Domain/North Austin Development Updates

[myBrain]

Originally Posted by the Genral

If we lose the chance to land an MLS team, then they better prove the financial backing to break ground by eoy and not leave this site vacant for another 20 years or leave us with something that doesn't come close to the fancy conceptional drawings they have produced

Totally agree. If the city goes for one of these mixed-use proposals and that construction must begin imminently is not part of the deal, or if a developer decides to downsize it into another cluster of 4 story timber framed apartments, I'll be pissed.

What all this interest really shows, to me, is how much could happen in this city if we didn't have idiotic, anti-urban zoning. There's a WHOLE DOWNTOWN's worth of underused industrial buildings and strip malls in this immediate area, room for soccer stadiums and hotels and apartment towers and office buildings all, but instead we're just going to allow developers to squabble over this one lot? This is a big city now and we need to start thinking big.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by myBrain

Totally agree. If the city goes for one of these mixed-use proposals and that construction must begin imminently is not part of the deal, or if a developer decides to downsize it into another cluster of 4 story timber framed apartments, I'll be pissed.

What all this interest really shows, to me, is how much could happen in this city if we didn't have idiotic, anti-urban zoning. There's a WHOLE DOWNTOWN's worth of underused industrial buildings and strip malls in this immediate area, room for soccer stadiums and hotels and apartment towers and office buildings all, but instead we're just going to allow developers to squabble over this one lot? This is a big city now and we need to start thinking big.

That's been my point this whole time. If this MU is actually going to happen, if it doesn't happen at McKalla it'll just happen down the street. There's the whole of the NBG.

So might as well do the stadium at McKalla and get both.

[myBrain]

Originally Posted by Novacek

That's been my point this whole time. If this MU is actually going to happen, if it doesn't happen at McKalla it'll just happen down the street. There's the whole of the NBG.

So might as well do the stadium at McKalla and get both.

Totally. Not to mention the fact that the stadium will only help to catalyze further development by adding another (unique) amenity to the area.

The fact that they're not thinking of the stadium in terms of it spurring mixed-use development to extend out from the Domain shows how short-sighted city council is.

[OU812]

Originally Posted by the Genral

If we don't get a MLS team, I'm all for the Austin Natural Science Museum. If this is nothing more than hyperbole, then may the proposal be damned. If we lose the chance to land an MLS team, then they better prove the financial backing to break ground by eoy and not leave this site vacant for another 20 years or leave us with something that doesn't come close to the fancy conceptional drawings they have produced. As presented, it looks like an ideal location for Amazon, yet another mystery waiting to be resolved. If anything, gotta love the drama and the antisipation. If this is the result of opposition to the Crew coming here, I'm not opposed to it. But I see simularities to the Brackenridge developement concept drawings and the earlier concept drawings north of the Capitol Building. Hyperbole, nothing more. Shit or get off the pot. Its obvious the Crew are ready to shit in Austin...er that didn't come out so well....

A planetarium would be nice too. I think we're the largest city without a planetarium ... ?

[drummer]

Yeah, I agree...this is hardly the most ideal location for many types of developments, though it does work for some. However, the amount of attention this lot has recently garnered is suspect...makes me wonder if folks are not-so-inconspicuously inviting developers in order to kill the stadium option. Petty politics at its best more than true interest in the site. There are other sites this and many other developments could go - not so for a stadium in or near the city core.

[KevinFromTexas]

I can't say I'm all that impressed. I mean, the height looks good. The link I posted mentions 30 floors, which would likely translate to a 400 foot building. Still, I think this area would be better off getting the stadium which would likely encourage more mixed use development with many more towers. This is Austin's best shot at a true "2nd downtown" - both with the height creating a skyline and making something cohesive so that it's more than just another suburban complex of office buildings. Anyway, the calls for having the stadium here and it being the catalyst for further development instantly had me thinking of this scene in Field of Dreams.



• Video Link

[The ATX]

If that proposal wasn't fake news, I would definitely prefer that to a stadium.

[_Matt]

Originally Posted by myBrain

What all this interest really shows, to me, is how much could happen in this city if we didn't have idiotic, anti-urban zoning. There's a WHOLE DOWNTOWN's worth of underused industrial buildings and strip malls in this immediate area, room for soccer stadiums and hotels and apartment towers and office buildings all...

I love the vision. But if the city went big and zoning density here significantly, would we just turn Burnet into a highway to handle the increased traffic? Density is great, but there really isn't a good to handle people movement, and our car centric culture won't be thirsty for other options until traffic gets MUCH worse across the entire city, not just a pocket in North Austin. Maybe I'm wrong.

[myBrain]

Originally Posted by _Matt

I love the vision. But if the city went big and zoning density here significantly, would we just turn Burnet into a highway to handle the increased traffic? Density is great, but there really isn't a good to handle people movement, and our car centric culture won't be thirsty for other options until traffic gets MUCH worse across the entire city, not just a pocket in North Austin. Maybe I'm wrong.

I'd argue that the highway access here is better than DT. 183 and Mopac are right there, and 360 is easily accessible from there. DT really is only well-connected to 35 -- getting to Mopac requires going down CC or 6th, only the former of which is really comparable in capacity to Burnet.

And, really, I think the main appeal of a second downtown is that traffic is so bad getting from north Austin and the suburbs all the way down there. Urban development here might make traffic in the immediate area worse, but it will shorten commutes for many people. The market seems to want density here, and developers seem prepared to bet a lot of money that they can fill offices, apartments and shops in this area. I'd say let them go for it.

Use the tax dollars generated from the development to fund transportation improvements in this area, including improvements to the train stop here, and turn this into a new urban node.

[NYC2ATX]

Well, that's it, The Domain is about to reach the tipping point.

Originally Posted by _Matt

I love the vision. But if the city went big and zoning density here significantly, would we just turn Burnet into a highway to handle the increased traffic? Density is great, but there really isn't a good to handle people movement, and our car centric culture won't be thirsty for other options until traffic gets MUCH worse across the entire city, not just a pocket in North Austin. Maybe I'm wrong.

I see what you mean, but I would argue that the Domain surging as a business and activity center could be a major driver for expansion of transit in the city, because the very only rail line that exists now happens to run from Downtown to the Domain and through significant and fast developing areas in between. IMO, the moment that the Capital Metrorail is fully double-tracked and and has to begin to facilitate a large enough number of business and commuter trips to and fro, fares will begin to rise and it will come to be seen as more vital. It doesn't hurt that the majority of these workers will be majority urban- and transit-minded millennials who will vote for transit with their farecards.

I just hope that leadership in the city now and soon might be future-oriented enough to anticipate that sort of growth and evolution of travel patterns and push ahead with even some expansion of the Metrorail in the near future. The Downtown-Domain route has all the makings of the spine of a future system.

[atxsnail]

Apologies if this isn't the preferred thread. The ACC Highland development Instagram account posted a recent drone video update https://www.instagram.com/p/BmO-QgDh98m

[H2O]

Wow! When did that all happen? I swear I drove by there less than a month ago, and it didn't look like that!

[Azul]

Let's be honest with these proposals though, this would be an awful area for development like this - especially museums, etc.

McKalla Place is nested between JJ Pickle and swathes of industrial/commercial that wouldn't support this level of density. It's also far enough away from The Domain and major road arteries to not properly utilize either. No developer would finance this project as there is no residential draw to this area that The Domain hasn't already secured, no unique financial opportunity that Domain/Gateway/Arbor Walk hasn't capitalized on, no proper infrastructure in place to easily support several thousand new residents, and most importantly no clear return on investment for the near future.

The only thing that makes sense in that local ecosystem is something like a stadium. If these proposals were (1) bordering the Domain or (2) in conjunction with the stadium proposal then maybe it could work as it'll gradually improve/flip that area to support it. No one is going to want to live in a high rise not in the Domain, not on a major roadway, and in the middle of the Metric business parks. Additionally, no one is taking their kid into a light industrial area in North Austin to go to a planetarium.

[The ATX]

Maravilla senior living apartments via Big Red Dog:


https://twitter.com/BIG__RED__DOG

[myBrain]

Noticed the Domain tower lit up tonight. Here it is from Braker:



The picture makes it look purple (iPhone camera) but it's a blue that transitions to white. It's VERY bright from 183N as well as Burnet, really catches the eye. If the other new towers up there have lighting schemes then this emerging N Austin skyline is really going to change the way this area looks at night.

[clubtokyo]

Originally Posted by myBrain

Noticed the Domain tower lit up tonight. Here it is from Braker:



The picture makes it look purple (iPhone camera) but it's a blue that transitions to white. It's VERY bright from 183N as well as Burnet, really catches the eye. If the other new towers up there have lighting schemes then this emerging N Austin skyline is really going to change the way this area looks at night.

Wow a light show on buildings in north Austin? I’m impressed. Hope we get more.

[drummer]

That is neat to see some more aesthetic effort going into stuff up there. Very cool.

[H2O]

Should look good from the MLS Stadium.

[KevinFromTexas]

https://www.statesman.com/business/s...rtH8hpeImoPfN/

Sources: Facebook to lease entire 17-story tower at Austin’s Domain

56 minutes ago
By Shonda Novak, American-Statesman Staff

Social media giant Facebook Inc. plans to add to its Austin presence by leasing an entire new office tower at the Domain, according to multiple local real estate industry sources.

Facebook will lease all of Domain 12, a 17-story office building under construction at the Domain mixed-use project in North Austin, according to commercial real estate brokers who spoke to the American-Statesman on the condition of anonymity.

Facebook currently occupies three floors in Domain 8, another office building at the Domain, and has offices in downtown Austin, where it employs about 700 people.

[clubtokyo]

Wow Facebook is gaining a lot of space in Austin. Hopefully a good sign for hq2 amazon?