AUSTIN | Misc. Discussions - No Politics

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by Novacek

Definitely. I'm eyeing some of those backyard office shed concepts (with the ability to flex it to a man-cave on weekends). I figured I'd wait until after the pandemic when hopefully demand/costs temper a bit.

Yep, we've been considering something like that, too. Our kids will eventually go back to school so at least we'll be 100% adult during the day again sometime soon . . . but even then, if you're a sales guy who has to incessantly talk (me!) and an introvert data type with lots of thinking-stuff going on (my wife!) the shed thing could be a marriage saver

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by We vs us

ICYMI, Salesforce just announced it's doing away with the 9-5 workday, and will offer partial or full remote status to majority of its workers.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/9/22...ex-coronavirus

I know this is (yet again) just one company, but it's clearly taking hold among the biggies in the tech sector. If this gets going at scale, it could completely upend some of those basic citybuilding dynamics we all love, especially in places that are tech-heavy.

My thoughts exactly, but I have hesitated posting about it since I am frequently viewed as a nattering nabob of negativity (Google Spiro Agnew all you youngsters out there) by some skyscraper boosters around here. Millions of square feet of office space under construction in Austin and elsewhere. I am amazed that theses building are still being built, and I feel fairly certain that it will take a decade or longer to absorb the space, if, as it appears likely, the WFH model is here to stay. The same might apply to all of the state office buildings under construction. My understanding is that many departments within the state government here in Texas have enthusiastically embraced the WFH model. In some instances this has been happening since well before the pandemic. All of this has me also wondering whether the demand for downtown highrise residential space is going to remain robust given the fact that so many workers now have the option of working from home rather than face an hour or two hour round-trip commute in rush hour traffic. Are all of these tech folks relocating here from California and elsewhere going to live downtown when they don't have to be there for work on a daily basis? We are living through a paradigm shift in the work and office environment that will have huge implications for both commercial and residential development going forward. One thing I feel fairly certain about is that we are never returning to the old normal. It just is not going to happen.

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by austlar1

My thoughts exactly, but I have hesitated posting about it since I am frequently viewed as a nattering nabob of negativity (Google Spiro Agnew all you youngsters out there) by some skyscraper boosters around here. Millions of square feet of office space under construction in Austin and elsewhere. I am amazed that theses building are still being built, and I feel fairly certain that it will take a decade or longer to absorb the space, if, as it appears likely, the WFH model is here to stay. The same might apply to all of the state office buildings under construction. My understanding is that many departments within the state government here in Texas have enthusiastically embraced the WFH model. In some instances this has been happening since well before the pandemic. All of this has me also wondering whether the demand for downtown highrise residential space is going to remain robust given the fact that so many workers now have the option of working from home rather than face an hour or two hour round-trip commute in rush hour traffic. Are all of these tech folks relocating here from California and elsewhere going to live downtown when they don't have to be there for work on a daily basis? We are living through a paradigm shift in the work and office environment that will have huge implications for both commercial and residential development going forward. One thing I feel fairly certain about is that we are never returning to the old normal. It just is not going to happen.

As with most predictions, people are overzealous. Things rarely pan out as they think. The people predicting the death of downtowns and high rises are being overzealous. (Also, all of the people I know that live downtown do so because they want to live downtown, not because it puts them close to work.) We might not fully get back to the "old normal", but we'll return closer to it than people think.

Mass adoption of self driving cars is another example of an overzealous prediction that comes to mind. It's not happening as soon as many have wanted to believe.

[We vs us]

You're right, nothing's ever as bad as you'd think . . . but . . . what if 20% of downtown's workers went remote for all or most of the time? That's not a crazy number vs. the number of currently flexsizing tech companies with downtown presence, but a pretty huge number when you consider the effect on foot traffic downtown, or people who suddenly need to support a home office of some sort in their one bedroom condo.

I think it could also shift the mix of what you see downtown. Maybe coworking rockets to the forefront, and temporary offices, or office-by-subscription (a la WeWork) becomes the new thing for people who want to work remotely but not on their couch. Maybe it pushes people out to the burbs for more square footage for home officing, or for backyards in which to build their man caves or she sheds.

And hey, where will you socialize? People are going to go NUTS without work culture. It's so huge to your development, personally and professionally. Companies are going to have to come up with ways to reactivate those social benefits before this completely takes the place of an office.

What seems plausible is that this is a moment when corporations can decide to offload "the office" on to their employees for all or part of their work lives. And that will express itself in all kinds of weird and crazy ways.

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by We vs us

You're right, nothing's ever as bad as you'd think . . . but . . . what if 20% of downtown's workers went remote for all or most of the time? That's not a crazy number vs. the number of currently flexsizing tech companies with downtown presence, but a pretty huge number when you consider the effect on foot traffic downtown, or people who suddenly need to support a home office of some sort in their one bedroom condo.

I think it could also shift the mix of what you see downtown. Maybe coworking rockets to the forefront, and temporary offices, or office-by-subscription (a la WeWork) becomes the new thing for people who want to work remotely but not on their couch. Maybe it pushes people out to the burbs for more square footage for home officing, or for backyards in which to build their man caves or she sheds.

And hey, where will you socialize? People are going to go NUTS without work culture. It's so huge to your development, personally and professionally. Companies are going to have to come up with ways to reactivate those social benefits before this completely takes the place of an office.

What seems plausible is that this is a moment when corporations can decide to offload "the office" on to their employees for all or part of their work lives. And that will express itself in all kinds of weird and crazy ways.

If 20% go to work remote and, subsequently, companies reduce their downtown square footage by 20%, other companies that previously couldn't get into downtown will snap up that space that has become free. Quite possibly at a cheaper sublet price.

If flex office space becomes more prominent, that makes being downtown even cheaper and more affordable to more companies. You'll end up with more companies using the same office space, just during whatever slices of time they have reserved.

Plus, what better place for it than downtown? In person interactions aren't going to go away completely. So what better place for co-workers to come together (part time basis or not) to meet, socialize, etc. than in, essentially, the center of the city? Office space development has exploded downtown because it is seen as an amenity to many employers and employees. It's good for recruiting and holding onto talent (especially younger talent). In the end, I think downtown will come back stronger than ever. When this pandemic BS is in the rear view, I believe downtown office space will be more desirable and will make it busier than ever.

[ATX2030]

As WeWork pulls back in other cities, coworking company remains bullish on Austin

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...-closures.html

Some highlights from the article.

By Parimal M. Rohit – Staff Writer, Austin Business Journal

"As coworking giant WeWork closes some locations in cities such as San Francisco, Phoenix, Denver and Washington, D.C., there are no signs that it will pull back in Austin, where it has seven outposts."

"A spokesperson with WeWork Companies Inc. said the company could even expand its presence in the Texas capital but declined to provide any details yet."

Calligar said Austin is one of the top-performing markets within WeWork.

Quendrida Whitmore, WeWork's territory vice president, said the many corporate relocation and expansion plans in Austin bode well for the company's presence in the Texas capital.

"WeWork is committed to the Austin market. We have no mid- or long-term plans to exit any of our Austin locations. Even during the pandemic, more than 150 companies announced relocation or expansion plans in Austin, proving just how dynamic and promising Austin’s business community is. We believe the future of work is all about flexibility and that for many, the future of work is in Austin," Whitmore said in an email.

In addition to its coworking spaces, WeWork owns a 4.7-acre site on the southeast side of downtown Austin, near Rainey Street. There has been speculation the company could partner with Lincoln Property Company and Kairoi Residential to build Austin’s tallest tower at the site, commonly referred to as Waller Park Place.

[We vs us]

Vague but good. These are plausibly the kind of non-newsmaking things you say if you're prepping the ground for further announcements down the line a ways.

I think as soon as someone unravels their relationship with the supertall, pretty much everything will become clear.

[myBrain]

This seems like an awesome solution to places like Barton Springs Road through Zilker, Riverside through Auditorium shores, etc. From Memorial Park in Houston:

[H2O]

Originally Posted by myBrain

This seems like an awesome solution to places like Barton Springs Road through Zilker, Riverside through Auditorium shores, etc. From Memorial Park in Houston:

Yep. I included that idea in my comments on the survey. However, I would prefer to not make pedestrians and cyclists go so far out of their way and climb a hill to get over. It would be better to depress the vehicle lanes as much as possible to minimize the grading.

[austlar1]

Also a nice way to give Houston residents a few small hills with views to boot. The city is amazingly flat otherwise.

[chinchaaa]

Originally Posted by myBrain

This seems like an awesome solution to places like Barton Springs Road through Zilker, Riverside through Auditorium shores, etc. From Memorial Park in Houston:

Yea, no. We don’t need to copy anything Houston does. We don’t need 4 (or 6 lane as shown in these renderings) going through our parks. Close the roads through the park to through traffic, reduce lanes to one in each direction and add bike trails along them.

[Echostatic]

Meh. Barton Springs already runs through the middle of the park, widening it to three lanes each way as part of a hypothetical project with tunnels like Houston or San Antonio would be an improvement. The road is already a huge bottleneck and once it'd be mostly out of the way of pedestrians a widening project wouldn't hurt. Other than the bridge over Barton Creek the corridor could support at minimum 2x1x2 if you took out the median between Lamar and the bridge.

[myBrain]

Originally Posted by chinchaaa

Yea, no. We don’t need to copy anything Houston does. We don’t need 4 (or 6 lane as shown in these renderings) going through our parks. Close the roads through the park to through traffic, reduce lanes to one in each direction and add bike trails along them.

I mean I largely agree but those road diets just aren't feasible, sorry. Barton Springs is the only connection between Mopac and the south shore, there's no way that it will ever get closed to through-traffic. We could maybe get rid of that stretch of Riverside but again, it would be very difficult politically.

I'm also not advocating widening those roads, just the green bridge part. Cut and cap would work too.

[KevinFromTexas]

I hope y'all are taking precautions for the cold.

"I haven't shared this until now because I didn't think sharing such an extreme forecast was responsible as a meteorologist, but the Canadian model has outperformed all others temperature-wise thus far so I'm starting to believe it going forward.
It is predicting the coldest temperature ever recorded in Austin on Tuesday morning. A low of -3 degrees would beat the current all-time record of -2 from 1949.
Pets MUST be indoors. Interior/exterior faucets must be dripping. You should locate the property water shutoff valve for your property in case pipes do burst. And you must stay home, as driving on the icy and snowy roads at that time presents a risk of an accident and getting stranded."


https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=...04781191015651

[The ATX]

I'm watching local news now, and the forecast was revised to include below zero Temps Tuesday morning. Wow.

[enragedcamel]

Yeah, I'm freaking out a little because one of my outdoor spigots has rusted and I can't detach the hose from it. I'm thinking about just cutting the hose so that I can let the spigot drip.

People out in Lakeway and Hill County are reporting that their century oaks have started to split in half due to the cold. I'm in central Austin and haven't seen that so far, but all my plants out in the backyard are dead.

[SproutingTowers]

Originally Posted by enragedcamel

Yeah, I'm freaking out a little because one of my outdoor spigots has rusted and I can't detach the hose from it. I'm thinking about just cutting the hose so that I can let the spigot drip.

People out in Lakeway and Hill County are reporting that their century oaks have started to split in half due to the cold. I'm in central Austin and haven't seen that so far, but all my plants out in the backyard are dead.

Going to have some indoor faucets drip too. I would cut that hose, wrap the faucet well and drip.

[The ATX]

We got 8.4 inches of snow officially in Austin. That would be a bad snow storm in Michigan and Minnesota back when I lived in those places. But they plow all the roads up there and people would be out and about and school/work wouldn't have been cancelled.

EDIT: Spectrum News said it was 8.4 inches. But apparently it was "only" 6.4 inches - the most since 1949.

[GoldenBoot]

We had 7.25" out here near Lake Travis.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

We had 7.25" out here near Lake Travis.

Same at my house in Round Rock. Internet down for 2 days, just came up, no water since around noon today. We've been gathering snow in pots and buckets to melt into water for the toilets. At least we still have electric...so far. Amazing...