Austin | 415 Colorado | 640 Feet | 47 Floors | T/O

[futures]

Such a shame.

Austin is now in the big leagues from a height perspective, but still lagging form a design standpoint. Would love for us to see a building or two like what Heatherwick just unveiled for Vancouver or even some of the condos going up in Miami. Hope we get a few jewels to stand out from the boxes.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by clubtokyo

Why do you think they changed it? Just cost? Covid cause?

Someone on the design team had realized that this building was going to be in Austin so they didn't need to go all in with the nicer, probably more expensive design.

[ATX2030]

Guesses on how tall this will be? I would think shorter than 657'.

[ILUVSAT]

550' - 600'

It may push upwards toward 650' with the few office levels.

[KevinFromTexas]

So, a few things. I don't hate the new design, though, it is less daring than the old one. I will say it's nice to see something that isn't strictly another glass tower, although, the old design likely would have had amazing reflections of the Frost Bank Tower to be seen from Congress, and now it won't. Still, I think it'll complement the Frost Bank Tower and especially the Austonian better than it would have with the old design, and it will add some texture to the skyline, which has been lacking that with so much glass.

This design reminds me of Two Union Square in Seattle, and that building has long been a favorite of mine.

The bad news is despite having more floors - going from 41 to 50, this will now be office and residential which will no doubt mean it'll be shorter than originally planned since office buildings tend to have higher floor to floor heights than any others do. So, even with more floors, it'll be shorter. A perfect example is The Republic - a 708 foot building with 46 floors of office space, but compare that to The Austonian with 10 more floors, but it's 25 feet shorter. And then there's 44 East that will be 51 floors, but only 573 feet. There's a chance this might not even hit 600 feet, though, that is a pretty significant crown, so I wouldn't rule it out completely.

I wonder if the design change had anything to do with Indeed Tower. To be honest about it, I think the two buildings would have been redundant and it would have diminished the design of both - and stolen Indeed Tower's thunder. I think this is a better outcome in that way. Even with this design, the two are similiar with their sloped crowns.

[migol24]

This tower looks like a taller version of those Hanover designs.

I'm officially uninspired by this project.

[KevinFromTexas]

I was just thinking it reminded me of the original design for Hanover Republic Square.

[Echostatic]

Well, I like it. And I might even prefer it to the original design. The curved top here is fantastic and we don't have anything quite like it on our existing or proposed towers, everything else seems to be flat or pointy. The combined massing of the parking podium and office space flows very well with the residential portion of the tower - I think it does a better job at that that BBVA, although shorter. And I don't think this residential portion looks quite like anything we have. Similar, sure, but it looks markedly different than the Hanovers and the Austonian-Spring era towers. This is especially true on the North/East faces, which look almost bubbly with the balconies and the clear window spacing with the grey material.

Anyone else notice that the parking is the same height as 405 Colorado's, and on the same site area too? Really shows how much better 405 could have been, and I like that building a lot. Also, the fact that the old Frank building won't be part of this is hilarious - look at that chasm in Kevin's second render!

[N90]

I liked the first architectural design for it and thought it looked good and super unique


But then they released renders of what it actually looks like and the only thing I liked about it was it’s dark glass color. Otherwise it is way too fat and blocky looking with an uninspiring crown


But then the development switched hands and updated and I love the new design. It’s not too ambitious but it’s pleasant and would fit right in with the Austonian and Independent. You got the 3 musketeers there. The only thing about the old design that I would keep with the new design is the dark colored glass. Austin desperately needs more colors and more variation

[lonewolf]

i would have really like to have seen something that interplays a bit with 405 and the frost. two of our unique towers clustered together, could have been 3. it's just as generic a glass tower you can find. don't hate it but it is a missed opportunity. something striking would have really worked there. this does not improve the aesthetic of the nearby buildings

[drummer]

I'm just glad that ugly wall will be covered with something significantly more attractive. I like the new design, but I wish they could have worked with some iteration of the old design. My opinion doesn't likely carry much weight with them, however...

[Geckos_Rule]

One big downside I see: This building is on a smaller piece of land, and always has been. Now that it is residential and office, we can generously say the two will share garage parking. But, they won't share a lobby. With only 2 street-facing sides, and half of one side taken up by a garage entrance, I'm seriously doubting this will have any commercial/retail space, or anything else appealing about it for people who don't live/work there.

Compared to say, the Austonian (which is on roughly the same size piece of land, and has two street-facing sides), this is a far cry from what I'd want in a prime downtown location....

That said, I agree with others about the design, that this resembles something in Seattle or Vancouver (althugh I don't necessarily think that's a good thing....)./

[corvairkeith]

It looks like this redesign will be preserving the old Alamo Drafthouse location. Also that pool deck is going to have a great view of the ugly side of 405 Colorado.

[ahealy]

Welll, at least it covers up that other ugly building with the 25 levels of parking ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Very disappointing re-design...but I'm excited for the height and at least some attempt at a crown!

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by corvairkeith

It looks like this redesign will be preserving the old Alamo Drafthouse location. Also that pool deck is going to have a great view of the ugly side of 405 Colorado.

Unfortunately, that's not the old Alamo Drafthouse building you're seeing in the renderings. It's the building that most recently housed Frank (the sausage/hot dog restaurant).

The biggest disappointment in the redesign (IMHO) is the lack of ground floor retail.

[chinchaaa]

Originally Posted by paul78701

Unfortunately, that's not the old Alamo Drafthouse building you're seeing in the renderings. It's the building that most recently housed Franks (the sausage/hot dog restaurant).

The biggest disappointment in the redesign (IMHO) is the lack of ground floor retail.

Yea, they are removing lots of street-level restaurant and retail space. I hope the Design Commission dings them for that.

[ohhey]

I think the new design is an improvement. The old design is what happens when architects try to create showpiece architecture when the site doesn't suit it and the developers can't afford it. The current proposal is modernism in the vein of Richard Meier. It's clean, classy, and forgoes the current gimmicks (e.g. a mishmash of cladding materials; random fenestration). However, I do share the concerns regarding street level utilization and activation.

[corvairkeith]

Originally Posted by paul78701

Unfortunately, that's not the old Alamo Drafthouse building you're seeing in the renderings. It's the building that most recently housed Frank (the sausage/hot dog restaurant).

The biggest disappointment in the redesign (IMHO) is the lack of ground floor retail.

You're right. I was thinking it was the facade that was going to be incorporated into the original design.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by ohhey

I think the new design is an improvement. The old design is what happens when architects try to create showpiece architecture when the site doesn't suit it and the developers can't afford it. The current proposal is modernism in the vein of Richard Meier. It's clean, classy, and forgoes the current gimmicks (e.g. a mishmash of cladding materials; random fenestration). However, I do share the concerns regarding street level utilization and activation.

I mostly agree....it annoys the shit out of me when architects design something in line with a futuristic concept car, then you end up getting a ford fiesta as the finished "practical" product....

This one isn't quite a fiesta, but it's only one level up from the literal copy & paste filler highrises we've been getting.

[migol24]

Originally Posted by ahealy

I mostly agree....it annoys the shit out of me when architects design something in line with a futuristic concept car, then you end up getting a ford fiesta as the finished "practical" product....

This one isn't quite a fiesta, but it's only one level up from the literal copy & paste filler highrises we've been getting.

Everyone wants a Lexus, or even an Avalon. I guess we'll settle for the Camry. At least it's not a Corolla.