AUSTIN | Project Updates Thread Part II - Page 443

WestAustinite · #**8841** Posted **May 25, 2024, 4:24 PM**

Those are going to get tagged about 10 minutes after they are installed.

urbancore · #**8842** Posted **May 25, 2024, 10:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WestAustinite

Those are going to get tagged about 10 minutes after they are installed.

I’ll take the under.

etmav · #**8843** Posted **May 25, 2024, 10:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by urbancore

I’ll take the under.

Tagging might happen while they are being installed

Jdawgboy · #**8844** Posted **May 26, 2024, 3:16 PM**

Actually workers will soon discover when opening the storage building that the benches are in that they have been tagged...

IluvATX · #**8845** Posted **May 26, 2024, 3:38 PM**

Poor little Gus.

Urbannizer · #**8846** Posted **May 30, 2024, 11:49 PM**

A Residential Project Dips a Toe Into Sixth Street’s Bar District at The Grant

Quote:

The apartment project planned for the Grant Plaza offices at 611 East Sixth Street would be the first major residential development built inside downtown Austin’s infamous Sixth Street entertainment district in a generation — and even before a certain sense of uncertainty struck our local real estate market, the proposal first surfaced in 2022 by New York-based investment firm Empire Square Group and national developers Ryan Companies seemed fairly audacious.

It’s oddly reassuring, then, that Empire and Ryan Companies’ plans for redeveloping a full downtown block at Grant Plaza continue to chug along, with representatives for the 258-unit apartment and retail project appearing before the Architectural Review Committee of the city’s Historic Landmark Commission earlier this month. (Although the existing office building at the site is not historic, only dating back to 1981, it’s still inside the Sixth Street National Register Historic District!) The proposed apartments, known as The Grant and designed by Plano-based firm HLR Architects, will also include two ground-level retail spaces facing East Sixth Street, together containing roughly 8,600 square feet — that’s a big win for positive street life in the district, with at least one of the spaces likely to be occupied by a restaurant tenant.

clubtokyo · #**8847** Posted **May 31, 2024, 12:44 AM**

I like it!

wwmiv · #**8848** Posted **May 31, 2024, 7:21 AM**

Opposed to this. Period. This is moving backward, not forward, and destroys better built structures for ticky tacky crap built to subpar current standards that’ll last 30 years max. The two existing structures facing 6th could be easily preserved (they’re already “built to last”) and turned into some sort of venues or retail.

And also: this style of housing has no business facing 6th street directly. At all. Stupid planning. In fact, NO housing should be on 6th Street AT ALL unless we are trying to kickstart and orchestrate development killing the last vestige of a cohesive party district in downtown Austin. After all, Rainey, 4th, and Red River have been developed to death. The babies have already been thrown out with the bath water, are we about to evict our teenager, too? They each started with projects like this (Millennium in Rainey, for instance). Let’s not take steps to put ourselves on the pathway to looking back in 20 years mourning the loss of an integral part of Austin’s appeal.

Yes, we have a housing problem. Let’s not create other problems by putting housing anywhere and everywhere—that won’t work and will cause chaos where we don’t need it.

IluvATX · #**8849** Posted **May 31, 2024, 1:17 PM**

I agree with wwmiv on this one. This thing doesn’t belong in the CBD, let alone on east 6th.

The ATX · #**8850** Posted **May 31, 2024, 2:28 PM**

This is the side facing 6th St., and it will have retail on the ground floor. Right now there is only one retail store (an ice cream shop) on that block. I can't imagine trying to sleep in those apartments on weekends.

Sigaven · #**8851** Posted **May 31, 2024, 3:12 PM**

Boring as fuck! This project belongs literally anywhere else in any no-name neighborhood in any city, USA. This is sixth street, one of the most important and prominent in Austin. Sixth street deserves better than this boring generic crap.

Werdman89 · #**8852** Posted **May 31, 2024, 7:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sigaven

Boring as fuck! This project belongs literally anywhere else in any no-name neighborhood in any city, USA. This is sixth street, one of the most important and prominent in Austin. Sixth street deserves better than this boring generic crap.

I would not describe that part of 6th as prominent. I'd go as far to say that area of 6th is blighted and we should be thankful for any investment in it, especially considering its strict zoning.

Novacek · #**8853** Posted **May 31, 2024, 7:44 PM**

That block is under two different CVCs. So I'm assuming that limits it to something not very CBD-like.

MichaelB · #**8854** Posted **May 31, 2024, 8:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sigaven

Boring as fuck! This project belongs literally anywhere else in any no-name neighborhood in any city, USA. This is sixth street, one of the most important and prominent in Austin. Sixth street deserves better than this boring generic crap.

Louder for folks in the back!

The ATX · #**8855** Posted **May 31, 2024, 8:19 PM**

I'm in the back!

It may not be the best looking mid-rise Apt. building, but there are no historical structures on the block and only one retail spot. This project will eliminate a surface lot, and provide a better street presence. The former state lottery commission building is ugly.

MichaelB · #**8856** Posted **May 31, 2024, 8:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by The ATX

I'm in the back!

It may not be the best looking mid-rise Apt. building, but there are no historical structures on the block and only one retail spot. This project will eliminate a surface lot, and provide a better street presence. The former state lottery commission building is ugly.

We really deserve better. Replacing bad with bad still = bad. I'm happy to wait.

The ATX · #**8857** Posted **May 31, 2024, 8:25 PM**

I would be willing to wait longer too. But I find the current situation a much worse fit with the rest of historical 6th St. than the Grant proposal.

wwmiv · #**8858** Posted **May 31, 2024, 9:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by The ATX

I'm in the back!

It may not be the best looking mid-rise Apt. building, but there are no historical structures on the block and only one retail spot. This project will eliminate a surface lot, and provide a better street presence. The former state lottery commission building is ugly.

I would be fine with something new, provided it isn’t housing. My primary objection is to the fact that this is housing at all.

Housing creates a built-in constituency of people (renters, managers, business and property owners) predisposed to complaining about the noise to elected officials and bureaucrats from the bars. Better to not create that constituency at all. Most of the buildings on 6th are covered by a historical preservation law or society, but preserving Austin’s preeminent bar and live music district matters to our city’s identity.

urbancore · #**8859** Posted **Jun 1, 2024, 1:56 PM**

I’ve known people that live on 6th, in the condos across from the Driscoll and random rentals above the bars. They all loved it at the time.

I visited/partied in these homes a few times.

It is as bad/smelly/loud/obnoxious/drunken as you would think it would be and probably worse. Of course we didn’t care, we were part of the problem.

I think these apartments will look/smell nasty after the first 15 min they open. Management will turn over by the hour, as they will not be able to or want to deal with cops, hookers, drunks, addicts on an hourly basis.

This is a horrible idea and will not satisfy anyone.

Bblasa · #**8860** Posted **Jun 1, 2024, 2:16 PM**

Perhaps that is why this project is less than ideal? Maybe it will just be a tester to feel out the response before the big commits. If it fails there wasn’t significant investment lost