AUSTIN | Project Updates Thread Part II

[AustinYIMBY]

Originally Posted by H2O

I'm sure nobody really WANTS to live there, but we are in a housing crisis and people will lease what is available to them at a certain price point and location. There is probably fairly high turnover as people find other options as their leases come up.

100%. And I feel like "luxury" description gets applied to just about every apartment building that gets built in the central core of the city, so I sure there are plenty of people there who would rather not pay for a "luxury" apartment but that is all that is available.

On a side note about the state of renting... I just heard a story of someone living in an apartment building downtown, and the owners started doing extremely disruptive work on the inside of the apartment with almost no notice. They came home one day and they were there doing work and all their stuff was shoved into a corner. When they complained, the complex made the "offer" of waiving the early contract termination fee. Which they took, but that just meant the complex could rent the apt out for 300 a month more sooner. It can feel so helpless being at the mercy of corporate landlords. But what a great time for those landlords to make record profits!

[Urbannizer]

Lake Austin H-E-B

[kingkirbythe....]

A Single Staircase Does the Trick at Downtown Austin’s Ashram Condos

https://austin.towers.net/a-single-s...ashram-condos/

A small six-unit condo project planned in a quiet corner of downtown’s west end could represent a subtle, but significant design milestone for Austin. Known as Ashram, the building now approved for construction at 707 West 14th Street by local developer Jay Reddy features a striking modern design from architecture studio McKinney York, with an open-air central stairwell as the focal point of the building from the street — and it’s worth paying close attention to those stairs, since this project is the first permitted under a 2021 adjustment to the city’s building code allowing the construction of three-story residential structures with only one stairway.

If that all sounds wrong to you, you’re not alone — conventional wisdom in architecture dictates that every multi-unit residential building rising several stories needs at least two exits, or means of egress, to comply with fire codes. But this isn’t really the case outside North America, with multifamily buildings rising eight floors or more with only a single interior staircase exceedingly common in European countries — and the fact that fire-related fatality rates in Europe are significantly lower than anywhere in the United States suggests that a combination of sprinkler systems, modern firefighting techniques, and structural materials chosen for passive fire protection make single-stair buildings a safe and desirable infill development option.

[chinchaaa]

Originally Posted by kingkirbythe....

A Single Staircase Does the Trick at Downtown Austin’s Ashram Condos

https://austin.towers.net/a-single-s...ashram-condos/

A small six-unit condo project planned in a quiet corner of downtown’s west end could represent a subtle, but significant design milestone for Austin. Known as Ashram, the building now approved for construction at 707 West 14th Street by local developer Jay Reddy features a striking modern design from architecture studio McKinney York, with an open-air central stairwell as the focal point of the building from the street — and it’s worth paying close attention to those stairs, since this project is the first permitted under a 2021 adjustment to the city’s building code allowing the construction of three-story residential structures with only one stairway.

If that all sounds wrong to you, you’re not alone — conventional wisdom in architecture dictates that every multi-unit residential building rising several stories needs at least two exits, or means of egress, to comply with fire codes. But this isn’t really the case outside North America, with multifamily buildings rising eight floors or more with only a single interior staircase exceedingly common in European countries — and the fact that fire-related fatality rates in Europe are significantly lower than anywhere in the United States suggests that a combination of sprinkler systems, modern firefighting techniques, and structural materials chosen for passive fire protection make single-stair buildings a safe and desirable infill development option.

I love this project, but I hate that we're acting like a 6-unit infill in a completely lifeless part of the city is so revolutionary. These should be going up everywhere.

[kingkirbythe....]

Originally Posted by chinchaaa

I love this project, but I hate that we're acting like a 6-unit infill in a completely lifeless part of the city is so revolutionary. These should be going up everywhere.

You are correct.

[Sigaven]

Originally Posted by chinchaaa

I love this project, but I hate that we're acting like a 6-unit infill in a completely lifeless part of the city is so revolutionary. These should be going up everywhere.

Gotta start somewhere! Hopefully architects catch on quickly.

[H2O]

Unfortunately, there are very few lots with zoning that would allow this building type. It doesn't look like we are going to get any kind of meaningful zoning reform until after the November election. And then only if pro-housing candidates are elected for Mayor, District 5 and District 9.

[drummer]

Heck, in China, buildings typically had a single stairwell for twelve units, six stories high. I think. If it was a wider building, it could have two or three stairwells for the same number of units, so they didn't connect. Any building over six stories had an elevator (in practice - not sure if this was a legal minimum), which is why six was a common cap in many residential developments.

[H2O]

Yep. That is pretty much the standard in Europe and many other urban parts of the world. Some 6 story buildings have lifts, but that is considered upscale.

[drummer]

Originally Posted by H2O

Yep. That is pretty much the standard in Europe and many other urban parts of the world. Some 6 story buildings have lifts, but that is considered upscale.

Yeah, I just laughed a lot at the plateau in some areas of Chinese cities. Six stories in every direction!

[StoOgE]

New York is literally filled with this exact concept and most of those buildings are over 100 years old. Lets stop pretending that walk-up buildings are weird or new.

[Sigaven]

Originally Posted by StoOgE

New York is literally filled with this exact concept and most of those buildings are over 100 years old. Lets stop pretending that walk-up buildings are weird or new.

They have fire escapes though

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by StoOgE

New York is literally filled with this exact concept and most of those buildings are over 100 years old. Lets stop pretending that walk-up buildings are weird or new.

Also Chicago, Boston, Philly, etc etc.

Somewhere in the 1950's we got all car-drunk and completely forgot how to build cities.

[StoOgE]

Originally Posted by Sigaven

They have fire escapes though

Neither of the brownstones I lived in did. Some larger buildings do have outside fire-escapes - but its not 100% of buildings. I'm sure there is a code for what requires it and what doesnt

[427MM]

Originally Posted by chinchaaa

I love this project, but I hate that we're acting like a 6-unit infill in a completely lifeless part of the city is so revolutionary. These should be going up everywhere.

Not while Kathie Tovo is on City Council.

[austlar1]

in the 1970s, I lived in a top floor unit in a similar six flat building in SF, but we also had a rear staircase accessed from a back porch. The kids in the apartment beneath mine kept stealing the pot plants I was growing on my back porch. I never felt comfortable complaining to their parents.

[We vs us]

The Design Commission has a presentation on the new Dougherty Arts Center posted as an agenda item for next week's meeting. It's here, starting on page 27: https://www.austintexas.gov/edims/do....cfm?id=381513

I know it's not a new build, and is saving an historic school by moving it to a new spot. And IMO the architects do a good job reimagining what it can be. I have no quibbles with any of so far as it goes . . . but looking through those ppt pages, I get this overwhelming sense that our bar for a center city arts hub is just drastically, drastically low.

Why haven't we decided to turn this into something much bigger? It could easily be the size of the Main Library, and arguably that's what our remaining underutilized land at Butler Shores deserves. We need an edifice here, something major and memorable. At the same time, we're approaching Significant City status, and all of our arts infrastructure should reflect that.

This project, as cool as it is, belongs in an honored corner of any of our suburbs' most important city parks. What belongs on this swatch of land is something much much more ambitious than a refurbished elementary school.

[chinchaaa]

Originally Posted by We vs us

I know it's not a new build, and is saving an historic school by moving it to a new spot.

wait, what? this is a new build i thought?

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by chinchaaa

wait, what? this is a new build i thought?

I might be wrong. I thought they were going to move the old building away from the old site to the new site at Butler Shores.

[H2O]

Originally Posted by We vs us

I might be wrong. I thought they were going to move the old building away from the old site to the new site at Butler Shores.

I don't think so. One of the reasons they aren't just renovating the existing building (besides the flood plain and landfill at that location) is that the building is full of asbestos, lead, and other nasty things that need to be remediated. Past studies indicated that the remediation cost was more than the cost to build new.