AUSTIN | Projects & Construction II

[Mopacs]

Originally Posted by ivanwolf

Albertsons closed its store at 183 and Ohlen and its now being striped inside last I saw, I wonder what going in there, I checked the Site Plan reviews on the city website but found nothing as of now. Sucks for me cause that one was a few blocks from my place, it closing made my drive at least 3 to 4 miles to get to the closet grocery store.

It will be a "FAMSA"

http://www.famsa-usa.com/

The chain is based in Mexico. They cater to Hispanic/Immigrant clientelle, selling furniture, electronics and more. This will be their first Austin store.

[austin242]

this is an out of the blue question but how is austin going to do ok if we expect a 6.5 million pop by 2050. what is going to happen to edwards aquiffer and what about all the trees.

[JGFrisco]

The aquifer is not Austin's primary water source (it is for San Antonio), so for Austin that's not that big a worry.

6.5 million by 2050? No way. I would think that 3 million might be more of it.

The 6.5 million estimate is combined Austin and San Antonio, I think.

[worldcreator]

Originally Posted by austin242

this is an out of the blue question but how is austin going to do ok if we expect a 6.5 million pop by 2050. what is going to happen to edwards aquiffer and what about all the trees.

Well hopefully the city won't be overrun by toll roads. As it stands now we have alot of "officials" in local/state government office that do NOT care about what the majority of citizens think. They want to toll ALL new expressways and they want to convert existing highways to tollways. Unacceptable if you ask me.

Don't want to get off on a rant here, but the transportation organizations of CAMPO, CTRMA, and TXDOT needs a serious overhaul. They are all toll road crazy (most of it being fueled by the governor).

[ATXboom]

Big Questions... Envision Central Texas.org is trying solve those issues from a wholistic, systemic perspective...

PS... there will be 3 million in Austin metro by 2030. Austin doubles metro population every 20 years for the past 80 years. We are at 1.6M now.

The US government projection puts Austin metro around 2.4M by 2020. I think it will be closer to 2.5/6M then based on growth rates since 1990. ...and yes Austin is projected to be + - 6M by 2050. Projections... not guarantees. You could have 12M in Austin + San Antonio by that time if historical growth rates continue.

Water will be a big issue for San Antonio and Austin.

We need to densify central Austin and get mass transit moving... it is tough pill for NIMBY's in central Austin to swallow but it will come down to radical change in central austin to support the environment and aquifer. Infrastructure should move out East away from enviro sensitive areas... - drive growth "in smart/dense" ways out that way in adddition to Central Austin.

[hismasterplan]

Originally Posted by ATXboom

We need to densify central Austin and get mass transit moving...

Couldn't agree more. I have a feeling that more means of mass transit such as light rail or anything else will continue to be a hard, exhausting fight even at 3 million people, or more. As liberal as Austin is, we're still in Texas and there are many stubborn opponents to it. Wow, we keeping going from one topic to another in this forum.

[bigdogc]

i dont know if i agree with you guys on this one. a good friend on mine, laura morrison, told me that the best way to plan for the future is to build out. we need to stop building dense structures, because its costing us tax dollars. if you dont believe me, check out her new ad online. austin is trying to put 3 massive towers that look VERY similar to Novarre's 360 right on townlake! these things look so ugly, and somehow all austin citzens are getting duped on tax breaks by developers.
I agree with laura morrison, we should build many, many ,many suburbs that share the same characteristics as cedar park, leander, and p-ville. This is the sure way to have a safe future for all of us...and especially our kids! I say we all vote for laura morrison!!!!

[priller]

^^^

[KevinFromTexas]

Yes, and let there be trailer parks.

My house has wheels, what crappy amenities does your house have?

[hismasterplan]

For nature's sake, I'd rather go up than out.

[Saddle Man]

Originally Posted by JGFrisco

The aquifer is not Austin's primary water source (it is for San Antonio), so for Austin that's not that big a worry.

6.5 million by 2050? No way. I would think that 3 million might be more of it.

The 6.5 million estimate is combined Austin and San Antonio, I think.

Yeah. The Edwards Aquifer is San Antonio's environmentally sensitive water supply, so who cares about that. In fact, I'm going to pour oil, chemicals, and whatever else I can find into, and then pave over it. Fun.

Just because it's not Austin's water supply doesn't mean Austin should not care about it. Austin can contaminate. And who knows what might could happen in the future. We may need that water ourselves.

[shanny]

they lit 360!

[hismasterplan]

Looks good. I like how it beams upward toward the sky at night. Is that all they are going to light up? Looks like there's still some little patches they are finishing up along the top of the building.

[KevinFromTexas]

Holy smokes! I wish I had checked this before I left. I just got back from riding up to the grocery store and there's a view from the parking lot of the building.

I like it, but darn it, I wanted the needly part of the spire to be lit also.

[Mopacs]

Originally Posted by JGFrisco

The aquifer is not Austin's primary water source (it is for San Antonio), so for Austin that's not that big a worry.

6.5 million by 2050? No way. I would think that 3 million might be more of it.

The 6.5 million estimate is combined Austin and San Antonio, I think.

I think the estimates are based on historical figures showing a doubling of population every 20 years (which has been the case). Seeing as 2050 is 40 years from now, I'd say its a reasonable extrapolation. (1.7x2 = 3.4m in 2030; 3.4x2 = 6.8m in 2050). Of course 40 years is a LONG way out. A lot can happen, economically and so on.

[Mopacs]

Originally Posted by shanny

they lit 360!

NICE! Looks sufficiently bright for long distance visibility. I was hoping to catch it on the way into work this morning, but unfortunately it was a bit too hazy.

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by ATXboom

...Austin doubles metro population every 20 years for the past 80 years...

Not to be a stickler...but, Austin has doubled its population roughly every 20 years since its incorporation in 1839 (or 169 years).

[JGFrisco]

When you reach a certain level, the growth RATE slows down. The numbers don't work the same way. The rate of natural increase (births vs death) does grow geometrically.

But the number of people immigrating to a new city does NOT always grow geometrically. So thinking the city will have six million people in 40 years is a bit off, to me.

[ATXboom]

^^^ in a complete vacuum or static environment that should be true...

however ask Dallas and Houston. They will double and are much larger. Cities like those and Phoenix and Atlanta are like magnets... or black holes. As they get bigger the raw numbers of people moving in grow. Its exponential.

At the same time there are plenty of big metros growing slowly or even losing population.

I think Austin trends more toward the magnet model of Houston or Dallas than that of say Cleveland or St. Louis. I can easily see Austin's growth rate grow exponentially in the urban core once this first wave of downtown residential development is filled in and proves to be the first "true" urban neighborhood in the southern US with the exception of Miami beach and arguably parts of New Orleans. Lots of businesses and people outside of the US have never even heard about Austin.... wait until publicity goes international.

[zx14]

Oh my a UFO has been spotted on top of 360