Austin Projects & Construction - Page 24

Mopacs · #**461** Posted **Dec 29, 2005, 4:28 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATLtransplant

And then there is the side that doesn't get that many rave reviews:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/MarkPMA/spire25.jpg

Eeek... very bland angle. Can you share other vantage points of Spire? I did not realize it was already complete.

ATLtransplant · #**462** Posted **Dec 29, 2005, 4:46 AM**

I actually live in it, so I can give yall any angle you want. However I don't have other pictures of my own. I know there are quite a few scattered in the Atlanta Project Thread many of them under construction. The building consists of street level retail as pictured and 6 levels of parking (I assume there will be as much as 10 in the Austin one, or it looks a little wider on the left side of the Austin rendering, which may allow for it to be 6). The pool in in the back along with a 2 story club room (there are renderings of the inside on spiremidtown.com). As far as investment they started in the 140's a year ago, and many are being flipped starting from the 240's today. I'm curious if the 360 will be parallel to the lake or perpendicular. Do you have any idea of the lay of the land on the corner of 3rd & Nueces? Does it go all the way back to West Ave?

Mopacs · #**463** Posted **Dec 29, 2005, 2:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATLtransplant

I actually live in it, so I can give yall any angle you want. However I don't have other pictures of my own. I know there are quite a few scattered in the Atlanta Project Thread many of them under construction. The building consists of street level retail as pictured and 6 levels of parking (I assume there will be as much as 10 in the Austin one, or it looks a little wider on the left side of the Austin rendering, which may allow for it to be 6). The pool in in the back along with a 2 story club room (there are renderings of the inside on spiremidtown.com). As far as investment they started in the 140's a year ago, and many are being flipped starting from the 240's today. I'm curious if the 360 will be parallel to the lake or perpendicular. Do you have any idea of the lay of the land on the corner of 3rd & Nueces? Does it go all the way back to West Ave?

Thanks for the insight... and yeah I think the Austin forumers would appreciate any photos you have or could take of your complex. I'm sure there will be variations in the two building designs here and there, but it should give us an idea of what to expect.

As for the location, the building property is represented in the following map as Yellow box "R41", along the east bank of Shoal Creek. You can see that it is situated a few blocks west of the core of downtown highrises (mostly along and east of Guadalupe). The proposed 400 foot Spring (condo) tower (R43) will be located about 4 blocks west, and the 27-story Monarch (if built) is about 3 blocks NW (R22.1).

From what I've heard (rjlevins can probably confirm), the long side of the building will face east and west, situated in a perpendicular orientation toward Town Lake (and parallel to Nueces St).

ATLtransplant · #**464** Posted **Dec 29, 2005, 5:28 PM**

Can you post the link for the map above? I'd really like to know what some of the other things are. Also, are there any renderings or an updated status on the Future Museum of Art slated for the south side of West Third Street, between Guadalupe and San Antonio Streets?

Mopacs · #**465** Posted **Dec 29, 2005, 6:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATLtransplant

Can you post the link for the map above? I'd really like to know what some of the other things are. Also, are there any renderings or an updated status on the Future Museum of Art slated for the south side of West Third Street, between Guadalupe and San Antonio Streets?

No Problem.... here is a link to the map (PDF file):
http://downtownaustin.com/downloads/ep_map_1005.pdf

A description of each project mapped (also PDF):
http://www.downtownaustin.com/downloads/ep_data_1005.pdf

Downtown Austin Emerging Projects main page:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/downtown/default.htm#emerging

As for the AMOA site, details haven't been finalized yet. AMOA is in talks with developers to be part of a large mixed-use development on that block. Will likely contain a hotel, residential, retail and/or office component. I'm sure more details will come over the next few months.

Mopacs · #**466** Posted **Dec 29, 2005, 6:56 PM**

Here are a few of the "Spire" pics i found on the Atlanta construction thread, as mentioned by ATLtransplant. I must say I'm impressed with the window/glasswork of the tower. Hopefully 360austin will look just as good. I find the design sleeker than many highrise condos....the 'backside' notwithstanding.

These were provided/taken by forumer Micropundit:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?threadid=68267&perpage=50&pagenumber=4

StoOgE · #**467** Posted **Dec 29, 2005, 10:37 PM**

I LIKE IT! and our will be a good deal taller than that as well... looking at the land layout it will probably be perpendicular to the lake, but if they can get it parallel they could sell more properties with a 'Lake view", so who knows. That back view is pretty bad, if it got bad feedback in Atlanta, maybe they will redesign it.

Lets just cross our fingers on the Monarch, I really liked that project. Plus, if we can get that one between Novarre, Spring may not stand out so much.

Mopacs · #**468** Posted **Jan 1, 2006, 10:49 PM**

I took a walk around the site of this tower, over the weekend. There is not much surrounding it just yet, save for the Austin Music Hall. This tower could/should transform that corner of downtown quite dramatically

atx001 · #**469** Posted **Jan 1, 2006, 10:51 PM**

According to this article in the Daily Texan, the Novare building will have a 128 foot tall spire on top.
However, it doesn't appear so in the rendering (unless my scale(1floor=10ft.) is off). Nonetheless, the design is really cool and either way it should look good here in Austin. Now only if it could get some neighbors.

Mopacs · #**470** Posted **Jan 2, 2006, 3:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by atx001

According to this article in the Daily Texan, the Novare building will have a 128 foot tall spire on top.
However, it doesn't appear so in the rendering (unless my scale(1floor=10ft.) is off). Nonetheless, the design is really cool and either way it should look good here in Austin. Now only if it could get some neighbors.

I wonder if the 128 foot "spire", as referred to in the Daily Texan article, refers to all structural components above the top floor, which includes a sort of 'podium" that tapers upwards, approaching the base of what I consider to be the glass spire.

This side-on view of the Atlanta "Spire" project should give you a good idea of what I'm talking about. Look at the top left corner of the building and how the structure continues upward, in a tapered fashion, from the top floor. I also wonder if the 360 Austin rendering is showing the antenna-like top to the spire (as seen below) which may also be incorporated into the Austin project >

Mopacs · #**471** Posted **Jan 4, 2006, 10:04 PM**

Don't worry, this is not going to turn into the Atlanta Construction thread!... Anyway, I found a few more 'completed' shots of Atlanta's "Spire" tower, the basis of design for our new "360 Austin" tower. Just picture this tower with 12 additional floors (40 vs 28):

And here is my (VERY) crude rendition of how 360 Austin may appear, based on photo above.

Very similar design, except for the setback on our version which will make the upper portion of 360 less bulky looking (side-on).

atx001 · #**472** Posted **Jan 5, 2006, 4:55 AM**

That's a good rendering Mopacs. I still hope that our building has a taller spire than "The Spire" (interesting...)...because 360 is taller, a more proportional crown to the height might be necessary. Isn't the setback for the capitol viewing corridor? I for one am glad it's there, It should help give the buiding some character.

Mopacs · #**473** Posted **Jan 5, 2006, 1:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by atx001

That's a good rendering Mopacs. I still hope that our building has a taller spire than "The Spire" (interesting...)...because 360 is taller, a more proportional crown to the height might be necessary. Isn't the setback for the capitol viewing corridor? I for one am glad it's there, It should help give the buiding some character.

Thanks, and yeah the spire and crown will likely be more proportional to the size and height of our tower. I was curious to see what the "Spire" building would look like with 12 extra floors and the back quarter lopped off of it, so thats what I did, and I'm impressed. My main concern all along has been the width of the building.. I was hoping it would not appear too bulky when viewed side-on. No longer worried about that.

KevinFromTexas · #**474** Posted **Jan 5, 2006, 4:53 PM**

Good job on that rendering Mopacs. Looks great. So where did the name "360 Austin" come from? Novare's website still says the building hasn't been named yet. Was that in an article? I missed it I guess.

By the way, did any of you catch that article that talked about Travis County possibly looking into a new courthouse in the future? That could get interesting.

JACKinBeantown · #**475** Posted **Jan 5, 2006, 11:09 PM**

nice rendering Mopacs. Although the top floors seem to be sling off.

Hook 'em Horns!

StoOgE · #**476** Posted **Jan 6, 2006, 4:38 PM**

I like the ground floors of the 360 better than the Spire. They are a bit less plain looking.

Mopacs · #**477** Posted **Jan 6, 2006, 4:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JACKinNYC

nice rendering Mopacs. Although the top floors seem to be sling off.

Yeah, i got lazy. Its just a crude photoshop I put together in about 5-10 minutes

The upper portion needed to be corrected for consistency and perspective, among other things.

My main intent was to get a sense for the overall massing of the Austin tower. As mentioned earlier, I think the crown and spire will be larger as well, in line with the larger proportions of the tower.

and oh yeah......

HOOK 'EM HORNS!

Mopacs · #**478** Posted **Jan 7, 2006, 12:17 AM**

This came as a surprise... Hard Rock Cafe on 6th Street just closed its doors, with talk of a replacement (and I hear Condo-Hotel) in the works. Anyone hear anything to this effect?

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/stories/010406kvueHardRock-cb.45f9ed8c.html

Hard Rock Cafe closes in Austin

04:49 PM CST on Wednesday, January 4, 2006

KVUE News
The Hard Rock Cafe in Austin has closed its doors.
Crews are already packing up the famous musical memorabilia the restaurant. Wednesday was its last open day.
Though the restaurant has closed on Sixth Street in downtown Austin, Hard Rock International hasn't given up on Central Texas.
The chain is looking for another location in the area.

KevinFromTexas · #**479** Posted **Jan 7, 2006, 2:11 AM**

^ Yeah I heard the same thing tonight on KVUE. I think this is a sign of Austin's locally minded patrons and more authentic local flavor shrugging off a national chain like the Hard Rock. I've only been there once and my friend had fruit flies on his salad we ended up getting our meals for free. When it opened I had my doubts of how well it would do on 6th Street. Not for the lack of pedestrians/activity and customers on 6th Street, but people just passing it up for something better known locally.

StoOgE · #**480** Posted **Jan 7, 2006, 2:22 AM**

Not at all surprising. One of my friends played a gig there on a Saturday night a few months back. Sixth street was PACKED but there were only a handfull of people in the Hard Rock.

I actually respected Hard Rocks attempt to make it very Austin. It was nothing like a normal hard rock cafe, it had multiple bars, a couple different stages.. but its not a good fit for Austin.. we have too many of our own resteraunts and bars that fit the city alot better.