I drove around and checked out all of the projects today. I didn't take any pictures, but here are some observations:
Everything's really coming together in southwestern downtown.
The library is making
significant progress. They've got the walls of the hole largely boarded up. I don't think it will be long before we see them laying the foundation.
I couldn't see much of Seaholm, but I could tell that a lot has changed since we last saw pictures of it. It's moving along at a really fast pace, too. The more time I spent in southwestern downtown, the more clear it became to me how much it is going to transform Austin. We're talking about something we've never had in Austin; real unity with the rest of downtown. A seamless integration. No more disjointedness.
The Bowie is legitimately a highrise at this point. It's huge. A lot more glass has been added. Its size catches you off guard sometimes and you just go:
IBC Bank looks just about topped out. It's a very good size. It's strange to think that not long ago nothing was there. It fits in perfectly in the area. It's good infill. Speaking of infill...
The Lamar mixed-use parking garage development is almost done and actually doesn't look half-bad. The old retro-looking rendering with the grey walls and orange dots that we have is way off. They did very well with the color scheme. It's earthy and looks like wood. The building doesn't look great, but it blends in, so you hardly notice/care that it's a parking garage. I wish that could be said for many other parking garages in Austin, which stick out like sore thumbs.
The Starbucks in the northeast corner of the W hotel is finally open! I know it's just a Starbucks but it goes a long way toward drawing everything together and creating a more lively street Life. Before, people had no reason to go to that side of the street. Now they do. That whole area was swarming with all types of people today. It was nice to see.
Broadstone at the Lake (AKA the former RunTex site) has some walls up now. The more I go by there, the more I feel like it will be some of the most prized rental space in Austin. It's right across from Auditorium Shores, right by the lake, literally down the street from city hall, downtown without being too much in the middle of everything. It's a very significant development, along with The Catherine, which will have
the best views of the skyline in all of Austin (I'm calling it).
All-in-all, it's incredibly exciting to see all of this development going on right now. This is what we wished and hoped for and it's happening (cue the Ron Paul gif). When this round of development is done, we will have a radically transformed city. If you went away for 10 years and came back, you might find it almost unrecognizable.
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