AUSTIN | Project Updates Thread Part II

[Jdawgboy]

That's pretty sweet^^^

[KevinFromTexas]

I thought this was neat. I was going through the FAA permits for downtown and found a permit from 1987 for a 240 foot hotel on the northwest corner of the One American Center block. It would have occupied that vacant lot.

https://oeaaa.faa.gov/oeaaa/external...D=261275&row=5

Also I found a height for the Lamar Financial Savings Plaza. This was a project that was proposed in the early 80's that would have occupied the space where 300 West Sixth is. It has had a 12-story hotel with it. The office tower was 27 floors, and this height says it would have been 383 feet.
https://oeaaa.faa.gov/oeaaa/external...D=257370&row=5

[Mopacs]

From this weekend (10/4)

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by Mopacs

From this past weekend (10/4)

I sure hope they're planning some creative way to light up that concrete spine up the side of the Hotel Van Zandt. I think a line of blue LEDs would look really great running up the spine all the way to the top of the concrete blade/slab on the roof.

[The ATX]

Here is an update on the latest permit activity concerning several projects that are either not approved or don't have a publicly announced or permit specified start date.

Trinity Place/99 Trinity - Last site plan update was 12/22/14, 180 day site plan update extension expires 12/17/15

Waterloo Park Hotel - Last site plan update was 06/10/15, 180 day site plan update extension expires on 12/21/15

So we should be hearing something about Trinity Place and Waterloo Park Hotel within a couple months.

North Shore Lofts - Last site plan update was 04/16/15, 180 day extension expires on 03/21/16

6th & Nueces Hotel - No update since initial filing on 06/11/15

[urbancore]

in reference to the link below, does anyone have an idea what property they have under contract?

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...apartment.html

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...apartment.html

Coming to Austin: Teeny, tiny pre-fab apartment units

Oct 6, 2015, 12:38pm CDT Updated Oct 6, 2015, 2:04pm CDT

The Austin college professor who once lived in a converted Dumpster plans to build a new, ultra-compact, plug-and-play apartment concept in Austin next year.

Known for converting a Dumpster into his home in East Austin, Professor Dumpster – aka Huston-Tillotson University environmental science professor Jeff Wilson – has teamed up with a local developer to create Kasita, a start-up focused on prefabricated housing.

The 208-square-foot unit dwellings can be stacked and plugged into city utilities. The cost per unit is projected at an affordable $600 a month — about half of what it costs for a studio near downtown today. A key to making it work is securing sites close to downtown Austin and other major cities around the world as the company rolls out. The company's website went live Tuesday with a list of cities where it hopes to land.

[The ATX]

They can't rent them for cheap unless the land they build them on is cheap, and there ain't no cheap land Downtown. But the renderings show how nice a small space can be. Here are three of the renderings from the ABJ article.

[The ATX]

I had no idea how big the local food bank needed to be.


http://www.twcnews.com/tx/austin/new...food-bank.html

[lzppjb]

Originally Posted by The ATX

They can't rent them for cheap unless the land they build them on is cheap, and there ain't no cheap land Downtown. But the renderings show how nice a small space can be. Here are three of the renderings from the ABJ article.

It's basically a high end dorm room.

The tiny house craze is really gaining momentum.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by The ATX

They can't rent them for cheap unless the land they build them on is cheap, and there ain't no cheap land Downtown. But the renderings show how nice a small space can be. Here are three of the renderings from the ABJ article.

Here's some more on that. It shows how each modular home could be removed to be taken with you when you move - even across the country.

https://www.facebook.com/techinsider...2626244602404/

[JoninATX]

Looks nice.

[KevinFromTexas]

We have a friend who owns some property, and he's planning to build a tiny house on it for the family, but they're also planning to rent it out. I do think there is room for projects like that in downtown. Maybe use them as a way to make the best of the CVC affected blocks.

[hookem]

^^ Cool concept, but that exterior shot is very misleading IMO. A 9 unit complex, even on just 1/10 of a downtown block -- renting at $600 per unit, $5400/mo total? No way that is happening.

But if you looked at it a different way, like taking an 1800 sq ft near-downtown space and dividing it into nine 200sq ft units, $5400 total rent seems possible. So it might work in terms of price per sq ft, but not in anything like the configuration shown.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by hookem

^^ Cool concept, but that exterior shot is very misleading IMO. A 9 unit complex, even on just 1/10 of a downtown block -- renting at $600 per unit, $5400/mo total? No way that is happening.

But if you looked at it a different way, like taking an 1800 sq ft near-downtown space and dividing it into nine 200sq ft units, $5400 total rent seems possible. So it might work in terms of price per sq ft, but not in anything like the configuration shown.

Maybe if you could do it pre-fab, semi-temporary? Each one of those is almost shipping container sized. If you could bring in each unit pre-fab, plop them down on any plot which is currently just surface parking waiting for development. Have them there for a few years while waiting for the right timing for the full revelopment?
Basically really, really high end mobile homes?

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by Novacek

Maybe if you could do it pre-fab, semi-temporary? Each one of those is almost shipping container sized. If you could bring in each unit pre-fab, plop them down on any plot which is currently just surface parking waiting for development. Have them there for a few years while waiting for the right timing for the full revelopment?
Basically really, really high end mobile homes?

That sounds like a Food Trailer Park. Maybe that would be a good temporary use of under developed sites.

[hookem]

Originally Posted by Novacek

Maybe if you could do it pre-fab, semi-temporary? Each one of those is almost shipping container sized. If you could bring in each unit pre-fab, plop them down on any plot which is currently just surface parking waiting for development. Have them there for a few years while waiting for the right timing for the full revelopment?
Basically really, really high end mobile homes?

Yeah, I think that could work - utilizing in-transition lots which would otherwise be empty or surface parking. The key thing then would be that they are easy and low-cost to setup and move. They should pitch them that way. I know there are some tiny homes that are also built so they are easily moved.

It would be like high-end mobile homes or food trailer parks... heck, why not?

Have any of you read "Ready Player One", by Austin author Ernest Cline? It's a great book if you are into retro stuff and video games, even though it takes place in the future. The main character lives in a place called the "stacks" which are mobile homes stacked high on top of each other on small lots. Maybe prophetic?

[The ATX]

Aspen Heights filed a site plan today for a West Campus project called Aspen West Campus:

https://www.austintexas.gov/devrevie...erRSN=11429165

[Austinite101]

Originally Posted by The ATX

Aspen Heights filed a site plan today for a West Campus project called Aspen West Campus:

https://www.austintexas.gov/devrevie...erRSN=11429165

I believe that's the lot next to Pointe on Rio that was brought up last month.

[The ATX]

Speedway through campus to be turned into a pedestrian mall.

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news...ed-out-/nnzQ3/


Renderings from the article: