Austin | Vesper (84 East) | 452 Feet | 41 Floors | Complete

[The ATX]

They apparently just started selling units yesterday per a news story on KXAN about Austin housing units last night.

[corvairkeith]

This one is still slowly creeping along.

[drummer]

Yay, parking garage walls!

[Geckos_Rule]

Originally Posted by drummer

Yay, parking garage walls!

That entire stretch of road (along with everything U/C and proposed) will be a wall of parking garages, with zero restaurants/bars/retail anything.

All about 50' from one of the (if not the) busiest bar districts in America...

[drummer]

Can't fight the reality of garages with our current setup - as we've all lamented (but fight we shall!). That said, at least stick some screens on them with murals and/or advertisements.

[Echostatic]

It may be just feet from Rainey, but it's also the I-35 frontage road. It's not like it's going to be some bustling city street, even if all the new development had retail. TxDOT prevents any Great Streets improvements from going in.

[gillynova]

[Geckos_Rule]

Originally Posted by Echostatic

It may be just feet from Rainey, but it's also the I-35 frontage road. It's not like it's going to be some bustling city street, even if all the new development had retail. TxDOT prevents any Great Streets improvements from going in.

I'm just surprised there's not demand for it, even if things aren't required. With how popular Zanzibar is at the Marriott on Cesar Chavez, I'm confused as to why one of these hotels doesn't have a pool bar, particularly overlooking Rainey St.

[AusTex]

Originally Posted by drummer

Can't fight the reality of garages with our current setup - as we've all lamented (but fight we shall!). That said, at least stick some screens on them with murals and/or advertisements.

Sticking screens or murals on parking garages is one thing that is needed, however, do you really want advertising anywhere downtown, especially on the buildings? I do not. I know some have expressed liking what they have seen in Asia, but to me a building downtown needs to be free of advertising, names and logos. The exception being public accommodations like hotels. Less is More in this case, unless the building is designed For a logo/name location on it. Most are just tacked on after thoughts that detract from the building.

Let the Art of the Architecture have Visual Prominence.

[myBrain]

Originally Posted by AusTex

Sticking screens or murals on parking garages is one thing that is needed, however, do you really want advertising anywhere downtown, especially on the buildings? I do not. I know some have expressed liking what they have seen in Asia, but to me a building downtown needs to be free of advertising, names and logos. The exception being public accommodations like hotels. Less is More in this case, unless the building is designed For a logo/name location on it. Most are just tacked on after thoughts that detract from the building.

Let the Art of the Architecture have Visual Prominence.

I agree that I don't want billboards, but I do think that advertisements, when done right, can be tasteful and artistic, and I'd be OK with local brands doing that - e.g. sponsoring murals that include their product in tasteful ways. Speaking of Asia, Dotonbori in Osaka has done this the best that I've seen -- the animated neon billboards there are iconic and artful. Imagine a giant neon Tito's bottle or a Yeti or a Torchy's devil or a Deep Eddy pinup, that could be iconic.

[austlar1]

There is quite a lot of advertising done on buildings throughout Los Angeles. I don't mind it at all. It adds some vibrancy to otherwise not very interesting buildings and perks up the street-scape considerably. https://www.google.com/search?q=adve...ih=604&dpr=1.5

[drummer]

I agree that architecture should have visual prominence. However, most parking garages aren't scrambling for that - they're utilitarian. The exception is the Van Halen garage there, where they did shoot for some sort of artistic expression.

[We vs us]

The disappointing thing about all of it is that eventually there's a very good chance that those buildings will overlook a park rather than an open highway trench in the not so distant future. And those garages are pretty much the opposite of a good parkside use.

Of all the stuff that's been built in DT, to me, these are the buildings that will age the worst.

[drummer]

^^ Not a bad point.

[Geckos_Rule]

Originally Posted by We vs us

The disappointing thing about all of it is that eventually there's a very good chance that those buildings will overlook a park rather than an open highway trench in the not so distant future. And those garages are pretty much the opposite of a good parkside use.

Of all the stuff that's been built in DT, to me, these are the buildings that will age the worst.

I fully agree -- there is no way that these will age well. The good news is that in a cut+cap situation that would turn the current I-35 into parkland, that would take a minimum of 10 years from approval through completion.

So by that time, it will be about time for these buildings to get torn down anyways...

[Mopacs]

July 2

[valhalla]

if this construction went any slower then . . . nevermind it's actually not possible for this to go any slower

[Tyrone Shoes]

[Jdawgboy]

That overhanging roof on the hotel next to Homewood is hideous. Would have been better without it.

[Urbannizer]