AUSTIN | Project Updates Thread Part II

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by enragedcamel

Would love to have another supertall announced this year...

Where would it go? I hate to say stilly things like "we're running out of space," but . . . we're running out of space (that isn't already committed, isn't under a CVC, or isn't squatted on for eternity by Nate Paul).

The post office block is the only one I can think of.

[Echostatic]

I believe that eventually, the post office block will be a supertall. But who knows when. The owners certainly aren't in a rush to develop that site, and why would they be? It'll only keep appreciating.

[MichaelB]

Oh, I don't know... what if we slowed down the "size needs' and let demand for quality of design catch up? For the most part, all we're getting in the race to build are generic boxes. Is getting tall at all costs really worth it? While I am looking froward to the Republic and 98 Red River.....and love "The Sail". The rest can kinda go away for me. Especially the new version of 415 Colorado.
It's not a game , it's a neighborhood.

[StoOgE]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

Oh, I don't know... what if we slowed down the "size needs' and let demand for quality of design catch up? For the most part, all we're getting in the race to build are generic boxes. Is getting tall at all costs really worth it? While I am looking froward to the Republic and 98 Red River.....and love "The Sail". The rest can kinda go away for me. Especially the new version of 415 Colorado.
It's not a game , it's a neighborhood.

We do not have corporate headquarters in Austin to speak of. This is our issue.

Premium build quality, engineering and often less efficient use of vertical space cost money which means the price per square foot needs to go up to offset those costs.

You can't just tell a developer "spend your money on a nicer looking shorter building" when it costs them profit. A box is the most efficient use of money and space which is why thats what mostly gets built.

Also, our real estate market is expensive - we need to bring volume of residences on board as quickly as we can.

[myBrain]

I too am hoping that Downtown slows down a bit so that there are still some significant developable / re-developable lots in the later 2020s, mostly because I want to see what impact the new rail lines will have on new development. Are we still going to need massive parking podiums like 6xG? Maybe, maybe not. If we do lose parking podiums that could reduce the height of some projects, but I'm more than OK with that given the opportunities for better urbanism transit-oriented towers could present.

Honestly at this point I think it's more important for high-rise development to start moving outside of the traditional barriers of Downtown. I would easily choose expanding CBD zoning over getting another supertall. Virtually all of core Austin should have height restrictions relaxed or removed, as well as Mueller, Highland, the Domain, and more. Long term, developing another set of urban nodes is going to be far more important to the city's future than a few more point towers Downtown.

[The ATX]

Per a design Intake filing today, a 260 key hotel and restaurant are planned for this site.

Originally Posted by The ATX

This is probably going to be another big one with no CVCs on the site. 311 & 307 E. 5th at Trinity are up for total demolition at the 1/24 HLC meeting. This includes Russia House.

[StoOgE]

Originally Posted by myBrain

I too am hoping that Downtown slows down a bit so that there are still some significant developable / re-developable lots in the later 2020s, mostly because I want to see what impact the new rail lines will have on new development. Are we still going to need massive parking podiums like 6xG? Maybe, maybe not. If we do lose parking podiums that could reduce the height of some projects, but I'm more than OK with that given the opportunities for better urbanism transit-oriented towers could present.

Honestly at this point I think it's more important for high-rise development to start moving outside of the traditional barriers of Downtown. I would easily choose expanding CBD zoning over getting another supertall. Virtually all of core Austin should have height restrictions relaxed or removed, as well as Mueller, Highland, the Domain, and more. Long term, developing another set of urban nodes is going to be far more important to the city's future than a few more point towers Downtown.

I think we'll get some of both - Austin is turning into a hot enough market that some of our early 2000's (and earlier) builds will likely be on the chopping block for tear-downs at some point.

Plus our buddy Nate is very helpfully camping on a bunch of really valuable properties that will eventually be sold.

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by StoOgE

Plus our buddy Nate is very helpfully camping on a bunch of really valuable properties that will eventually be sold.

TBH, I do think there will be something of a Nate-aissance when he finally lets go of (or is separated from) his properties. I've always assumed they will all come available more or less all at once . . . and consequently will start down the development pipeline more or less together, as well.

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by the atx

per a design intake filing today, a 260 key hotel and restaurant are planned for this site.

booooooooo

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by We vs us

booooooooo

With a healthy parking podium, we could be looking at 20 floors! I hope they just forgot to mention a residential portion.

[StoOgE]

Russia house deserves more

[slippi]

Originally Posted by The ATX

With a healthy parking podium, we could be looking at 20 floors! I hope they just forgot to mention a residential portion.

I would much prefer a shorter building with no parking

[austlar1]

What is the current hotel room count for downtown Austin, including campus area hotels? Seems like there are so many new hotels.

[Mopacs]

Originally Posted by StoOgE

I think we'll get some of both - Austin is turning into a hot enough market that some of our early 2000's (and earlier) builds will likely be on the chopping block for tear-downs at some point.

The Courtyard/Residence Inn hotel on E 4th could be a good candidate for that.

[Echostatic]

Originally Posted by austlar1

What is the current hotel room count for downtown Austin, including campus area hotels? Seems like there are so many new hotels.

Alright, time to start counting. Here's a rough proxy for "Downtown Area and Campus Area" hotels, broken into 5 subdivisions: River South, West, Campus, Inner East, and Downtown.



River South Hotels:

• The Carpenter Hotel: 93 rooms
• Extended Stay America Hotel - Downtown - Town Lake: 130 rooms
• Embassy Suites by Hilton Austin Downtown South Congress: 262 rooms
• Hyatt Regency Austin: 448 rooms

River South Room Total: 933

West Hotels:

• Brava House: 5 rooms

West Room Total: 5 yes, that's really it...

Campus Hotels:

• Hilton Garden Inn Austin University Capitol District: 214 rooms
• Hampton Inn & Suites Austin @ The University/Capitol: 137 rooms
• Hotel Ella: 47 rooms
• The Otis Hotel, Autograph Collection: 191 rooms
• AC Hotel Austin-University: 156 rooms
• AT&T Hotel & Conference Center: 297 rooms
• Moxy Austin - University: 162 rooms
• Rodeway Inn University/Downtown: 50 rooms

Campus Room Total: 1,254

Inner East Hotels:

• Mint House at The Hatchery: 30 rooms
• East Austin Hotel: 75 rooms
• Super 8 by Wyndham Austin Downtown/Capitol Area: 60 rooms

Inner East Room Total: 165

Downtown Hotels:

• Austin Proper Hotel: 244 rooms
• W Austin: 251 rooms
• JW Marriott Austin: 1,012 rooms
• The LINE Austin: 428 rooms
• Hyatt Place Austin Downtown: 296 rooms
• Hampton Inn & Suites Austin-Downtown/Convention Center: 209 rooms
• Four Seasons Hotel Austin: 294 rooms
• Austin Marriott Downtown: 613 rooms
• Fairmont Austin: 1,048 rooms
• Kimpton Hotel Van Zandt: 319 rooms
• Homewood Suites by Hilton Austin Downtown: 150 rooms
• Holiday Inn Austin-Town Lake: 323 rooms
• Hotel ZaZa Austin: 159 rooms
• tommie Austin: 193 rooms
• Thompson Austin: 229 rooms
• The Westin Austin Downtown: 366 rooms
• Courtyard by Marriott Austin Downtown/Convention Center: 270 rooms
• Residence Inn by Marriott Austin Downtown/Convention Center: 179 rooms
• Hilton Austin: 801 rooms
• Hilton Garden Inn Austin Downtown/Convention Center: 254 rooms
• Canopy by Hilton Austin Downtown: 140 rooms
• The Stephen F Austin Royal Sonesta Hotel:190 rooms
• Aloft Austin Downtown: 278 rooms
• Element Austin Downtown: 144 rooms
• The Driskill, in the Unbound Collection by Hyatt: 189 rooms
• Omni Austin Hotel Downtown: 393 rooms
• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Austin Downtown - University: 171 rooms
• Hotel Indigo Austin Downtown - University: 134 rooms
• La Quinta Inn by Wyndham Austin Capitol / Downtown: 152 rooms
• Hyatt House Austin / Downtown: 190 rooms
• Sheraton Austin Hotel at the Capitol: 367 rooms
• DoubleTree Suites Downtown Austin Hotel: 350 rooms

Whew.
Downtown Room Total: 10,336

Downtown and Campus Area Hotels Room Total: 12,693

[We vs us]

Well done! Great list!

There’s a whole developing cluster of airport hotels that take part in the largest city events…but for our purposes probably best left out.

[austlar1]

Great list. That is a LOT of hotel rooms. At just 60% occupancy that would put an additional 8,000 or so folks overnight inside of that relatively small area in addition to local residents. Makes for a very busy central city. I do wonder how these rooms stay occupied day after day. Has convention and visitor traffic rebounded from the Covid crisis? Has business travel resumed on a large scale? Maybe someone knowledgeable about the local hotel market could provide some information.

[dilliam]

Originally Posted by Mopacs

The Courtyard/Residence Inn hotel on E 4th could be a good candidate for that.

god, please let this one be first to go.

[drummer]

Here’s How Austin’s Mexican American Cultural Center Plans To Double in Size

The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (ESB-MACC) at 600 River Street is the gem of downtown Austin’s Rainey Street neighborhood, a stunning work of Mesoamerican-inspired modernism designed by the late Mexican architect Teodoro González de León working alongside Hispanic-owned local studio CasaBella Architects. It’s reflective of the neighborhood’s rapidly-fading history as a working-class Mexican American enclave, and as such will always represent much more than a building to members of this community — but that building isn’t completely finished.

https://austin.towers.net/heres-how-aust...o-double-in-size/[email protected]

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Great list. That is a LOT of hotel rooms. At just 60% occupancy that would put an additional 8,000 or so folks overnight inside of that relatively small area in addition to local residents. Makes for a very busy central city. I do wonder how these rooms stay occupied day after day. Has convention and visitor traffic rebounded from the Covid crisis? Has business travel resumed on a large scale? Maybe someone knowledgeable about the local hotel market could provide some information.

So -- business travel and group bookings are both currently in recovery. Things have been slowly but steadily improving up till omicron hit, which was a pretty profound rough patch. That said, it wasn't as rough as the delta rough patch, leading most of us to believe that business travelers and group attendees are at heart committed to traveling, and we really are still on an upward swing. Current projections put both group and BT as fully back to 2019 levels by mid 2024, but that's a very fluid forecast. If omicron ends up being the last major wave, we could see things really roar back much more quickly. The demand is definitely there. Of course if that's not the case and we do have another wave . . . hard to say what will happen to our momentum.

The convention center is a perennial problem for Austin, too. Not news to our forum, but it always has to be repeated in public so that people don't start listening that quack from San Antonio. We're so exceptionally small that we're about to fall out of the comp set of cities we regularly go up against, as all of them continue to renovate and outpace us -- again.

The renovation process is creeping along and last I heard, the hope was we'd have an RFP and approval to move forward from Council sometime this year. At this point, the CC folks are thinking in terms of SXSW increments -- if we can't start demo immediately after SXSW 2024, then we'll almost certainly wait till after SXSW 2025. The awful part is they estimate a 4 year construction process -- so even if 2024 is a go, we wouldn't have a center again until 2028. That's just . . .tragic. My hotel is doing revenue analyses about the potential impact of not having a Center for an extensive period of time and . . . it's not pretty.

That said, business is still booming, and tourists/leisure travelers are leading the way. At the most recent Austin Hotel and Lodging Assoc luncheon, one of the Visit Austin honchos made an interesting point -- turns out that even with our smaller center, the Visit Austin sales team was having a difficult time pulling together enough rooms to support convention center groups. All the big houses have enough in-house business and leisure compression that their participation is much lower than in the past.

To me this suggests that when the Center finally gets the green light to reboot (and nearly double in size!) we'll need even more rooms to support it. I'd expect another significant group hotel (Marriott Austin Downtown sized or bigger) to go along with it. Not as part of the deal, necessarily, but as a move into the market by another player.