AUSTIN | Projects & Construction III

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by corvairkeith

The design reminds me of the Renaissance Center in Detroit.

It's what came to me as well. It's what made me say they felt like late 70s early 80s.

[MichaelB]

Re: 21C/Poe. Those folks went a totally diff way with their interests. They droped the idea of Building new properties. What they really like are older properties and rehabs. It's what they are good at.

BTW.... at the time it was designed, the original 21C here ( where the Whitley is ) was a pretty nice design. ( That was for you Hill Country! ;-)

[NYC_Longhorn]

Please, you guys make me laugh. Those aren't final renderings.... they probably just grouped together to show height.... It's not like we have Trump down here building glass boxes.

They will resemble the original design.... This is seriously exciting.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by East7thStreet

This site has gone through a lot of proposals. I even think Vignette Corp was going to build a high-rise office building or two on this peice of land in the 90's.

Yes, that's exactly where Vignette's office towers were going to be. I couldn't find any renderings of the Vignette project, but I did find a map showing what parts of the Rainey Street area it would occupy from an old December, 2000 article in the Austin Chronicle about the Chain Drive.

Naked City
Razing the Bar
By Amy Smith, Fri., Dec. 8, 2000

Originally Posted by Syndic

This really ups the ante for that Trinity Place property, no? Being next to this development would increase its value big-time. You have to think that would lead to more financing.

Yeah, and besides Trinity Place, there's a second project not shown in the rendering. The Hotel Van Zandt. Isn't that supposed to be in that lot immediately north of The Shore?

And then there's that whole undeveloped block bounded by Cesar Chavez, Red River, Driskill & IH-35. Directly across the street from that (on the north side of Cesar Chavez) is where the Fairmont's supposed to be built. If every single one of those projects were to be built, that is going to be one dense area.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by LoneStarMike

And then there's that whole undeveloped block bounded by Cesar Chavez, Red River, Driskill & IH-35.

OK - sorry to quote myself, but I found something else interesting. It's a premium-content article from the Austin Business Journal from March 29, 2013, but it's old enough that non-subscribers can now read it for free.

Two major sites in downtown Austin about to sell
Land near convention center won’t be blank much longer
Jan Buchholz
Staff Writer- Austin Business Journal

The southwest and the southeast corners of Cesar Chavez and Red River streets are under contract to two different parties, according to the sellers, Robert Knight and Perry Lorenz.

The two longtime friends and business associates have a third property under contract on the northeast quadrant of the same intersection to the east of the Neal Kocurek Memorial Austin Convention Center. On that site, Manchester Texas Financial Group LLC is planning to execute a long-term land lease and build the 50-story Fairmont Austin hotel. No date is set for that agreement to be signed, but the hotel is scheduled to open in summer 2016.

Though the potential buyers of the other two properties remain confidential, Knight said that one buyer group is local and the second is from California.

The SE corner of Cesar Chavez & Red River is the block bounded by Cesar Chavez, Red River, Driskill & IH-35.

The Sutton Company is the local group and their project would be on the SW corner of Cesar Chavez & Red River. The California group must be the one that's trying to purchase the SE corner of Cesar Chavez & Red River, so we may be hearing about another proposal soon.

[KevinFromTexas]

This was the rendering for the Vignette project. Also note that they included the original design for the Four Seasons Residences (highlighted to the left). That design called for a 320 foot building with 28 floors.

[ROCrot]

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...-fairmont.html

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by ROCrot

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...-fairmont.html

Seriously they can make an exception in this instance while its not out of the question we could see a flood event between now and the end of 2014 but I seriously doubt any frequency. They can set up whatever they need to lessen the impact but I say let them start construction ASAP.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

Seriously they can make an exception in this instance while its not out of the question we could see a flood event between now and the end of 2014 but I seriously doubt any frequency. They can set up whatever they need to lessen the impact but I say let them start construction ASAP.

I don't view this as a serious issue either. I don't see how this can be considered a surprise since the projected date for the start of construction has always been before the tunnel was finished.

[Myomi]

Originally Posted by Hill Country

I don't view this as a serious issue either. I don't see how this can be considered a surprise since the projected date for the start of construction has always been before the tunnel was finished.

It's of course a serious issue...that's a terrible way of looking at and trying to mitigate risk.

However, this article is also a very good sign that the project is continuing to move forward.

[hookem]

Originally Posted by Hill Country

I don't view this as a serious issue either. I don't see how this can be considered a surprise since the projected date for the start of construction has always been before the tunnel was finished.

IIRC, the Circuit of the Americas race track faced a similar sort of problem. They needed permission to have construction proceed on their land, which included some in the flood plain. The flood plain issues would be mitigated through grading and drainage, and the flood plain would be re-drawn after that, but in the meantime they needed to build. There was always a chance that a catastrophic flood could happen during construction and before the flood plain issues were mitigated, but it certainly didn't rise to the seriousness of stopping the project all together until the mitigation was done.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by Myomi

It's of course a serious issue...that's a terrible way of looking at and trying to mitigate risk.

However, this article is also a very good sign that the project is continuing to move forward.

I meant a serious issue in regards to delaying construction. I get the impression that you are referring to a flooding event.

[The ATX]

More confirmation that Hotel Van Zandt is back on track:

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/busi...atesman_launch

[ROCrot]

Originally Posted by Hill Country

More confirmation that Hotel Van Zandt is back on track:

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/busi...atesman_launch

This is great news! And insane... are all these recent project announcements due to the logjams of applications finally being broken, which I remember being mentioned a month or so ago?

[The ATX]

In case anyone hasn't seen this yet. The downtown emerging projects list was updated on 04/15.

ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/DowntownAu...s_apr_2013.pdf

[ATXboom]

Nice list... Imagine when the statesman property becomes avail for infill... Prime prime dead space at the moment.

Speaking of which members may want to attend this.

http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=...7&e=5f197fd290

[pscajunguy]

Let me tell you, you are going to LOVE the Hotel Van Zandt! It's not going to be like those cheap stucco hotels East of the Marriot. When they say it's going incorporate a bit of the Hotel San Jose, they mean it! I've stayed at Kimpton Hotels in San Francisco, and they are the best places I have ever stayed, bar none.

And Hotel Van Zandt will be the perfect addition to the Rainey Street District. It will fit in like a silk glove. Lucky Austin! Their bar will be not to be missed! It will be a place for all Austin to congregate.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by pscajunguy

Let me tell you, you are going to LOVE the Hotel Van Zandt! It's not going to be like those cheap stucco hotels East of the Marriot. When they say it's going incorporate a bit of the Hotel San Jose, they mean it! I've stayed at Kimpton Hotels in San Francisco, and they are the best places I have ever stayed, bar none.

And Hotel Van Zandt will be the perfect addition to the Rainey Street District. It will fit in like a silk glove. Lucky Austin! Their bar will be not to be missed! It will be a place for all Austin to congregate.

Have you seen the most recent design? It's going to be stucco. The original design wasn't, but this one is.

[KevinFromTexas]

I don't get the burn on stucco. Some have said it isn't weatherproof, which seems unlikely since just about every building in coastal Florida is stucco. You'd think a region that hangs out in hurricane territory would be weatherized.

I'm less concerned with material choices than I am design choices, detail, architectural style and color. And of course does it have street level retail and does it interact with the street.

[OU812]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I don't get the burn on stucco. Some have said it isn't weatherproof, which seems unlikely since just about every building in coastal Florida is stucco. You'd think a region that hangs out in hurricane territory would be weatherized.

I'm less concerned with material choices than I am design choices, detail, architectural style and color. And of course does it have street level retail and does it interact with the street.

Me neither- I like stucco.

Also, just about everything in California is stucco too (and no I'm not from there).