Austin Projects & Construction

[KevinFromTexas]

Yep he called me wanting help with the article. Facts and stuff mostly on the rankings for Austin and where the building would fit in with the rest of Texas skyscrapers. Hey Mopacs, could you please save that top picture? They didn't print that one in color in the paper.

Yeah someone got the diagram of the Bank One Center from Dallas on there when it was supposed to be the Bank of America Plaza. I gave them the right ranks, but I guess I should have included a link with a pic of each building. Anyway it was cool getting to contribute to the article.

[JACKinBeantown]

Man, I love that Frost Tower. It's too bad the new taller building won't be across Congress instead of right next to it. Oh well.

[rjlevins]

As long as the tower is residential, I don't care how tall they make it. Downtown ain't that big...the more residents we can squeeze in, the marrier.

[JACKinBeantown]

That's true. Austin already has a really cool downtown, but if more people live there it will have a more residential feel that lasts 24 hours a day instead of 9 am to 10 pm (except for the bars on 4th/5th/6th streets.

[BG918]

Wow that Whole Foods tower looks really nice! I've been to Whole Foods once and it was a great store. I wonder what their expansion plans are, I'd love to see Whole Foods north of the Red River...

[KevinFromTexas]

Edited 3/29/05 Several residential buildings that had been proposed have been increased in height! I've put a asterisk next to those. Developers and the city of Austin both are planning big things for downtown. If everything here is finished this will be the biggest downtown skyscraper boom in Austin since the 80s. And the developers, the city and market experts say downtown can support 300 to 400 new residential units a year.

Here's a fairly complete list of everything for downtown atleast. There maybe some more that I've missed. With everything that's been going on in downtown, all the projects on the horizon it's been a bit overwhelming trying to keep up with them.

PROPOSED: Next year is going to be VERY interesting. Downtown could be shadowed by 30+ cranes if everything breaksground. Almost all of these projects below have start dates in 2006!

1--5th & Congress Tower - Up to 680 feet - 41 floors - Start 2006 End 2008. The building will also have a 10-story 1,000 space parking garage across the street.

2--Block 21 - There are 3 proposals. AMLI Residential Properties Trust 28-story residential tower, Zydeco Development twin 25-story towers, one a hotel, the other a residential tower. The 3rd proposal is by Stratus and they want to build a 15-story residential tower. Start, probably late 2005 or early to mid 2006.

*3--101 Colorado, a 28-story, 196 unit condo tower. Start: probably next year sometime.

*4--ZOM Development Inc's tower. 24-story tower with 290 apartments. Start: groundbreaking in September of 2005. This will be the tallest building in the West End, totally eclipsing the current tallest, the 14-story, 176 foot Austin City Lofts which is directly across the street to the north. This building will also be very prominant on the western side of the skyline. The nearest big building, 300 West Sixth Street which will likely be about 50 feet taller, is around 6 blocks away.

5--210 South First Street tower - Richard Dupont is proposing a 18 to 20 story residential tower with 179 units. It's been in the planning stages since just before 9/11. The developer plans to move ahead, and it shoud start in 2006.

*6--AMLI Block 22 tower. Originally planned as a 7-story twin to AMLI's first downtown building in Austin, it then went to 14 floors. But this latest piece of news in today's paper, 3/29/05 says the tower could be 17 to 18 floors. 240 to 280 units. Start: groundbreaking in November 2005.

7--Gables Residential Properties. A 12 to 15 story condo tower, and a 7 to 8-story apartment tower. Heights will likely be over 180 feet for the condo tower, with 15 foot ceilings. And the apartment tower would be at or above 120 feet tall. This lot was zoned back in the 80s for a 180 foot office tower that never happened. Neighborhood groups complained about traffic problems. Gables is proposing building a new street through the property and extending the James D. Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge. They also say they may include a new home for the Austin Children's Museum. That has gained some support from the neighborhood. Start: 2006.

8--Seaholm Redevelopment. There are 4 companys bidding on this project. Two of the proposals include midrises. One, a 12-story music themed hotel, and another, a 9-story residential building. Start: mid to late 2006. I'm not really sure, but that's my best guess for now.

9--Colorado Village. This is huge. A $100 million project that would add between 800 and 1,000 apartment and condo units just east of I-35 along Town Lake. Plans call for One 9-story tower, one 5 to 7-story tower, and two 6-story buildings. Other buildings nearby, around 4 floors tall, would be remodeled and used in the project. Start: 3rd quarter of 2005.

10--University of Texas Hotel & Conference Center - 250 room hotel. Mostly likely will be atleast 10 floors given the density of the UT campus. Start: 2006. El Paso is also in the running for a 150 room hotel for UT at El Paso.

11--303 East 11th Street. An 8-story condo tower that is scheduled to start sometime in 2005.

12--Neches Oak Tower. Another 8-story building, mixed use with restaurants, office and possibly some residential. 250,000 square feet of mixed use space. Not sure on the start date.

13--La Vista on Lavaca, yet another 8-story residential building with some office and retail. Not sure when this one will start. It's been in the planning stages for a while, and I haven't heard much about it.

14--Pecan Grove Plaza. An 8-story office building with retail. I haven't heard much about this one.

15--Federal Courthouse - 230,000 square foot courthouse. Not sure on the height yet, but I've heard only 8 floors. Start: 2006, maybe as late as 2007 depending on federal grants.

16--Schlosser Development. A 6-story tower with 288,000 square feet to go up across the street from Whole Foods' new store and office building. It will have 70,000 square feet of office space, retail and possibly some residential space with could make it taller. They showed an elevation of it in the paper and it appeared to be around 110 feet tall. Start: June of 2005.

There's about a half dozen or so more too that may or may not get started. I haven't heard too much more about these projects so I haven't been very excited about them.

One is a proposal to sell a piece of land that Peanuts creater Charles Shultz bought 25 years ago and develope the triangular lot into residential and retail. They said it would probably be around 10 floors.

There was also talk back in 2003 of building a 10-story hotel near, or at, the new airport. I haven't heard anything else about it.

There's also three 4 to 6-story residential projects planned for downtown. Another one is in far South Austin near my neck of the woods. A 4 story residential building on South Congress south of Ben White Blvd. And another one farther north in SoCo that will have to small residential buildings, one a 4 or 5 story, and another 5 to 6 floors. These smaller projects have a fairly good chance of getting built since they're considerably cheaper to build then the bigger projects in downtown. They're also aiming for lower income folks and there's lots of demand for it.

There's also more retail, and possible residential planned for just east of the new Whole Foods property. No info yet, just that they're thinking of developing something along those lines there.

Another local developer has bought the remaining pieces of property that Intel owned and they want to build some mixed use. Office, residential and retail.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION: (Dates given are completion dates.)

1--Rainey Street Apartments - 142 feet - 13 floors - 2006.

2--Marriott Residence Inn 12 floors - 2006.

3--Piazza Navona 7 floors. A dorm in West Campus. Hopfully the first of many more dorms to rise in that area since they rezoned it for taller buildings. 2006.

COMPLETED: (Since 2000.)

1--Frost Bank Tower - 515 feet - 33 floors - 2004.

2--Austin Hilton Convention Center Hotel - 377 feet - 31 floors - 2004.

3--300 West Sixth Street - 325 feet 23 floors - 2002.

4--Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center - 204 feet - 11 floors - 2000.

5--Austin City Lofts - 176 feet - 14 floors - 2004.

6--The Plaza - 174 feet - 12 floors - 2001.

7--Hampton Inn & Suites 162 feet - 16 floors - 2002.

8--Whole Foods Headquarters - 130 feet - 7 floors - 2005.

9--The Nokonah - 126 feet - 11 floors - 2002.

10--Stonebridge Plaza I--120 feet - 9 floors - 1999. Located in Northwest Austin.

11--Stonebridge Plaza II--120 feet - 9 floors - 2001. Located in Northwest Austin.

12--Texas Assocation of Counties Building - 120 feet - 8 floors - 2003.

13--Texas Department of Health Building - 7 floors Estimated 120 feet. Completed sometime around 2001. Mopacs?

14--Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum - 110 feet - 4 floors - 2001.

15--AMLI Downtown - 100 feet - 7 floors - 2004.

16--Computer Sciences Corporation I - 90 feet - 6 floors - 2001.

17--Computer Sciences Corporation II - 90 feet - 6 floors - 2002.

18--404 Rio Grande - 6 floors.

19--Austin City Hall - 65 feet - 4 floors - 2004.

[CTroyMathis]

Sweet. It's about time there was some sort of concentrated list for the thread.

[Mopacs]

EXCELLENT, Kevin. I would have posted something, but Kevin is the keeper of all that is skyscraper data in Austin. .. was best to wait on your list.

Kevin, I took a walk around West Campus yesterday... Looks like the Piazza Navona is w/in a floor of topping out. ALSO, there is another mid rise going up just a block north of Piazza... You may have noticed the new yellow tower crane? Its between 27th and 28th streets.

Also, I hear that the Embassy Suites by the airport is officially dead... the 10 story hotel. This is from the same company that is developing the 11 story Embassy Suites in San Marcos (John Q Hammons).

[JACKinBeantown]

Nice list Kevin. Colorado village will be in a great location. I once spent the night in the cheap little motel east of 35 on the river. The view of downtown was pretty decent. And the river is cool to have. That's where the UT rowing team practices.

[Mopacs]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

13--Texas Department of Health Building - 7 floors Estimated 120 feet. Completed sometime around 2001. Mopacs?

Yep, I believe the tower was completed in mid-late 2001. It took quite awhile to finish the exterior, as I recall.. but it was almost certainly open by the end of that year.

[Mopacs]

As requested, I have some updated shots of the huge "Triangle" project in central Austin. The area is located at the convergence of Lamar Blvd and Guadalupe St, and bounded on the south by 45th Street, which forms a triangular shaped tract of land.

Updates

I dont know what you guys think, but I really like the alternating brick exterior of the apartment and retail buildings... it looks much better than they were originally represented in the initial renderings.

Here is a site plan of the Triangle Development. The following pictures were primarily taken from the upper floors of a state office building across Guadalupe St, and from street level along Guadalupe.

Site Plans from http://www.triangleaustin.com :





Looking SW, with Guadalupe st in the foreground



this is farther up Guadalupe, closer to Lamar:








These shots are from street level, along Guadalupe:







The gap between these two apartment buildings form the new 47th street mall, which will be lined completely with shops and restaurants, with apartments above.... within a several block stretch between Guadalupe and Lamar. There will be additional retail to come in future phases:





Here is the 'apex' of the triangle, looking south from where Guadalupe and Lamar Blvd converge:





This is from the lamar side of the new 47th street retail mall..looking east toward Guadalupe.







Finally, here's a "before" shot of the construction, looing SW toward Guadalupe

[CTroyMathis]

Whoa, awesome shots. Good lookin' digs.

[arbeiter]

It's looking good, although it looks pretty unremarkable aesthetically compared to what it could be. I am also a bit alarmed at how much parking is being put in... they need to reduce the ratios, but that's neither here nor there.

I wonder what kind of retail groups will move in?

[jaga185]

that development is very nice, I dont really have much to say, other than its better than when I first read about it.

[texboy]

Not to be rude, but they really don't look like anything special. The architect could have added a great deal more interest to them. Instead, in my personal opinion, they will kinda just fade into the "woodwork" over time as all bland apartment projects do.

[JACKinBeantown]

It's somewhere between bland and special.

[Mopacs]

Well its definitely better than the alternative, which was originally going to be a suburban-style strip center. Hyde Park residents (nearby) objected to that plan, big time. That is part of the reason why this project took nearly 8 years to become reality.

I do agree, it could be better, but this is just the first phase of the project. More retail and (potentially) high-rise residential development are to come.

[Mopacs]

Two new residential high rises are on their way. ONe of them has increased in height to over 24 stories... this is on the far west end of downtown. Here's today's Austin American Statesman article:

http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/03/28downtown.html

Downtown apartments on track to ascend

Plans call for 24-story high-rise on W. Fifth St. and a 28-story tower on Colorado St.

By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Two new luxury residential projects announced last year for downtown Austin are moving forward, including one that would become downtown's biggest residential complex.

Zom Development Inc. plans to break ground in September on a 24-story high-rise at 805 W. Fifth St., land currently occupied by Miguel's Imports.

The building will have 290 apartments aimed at affluent renters, although pricing details are not available. The project will include a four-story townhouse building above street-level retail shops.

New York-based MetLife Inc. filed plans last week with the city for a 28-story apartment tower at 101 Colorado St., now the site of a drive-in bank. The high-rise will have 196 apartments plus six townhouses facing Cesar Chavez Street.

That project originally was scheduled to break ground last year. City officials said today that the company has not given an updated timetable for when construction might begin and a company spokesman did not return phone calls.

A letter filed with the city says the project will have 23 levels of apartments and retail on the ground floor. It will be west of 100 Congress, an office building also owned by MetLife.

Both projects reflect the trend of higher density downtown.

AMLI Residential Property Trust, meanwhile, plans to start construction in November on its second apartment complex between Second, Third, Guadalupe and San Antonio streets. That complex will be a 17- to 18-story building with 240 to 280 units , said Craig Brockman, who is overseeing AMLI's downtown projects. Rents have not yet been set.

Charles Heimsath, a local real estate consultant, has said he thinks there's enough demand for 300 to 400 new units a year downtown.

The projects are filling up, even at higher prices. Downtown apartments rent range from about $1,400 to more than $3,000 a month. Prices for newer condos range from $159,000 at the Milago, at the foot of Rainey Street, to $2.8 million in the Hilton Austin downtown.

AMLI's 220-unit apartment complex on Second Street between Colorado and Lavaca streets is 80 percent leased. And the condo projects are sold out or have only a handful of units remaining, said Kevin Burns, a real estate broker who owns Urbanspace Realtors, which specializes in downtown residential properties.


Downtown living options


Condominiums | Units/Stories | Price range


800 W. Fifth St.
Austin City Lofts | 82/14 | $316,000-$1.365 million

901 W. Ninth St.
Nokonah Condominiums | 95/11 | $200,000-$240,000 for re-maining one-bedroom units

Fifth and Guadalupe Sts.
Plaza Lofts | 60/12 | $300,000- $400,000

555 East Fifth St. (Hilton Hotel)
Five Fifty Five | 99 | $275,000-$2.8 million

54 Rainey St.
The Milago on Town Lake | 240/13 Under construction | $159,000-$600,000

Apartments | Units/Stories | Price range


404 Rio Grande St.
404 Rio Grande | 140/5 | $1,185-$2,700

201 Lavaca Street
AMLI Downtown | 220/6 | $1,425-$3,550

300 West Avenue
Gables West Avenue Lofts | 239/4 | $930-$3,345

Planned projects | Units/Stories | Status


Zom Development project
805 W. Fifth St. | 290/24 | Ground breaking in September

Second Street between Guadalupe, San Antonio
AMLI Phase II | 240-280/17, 18 | Ground breaking in November

Congress at Eighth St.
721 Congress (condos) | undet/6 | Unknown start date

Colorado at Cesar Chavez
101 Colorado (apts.) | 175/28 | Unknown start date

Barton Springs at Dawson Road
Milan | 130 apts or 60 condos/6 T | entative ground breaking summer 2005

210 Barton Springs Road
210 Barton Springs Road | 179/18-20 includes 8 parking levels | Tentative ground breaking next year

501 Congress
501 Congress/Bank of America | 200-250 apts, 100 condos 41 floors total, including retail, hotel | Tentative ground breaking in mid-2006

Land west of Seaholm Power Plant
Gables/downtown | 7-8 floors apts; 12-15 floors condos | Tentative ground breaking in 2006; zoning changes needed

303 E. Eleventh St.
303 E. Eleventh St. | NA/60 condos In design; w/retail | tentative ground breaking next year

[arbeiter]

Wow, $159,000 is cheap for a new apartment downtown.

[427MM]

It's starting to get a little frantic around here. I love it!