AUSTIN | Projects & Construction II

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by LiveattheOasis

The old end zone seats were much deeper, so we actually lost seats last year in the end zone, but now will gain from the upper deck. Ultimately, the stadium should keep in noise much better now.

I wanna go!!!!!!!!

[danny1010]

Don't under-estimate the size of the North End Zone expansion. It truly is massive.

In the 80s, DKR's official capacity was only around 75k. Temporary bleachers for big games allowed it to go up to 80k or so. In 1998, the East Side Upper Deck followed by the removal of the track/lowering of the field in 1999 moved official capacity to 80,082 with gameday attendance at ~83k.

For the NEZ expansion, the old horseshoe was demolished which held a deceptive 6k. Though not tall, it really did stretch far away from the back of the endzone. Despite this loss of 6k, the NEZ is still adding a net 10k (16k gross), bringing official capacity north of 90k with gameday around 93-94k even without the temporary bleachers in the south end zone.

As for this year, it's still being decided if there will be temporary bleachers in the south end zone. Starting in 2009, there will be 4k semi-permanent bleachers in the SEZ. These will be torn down before the next expansion.

http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/longhorns/02/07/0207texstadium.html

Royal-Memorial Stadium, already in the midst of one transformation, might be getting yet another face-lift under a proposal presented to University of Texas System regents Wednesday.

The $25 million project includes 4,000 bleacher seats for the football stadium's south end zone — opposite the ongoing $176 million expansion of north end zone seating. Regents are expected to approve the proposal this week.

The north-end project, which is adding 16,000 seats, is due to be completed by the Aug. 30 season opener against Florida Atlantic, and the south-end bleachers would be in place for the 2009 season, UT athletic director DeLoss Dodds said.

He said the football stadium would then have a capacity of about 94,000. Actual attendance, which includes vendors, media, security personnel and anyone else in the stadium on game days, could reach 96,000 or 97,000.

That would put Royal-Memorial just behind the 100,000-plus capacity at the stadiums of Michigan, Penn State, Tennessee and Ohio State.

Texas fans have grown accustomed to bleachers in the south end zone, which have been used to offset the loss of seats while construction continues in the north end zone. But those bleachers, which seated 6,000 last season, have been rented each season and taken down afterward.

The proposed project would replace the rented bleachers with permanent ones that would be owned by UT.

The bleachers will account for only part of the $25 million project, Dodds said.

By the way, things are coming along quite nicely now that we aren't being inundated with rain like last year.

[danny1010]

Here are some more stadium construction pics for those that are interested...

Construction Update 4/21

Construction Update 4/25

[KevinFromTexas]

Have you heard anything about how tall the stadium is?

[danny1010]

I haven't heard an official height yet. I've read that the turrets that support the ramps to the upper deck will be 115' tall (to be even with the East Side). Using the cross-section below, I'd estimate the tallest point to be 130-140' above ground level.

[KevinFromTexas]

I noticed those construction pictures were taken from inside the stadium. Does the person who is taking those work on the project? I'd really like to hear the official heights on the stadium. I had also heard the 115 foot height for those turrets. And that 140 foot height seems about right for the eastern upper deck. But the western upper deck is probably about 250 feet tall. I was wondering if anyone knew the height of it. I'd like to hear the height with and without the light towers. Right now would be a good time to find the height(s) since it's being worked on, I'm sure they have all the blueprints on hand.

[JGFrisco]

I will say that if you sit in the upper deck on the west side, it's like being up in the blimp trying to watch. It's UP THERE.

I had not heard that they were going to put the bleachers back after this year. But that's a good thing.

Those pictures just don't do it justice. If you go into the stadium, the size of the thing is awe-inspiring. And I'll also say that it is going to be really, really loud in the north end.

[shanny]

the Austonian should have new signage along Congress Avenue

and i just have to say it.....ONE WEEK UNTIL I COME HOME FOR THE SUMMER!

[shanny]

altavida has reached the top of the first triangle on 100 congress!


also...april is almost over and 360 hasnt been lit. they started to finish glassing the spire yesterday but stopped. O WELL............i guess we'll just have to wait longer.

[KevinFromTexas]

Since there's more discussion going on about it than I thought there'd be, I've moved the city council candidates debate posts out of this thread to their own over in the Texas section.

Go here: Austin City Council member candidates debate thread
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=150136

[zx14]

Judging by the photos the height I heard when I was young asking a worker at the stadium seems correct. 180 feet to the top of the bleachers in the west end and 230 to the top of the lights.

[ivanwolf]

Looks like they are really getting going on the Gables at Park Plaza, I have not seen any official renderings, but I have once again dug up the site plan so show some elevations.

Here is the site plan for the 2 phases, first the Apartments on the west, kinda a pie shaped building with a center courtyard. Phase 2 seems to be a condo building with a sales office, but also a leasing office, maybe a split use building.



Phase 1 is the Apartment building, seems to be 8 floors 85.75 feet


Phase 2 the Condo building is 15 floors plus a topping to it, not sure if its useable. Its at 182.7 feet total to the top and the garage section seems to be around 35 feet since it is mainly in a Capital View Corridor.

[KevinFromTexas]

Can you send me the full sized screen shots of those? Just the elevations that show the heights. My email is [email protected]

[worldcreator]

danny1010

Do you know if it's common for university sports stadiums to have bench seats, rather than individual seats like a pro-sports stadium?

[danny1010]

Most college stadiums have both bench and chairback seating with the majority of the stadium being bench seating. Typically, the chairbacks are for premium season ticket holders. If you look at the seating diagram from last year (with only a partially complete north endzone lower deck), the chairbacks are limited to sections 3-6, 27C-30C, the front rows of the upper decks.



With the north end zone complete, the areas marked as chairback and club will also have seat backs this season.



Personally, I prefer the bench seats. It's more fitting of the college game. You can fit more people in the same space. Most of us don't sit down except at half time. And most importantly, benches are much more stable to be standing on for the whole game.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by ivanwolf

Looks like they are really getting going on the Gables at Park Plaza, I have not seen any official renderings, but I have once again dug up the site plan so show some elevations.

I haven't seen renderings for the taller building, but there are renderings for the shorter apartment building here









I believe it was SecretAgentMan that found and posted these back around the beginning of March.

[nixcity]

^I hope that there isn't really going to be another Starbucks there, there is already one at fifth street, a two minute walk from there.

[priller]

I know, it's a little odd to see Starbucks so prominent in the renderings.

[shanny]

or any retailer's logo for that matter

[MichaelB]

Re: Gables: When I saw the elevations, I went back to look at these renderings as well. I was concerned they had shifted the look of the building to be one of those "bad fake historical villages"... like What is on the Goodwill site now! It does seem like they have changed some details, but hopefully still kept it contemporary.

As far as Starbucks is concerned. I am sure this complex will have it's own. There is a difference between someone rolling out of bed and thinking," I'll run downstairs, grab a cup and read the paper......" and somone thinking, "I'll walk a few blocks and...... oh, and I'll need to change clothes, and, oh, I should take my bag, and oh, shoot, I don't have time, I'll be late for work."
..... and Starbuck's know that. The more vertical we go.. the more you will see this. It is "normal". Most larger buildings will have their own coffe, or corner store..... or restaurant. I do wish there was more varitey. But that's just as much a problem with a developer... and Galbes is pretty darn generic. Most don't try to think local and Starbucks knows how to make it easy. (too bad I didn;t have the idea!) As much as I have been disappointed with CLB over "Bridges"... at least they get the local thing. Their coffe shop is a new local called "Lift". (Stores are local, and they counted on having the Paggi house to serve their residents)