AUSTIN | Project Updates Thread Part II

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Does block 190 have a thread?

It's included in the We Company thread. The four towers (Block 190 & Waller Creek Center) are still part of the same project.

[lzppjb]

Drone footage of AISD construction projects:

• Video Link

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

Drone footage of AISD construction projects:

• Video Link

Lots of construction projects, but, my goodness, the price tags for some of them are mind boggling. Bowie HS parking garage and other upgrades comes in at around $80,000,000!!?? Ann Richards School for $70,000,000!! Blazier Elementary at $50,000,000!. The list goes on. Talk about sticker shock, but I guess a million bucks just doesn't buy much any more.

[Azul]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Ann Richards School for $70,000,000!

I actually helped design this one. Much of these new projects are fairly large, multistory projects because I believe AISD is actively trying to utilize their land as much as they can (see Ann Richards and Bowie Garage) while actively getting rid of schools and land they don't need. This should help their finances.

[lzppjb]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Lots of construction projects, but, my goodness, the price tags for some of them are mind boggling. Bowie HS parking garage and other upgrades comes in at around $80,000,000!!?? Ann Richards School for $70,000,000!! Blazier Elementary at $50,000,000!. The list goes on. Talk about sticker shock, but I guess a million bucks just doesn't buy much any more.

Bowie is getting a LOT for $88 million.

New water drainage/retention

New parking lot & pickup/dropoff roads

3-story parking garage w/ 8 tennis courts on roof

New 2-story sports complex w/ competition gym, practice gym, boys/girls gym lockerrooms, boys/girls field sports lockerrooms, boys/girls PE lockerrooms, weight room, mat room, meeting rooms, training room, coaches offices, and 5 classrooms

New football fields (might be turf, I haven't read for sure)

New 600-seat auditorium, old auditorium turned into a black box theater with space for set construction and dressing rooms, renovations for band/orchestra/choir spaces, and the old gym turned into a dance space w/ classrooms

Will probably include renovating the current athletics hallway/lockerrooms into something for fine arts/dance.

[The ATX]

Karlin Real Estate is under contract to buy the Railyard Condos site for $104 million according to the ABJ.

Frome the article:

Karlin declined to comment on its development plans. But the Railyard will almost assuredly be knocked down to make way for a tower or even multiple towers. There are no height restrictions on the site, which is a block away from the Austin Convention Center. A 1.7-million-square-foot campus including an office tower and an office/residential tower has been floated by Karlin for the site, according to a marketing brochure. Those plans could obviously change but represent the potential of this site in the heart of the Central Business District.

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...ll-likely.html

[N90]

So that everyone can see

[N90]

The two half-blocks along Fourth Street, between Brazos and Trinity streets, are selling for $104 million, said Mark Strub, a Realtor and owner at Railyard.

That means the 70,694-square-foot site is fetching a price of about $1,471 per square foot — likely an Austin record for a land sale.

Because the condos at Railyard are owned by different people, closing the deals will take a bit longer than if there was just a single seller. Owners began signing closing documents Oct. 25 and that will continue through Oct. 30, Strub said. The official closing won't occur and owners won't be paid until everyone has signed.

The Railyard Condominiums Owners’ Association approved the sale to Karlin in December 2018. Strub said the association hired CBRE Group Inc. after receiving in January 2018 an unsolicited offer from another company to buy the property.

I love Karlin's renderings of the potential development on that site. I want to hope that both towers happen... that's just what Austin needs. More height in that part of the downtown, it'll help extend the skyline even more and will plug in a hole in the skyline near the convention center. The convention center is multiple blocks in size and a complete lowrise, so in skyline shots that area of downtown looks underdeveloped and short right now, kinda like a hole in the skyline.

But if they build to the potential that they've advertised then Austin will get a new tallest with the first tower, a supertall, not to mention the second tower's height being in the ballpark of the current two tallest buildings in Austin, which are the Independent and Austonian.

[Echostatic]

Clearly just a marketing proposal but the detail on these renderings gives me some hope. The third picture shows off how 5th & Brazos fits into downtown nicely.

[KevinFromTexas]

The building elevations for 1108 Nueces, aka "Capitol Quarters" were posted to the AULCC page. It's a 5-story residential building. The height is 68 feet 8 1/2 inches.

ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/ATD_AULCC/...0utilities.pdf

[enragedcamel]

Have there been any developments on the proposed new Austin Statesman campus? The area immediately south of the river can really use some density...

[ahealy]

"Authentic Austin Experience"..... "Austin Centric" ..... Genuinely confused as to what that means here. I want Austin to think outside of SXSW and events. I'd love to see this as an activating spot for more permanent civic/amusement activities.

All being said...gorgeous towers, love the height and the unique curves throughout. I'd be quite happy to see this go up. I do dream of a new pink granite clad 700 footer someday that reallllly sticks out.

[N90]

$1,471 per square foot is significant. That's a record in Austin. Maybe all of TX.

I expect whatever their plans are to be massive. You don't spend that kind of money only to build lowrises and midrises. There's a high chance that it'll be tall, especially because Karlin is aware of that site having no height restrictions.

> 600 feet.

[AustinGoesVertical]

To shell out $104 million for the land means they’ll capitalize on it with plenty of square footage, most definitely taking advantage of the lack of CVC/height constraints. They’ll need to in order to make up for the land cost.

To me, this marketing material very much emphasizes the office component, spelling it out as a live/work/play proposition that can help companies attract and retain top talent. Add in the residential portion of a partner tower, and it sounds a lot like a stackable tech campus.

Reading between the lines and looking at CBRE as being involved, this reminds me a lot about what happened with Oracle. The developer in that case was thinking about spec and marketing it as a corporate campus until Larry Ellison swooped in serendipitously and accelerated the vision.

I could see something similar happening here. We’ve seen Salesforce rumors and there’s always the possibility that Amazon expands further — those 25K jobs slated for New York have to go somewhere. My guess is that if this is built out to the depicted vision, it will likely have a massive lead tenant in the office tower

[Max Tower]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

The building elevations for 1108 Nueces, aka "Capitol Quarters" were posted to the AULCC page. It's a 5-story residential building. The height is 68 feet 8 1/2 inches.

ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/ATD_AULCC/...0utilities.pdf

Here's what that's all about:
https://austin.towers.net/european-c...wntown-austin/

[We vs us]

This last pic of the Railyard brochure seems to be looking down on the event space on the CC expansion roof. That's kinda cool.

FWIW, the last plans I saw of the CC expansion had it going all the way to 4th street, and incorporated that portion of the Railyard property. Would be very interested to know how this works with that vision -- or if it precludes it entirely. I don't think Karlin is trying to set a pricing benchmark here like the other proposed tower on CC expansion land is. This is obviously part of a bigger unrelated play. But -- it's still eating in to the footprint.

[the Genral]

Looks interesting....filmed in CA, story based in Austin, about a FDNY fire fighter who transferred to Austin or something like that.
https://youtu.be/GoKqaHekHzA

[lzppjb]

Originally Posted by the Genral

Looks interesting....filmed in CA, story based in Austin, about a FDNY fire fighter who transferred to Austin or something like that.
https://youtu.be/GoKqaHekHzA

My friend told me about this. I knew it'd be filmed in CA. Should provide some laughs for us Texans.

[KevinFromTexas]

I'm always amused whenever "outsiders" attempt to get a handle on local culture in film. Like, I'm hoping they do an episode about them getting someone's pet armadillo out of a tree, because that's totally a thing.

[papertowelroll]

There is one "Austin" based Criminal Minds episode that includes a mountainous, desert landscape and a local sherrif that wears a Cowboy hat everywhere.