AUSTIN | The Austonian | 683 FT / 208 M | 56 FLOORS | T/O

[KevinFromTexas]

The City of Austin's Central Austin Emerging Projects list on PDF file has been updated. It lists The Austonian as being 780 feet tall! It says they plan to break ground in the summer of '07.
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/downtown/default.htm

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

The City of Austin's Central Austin Emerging Projects list on PDF file has been updated. It lists The Austonian as being 780 feet tall! It says they plan to break ground in the summer of '07.
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/downtown/default.htm

I would seriously recommend that you, and everyone else, take the information "they" (the City of Austin's Economic Growth & Redevelopment Office) report with the proverbial grain of salt. It is not their job to report the exact specifics of each project, just the summaries provided by the developers and/or information taken from filed city documents. There are a number of errors and some misinformation in their listings.

For example:
--Is the Austonian 700' or 780'?
--Is 360 going to be 580' (as dictated in the City's listing) or 563' (as decreed by Andrews Urban's website?
--Is Spring 36 stories tall or, as the developers declare, a 41-story tower?
--Will the new ACL venue accommodate 1,000 spectators or will it be able to seat 2,000, as it was recently reported.
--Will Constellation’s Red River project comprise two, 30-story towers or just one, 27-story tower – referencing a recent quote in the AAS by Constellation’s president, Eugene Marchese.

…and the list goes on-and-on…Nonetheless, it is a great source for keeping tabs on new developments in Austin, but not necessarily for precise specs...

Tom’s (Tom Stacy) Fifth & Congress tower, if built, will easily top 700’. The 675’ listed in the City’s Emerging Projects descriptions was taken from his (and Richard Suttle’s) presentations to the city. They both recognized that the tower “may be” 675’ tall. Also, remember the several articles in the statesman (and elsewhere) in which the tower was identified as being “at least 705’ in height?”

If a brief analysis were conducted using the structure’s renderings, one may discover that Fifth & Congress “should” tower 725’-750’ above Congress Avenue.

However, considering the fact that a site plan has yet to be filed with the city, a number of new condo and/or hotel developments have been announced in the past several months, as well as the need for more Class-A office space in the central core; I would expect the tower’s mixed-usage allocations to change – possibly altering the scale of the final product.

[trvlr70]

This will be an awesome tower.

But, is it a definite "GO" or are there some future hurdles?

[GoldenBoot]

Really, the only "hurdle" left is the sale of individual units. Their sales center opens later this month...

The developer has received all the necessary approvals accept one for the site plan and the actual building permits. There should not be issues with the aforementioned.

[KevinFromTexas]

Thanks, Goldenboot. I thought of asking you first before bringing this to everyone's attention. Still it does show some idea of where this project could end up. Who knows.

[GoldenBoot]

No worries, bud!

[StevenW]

Very cool design! Should help the skyline dramaticaly.

[alex1]

not sure I'm digging this tower. The textural change at about the 2/3 mark isn't needed. It reminds me of some of the brutalist towers in which the form changes as you go up, only this one is in glass form and not as clean or interesting. Perhaps if you took the "hat" off, the texture change wouldn't bother me at all (it would look a bit like Minneapolis's tallest). It's strange that post-modernism is still alive and kicking.

in any regard, I'm sure that the context of this tower will change as other buildings fill in some gaps and voids in Austin's urban fabric. overall, pretty cool news for a very nice downtown.

[sakyle04]

not sure I'm digging this tower. The textural change at about the 2/3 mark isn't needed. It reminds me of some of the brutalist towers in which the form changes as you go up, only this one is in glass form and not as clean or interesting. Perhaps if you took the "hat" off, the texture change wouldn't bother me at all (it would look a bit like Minneapolis's tallest). It's strange that post-modernism is still alive and kicking.

I think the height of the project has seduced us all...

I haven't even considered the design to any great degree. Above all, I have noticed that it is clean and slender - two things that DT Austin has been needing. No sharp edges and nothing but smiles from me when the crane goes up one day soon...

[trvlr70]

The crown is reminiscent of both One Museum Park and One Museum Park West currently under construction is Chicago.

[alex1]

Originally Posted by trvlr70

The crown is reminiscent of both One Museum Park and One Museum Park West currently under construction is Chicago.

yeah. you're right. I suppose the difference is how the building flows into their respective crowns. The flow here is hindered by the form change in the buildings facade.

[KevinFromTexas]

I have a good feeling about The Austonian.

From the Austin American-Statesman
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/04/27/27austininc.html

Austin Inc.
Even the dogs will be pampered at the Austonian

Friday, April 27, 2007

Austonian will have amenities for people and their pooches

The Austonian, the swanky 55-story condo tower planned for Second Street and Congress Avenue, is pulling out the stops on amenities.

The bathrooms will have marble walls; the kitchens will have Italian cabinets and built-in cappuccino machines, and 54th floor lounge will have a catering kitchen.

A 10th floor "urban garden" will include a lap pool, billiard room and outdoor movie screen.

It also will have a dog park with a scented, self-cleaning doggie toilet — just the thing for pampered high-rise pooches.

Prices will range from $550,000 to $3.8 million and higher than that for buyers who create a custom unit on the three highest floors.

"We knew what the standard was, and we wanted to blow it out of the water," said Laura Gottesman, whose firm, Gottesman Windham Real Estate, is marketing the units.

[GoldenBoot]

Notice the 412' Altavida tower (currently U/C) in this "newer" rendering of The Austonian?!?



HINT: It's immediately to the left of the CarrAmerica Tower and just above-and-to-the-left of 100 Congress...

[GoldenBoot]

FYI: The Austonian Sales Center is having its grand opening gala this Thursday night at 19:00.

[GoldenBoot]

FYI: The Austonian's website has been updated...

[GoldenBoot]

Bad News...Yes? No? You be the judge...


According to The Austonian's press kit, their tower may only rise 680' (207.3m) into the air above Austin.



Hopefully, the PR people got it wrong and the building is closer to (or surpasses) 700' in height. There's just something about that 700' mark.

P.S.
It is my belief that the height of the tower was NOT decreased for any particular reason, but merely, a bit of research laziness on the part of the media. In all fairness, many articles did refer to the height being "roughly 700' tall.” And, until someone is able to confirm the “official” height of the structure from the final blueprints, I will hope for the best.

[GoldenBoot]

I think I may have found why there is a 20' difference...

Notice the "mechanical penthouse" in the crown of this May 2006 rendering:



Now compare it to these early 2007 renderings...It's missing...

[GoldenBoot]

Now that I think about it, didn't the original plan call for a 48-story, 700' building? If so, I would assume that since they added 7 stories to the tower, that it’s height should have increased to somewhere between 780’ (~14.17’/floor) and 802’ (~14.58’/floor)?!? This brings the 780’ back into question...

[Jularc]

Nice looking tower! That is going to change the skyline so much.

[Complex01]

I agree. I really like this project. It is in a great location to really stand out in the skyline...