings closer to I-35 would require variances to build higher – which would require the city of Austin cooperation to be built.

Seems like those same variances would be required for this project at 12th & IH-35.

Edited to add:

https://www.austintexas.gov/devrevie...erRSN=11247561

The applicant is proposing to rezone approximatley 2.09 acres from CS-NCCD-NP to CS-NCCD-NP-CURE.

The address is 1109 N IH-35.

[The ATX]

Another 28-story hotel proposal is a big deal. We can get let this one get buried in the update thread. From the link in LoneStarMike's post:

19. 6th and Nueces Hotel site (C96)
Planned
IBC is looking at developing this site on W. 6th street at Nueces as a
28-story hotel.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by Hill Country

Another 28-story hotel proposal is a big deal. We can get let this one get buried in the update thread. From the link in LoneStarMike's post:

19. 6th and Nueces Hotel site (C96)
Planned
IBC is looking at developing this site on W. 6th street at Nueces as a
28-story hotel.

That's good news. I'm kind of hoping for something that complements and takes cues from the IBC Bank building.

Height shouldn't be an issue there. As I recall, Novare's original proposal a few years back was for a 37-story condo tower that was 420 feet. Their other tower across the street was planned to be 40 floors and 550 feet.

[ATXboom]

What happened to Novarre... they are letting this boom economy and development opportunity slide by them. Will there be a market for condo, hotel, etc at that post office site near term?