AUSTIN | Aloft Austin & Element Hotel Downtown | 328 FEET | 31 FLOORS | Complete - Page 13

The ATX · #1 Posted **Sep 5, 2015, 10:35 PM**

White Lodging's Facebook page has some photos of the groundbreaking last week. Groundbreaking photo Ops amuse me with the awkward shoveling and dirt flying in all directions:

Time for a break after all that "digging":

White Lodging: https://www.facebook.com/whitelodgin...type=1&theater

The ATX · #2 Posted **Sep 25, 2015, 1:43 PM**

Nice first post. I don't see a crane base yet. But this one doesn't have much more excavation left to do, so it should be going up soon.

Tech House · #3 Posted **Sep 26, 2015, 12:51 AM**

Seconded, excellent grand entrance into the forum. One post, one awesome photo. I've got a few hundred posts and zero photos, I need to get a camera and contribute something besides my usual peanut-gallery fodder.

Flatiron · #4 Posted **Sep 27, 2015, 5:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tech House

Seconded, excellent grand entrance into the forum. One post, one awesome photo. I've got a few hundred posts and zero photos, I need to get a camera and contribute something besides my usual peanut-gallery fodder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The ATX

Nice first post. I don't see a crane base yet. But this one doesn't have much more excavation left to do, so it should be going up soon.

Thank you! Aloft is my favorite project under construction at the moment. I like the dimensions of the building (height:base ratio), I like that there is no parking garage underneath, and I like the location: Congress Ave. should have occupied buildings rather than parking lots.

KevinFromTexas · #5 Posted **Sep 27, 2015, 5:46 PM**

Yep. Great first post. This is going to be one skinny tower.

priller · #6 Posted **Oct 4, 2015, 3:19 AM**

Not the best angles. They've done a lot of digging.

the Genral · #7 Posted **Oct 5, 2015, 2:19 AM**

Are they putting in a basement?

https://youtu.be/XuWSK9A_A1M

The ATX · #8 Posted **Oct 5, 2015, 2:38 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by the Genral

Are they putting in a basement?

https://youtu.be/XuWSK9A_A1M

The original site plan, if I recall correctly, said they only had to dig down 13', and that was only on part of the site. It looks like that was changed. They also shortened the building a little bit from the original plans.

Flatiron · #9 Posted **Oct 14, 2015, 3:06 AM**

October 12th:

The ATX · #10 Posted **Oct 15, 2015, 1:13 PM**

It looks like they hit bottom so to speak. This one should start rising real fast.

_Matt · #11 Posted **Oct 19, 2015, 8:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flatiron

October 12th:

I've always wondered--how do they get that last bit of dirt out once the equipment is cleared?

The ATX · #12 Posted **Oct 19, 2015, 9:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Matt

I've always wondered--how do they get that last bit of dirt out once the equipment is cleared?

An example of that can be seen on the Rowling Hall webcam:

https://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/Tech/...North%20Camera

KevinFromTexas · #13 Posted **Nov 22, 2015, 5:40 AM**

Ah, that's what I thought. Those crane pieces at the Hotel ZaZa site seemed out of place since they hadn't even set up the crane bases yet. Also those looked to be at least double the height of the usual tower crane shafts - which are about 20 feet long. I didn't say anything, but I was assuming they were using the ZaZa site as a staging area for some other project. I'm surprised they used that site, though, since it's so far away from the Aloft location.

JoninATX · #14 Posted **Nov 22, 2015, 7:25 AM**

At least we can agree on is The Aloft/Element Hotel is moving forward. That picture just shows how dense Austin is getting.

The ATX · #15 Posted **Nov 22, 2015, 8:20 AM**

Blinded by the crane pieces. In hindsight, the fact that the three below ground parking levels haven't been excavated was a red flag.

Flatiron · #16 Posted **Nov 23, 2015, 10:00 PM**

It was interesting to see the crane get assembled yesterday:

ivanwolf · #17 Posted **Nov 24, 2015, 3:09 PM**

11/24/15
I can see this too, Crane up!

Flatiron · #18 Posted **Dec 6, 2015, 5:55 AM**

From tonight. (12/5/15)

KevinFromTexas · #19 Posted **Dec 6, 2015, 6:15 AM**

Man, that car that is about to clobber those pedestrians is about to get clobbered by that bus.

The ATX · #20 Posted **Dec 6, 2015, 6:23 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Man, that car that is about to clobber those pedestrians is about to get clobbered by that bus.

I'm Downtown at night and on weekends a lot because of work, and the amount of awful driving, bicycling, and pedestrianing I see is freaking amazing.