Austin | The Travis | 594 Feet | 52 Floors | T/O

[We vs us]

Looking forward to seeing both towers in context at some point . . . for me, this is another one that requires a rendering to really understand.

When those things both finally get built, that portion of DT is going to feel a whole lot heavier.

[GoldenBoot]

I hope they both get built too. However, having two structures of this magnitude phased-in makes me nervous about the entire project being completed as currently proposed. I wish they were starting with the taller one, as I'm not convinced a second tower is going to get built.

[KevinFromTexas]

^^Good catch on that. I missed that.

I'm really wanting to see some renderings to have a better understanding of the layout and the appearance of the towers. I'm really hoping we get some with the design meeting documents when they go for their density bonus.

I've been working on a Google Earth model adding all of the proposed, under construction, and completed towers to downtown in Google Earth. The models are basically the same as what they draw for the Downtown Austin Blog articles, but I've color coded all of mine for the different development stages.

The site plan shows Phase I as being the tower on the west side of the property, while phase II is located east of it. The site plan also shows the footprint of each tower. Phase I roughly follows the same shape of the footprint of the former Villa Apartments. The site plan also shows the length and width of the footprints of the buildings. Since it follows the same shape the Villa Apartments did, it means that the footprint of the tower is not rectangular, but turns to the right to avoid the banks of Waller Creek. The south end of Phase I is square, but the northern part angles away from the creek. What I'm puzzled about is that the rendering we've seen so far and the elevations don't seem to reflect that angle. The tower appears to be pretty much square and there doesn't appear to be a setback where the tower steps away from the edge of the parking podium. My first model following that property line along the creek has made for a strange looking tower that ends up being trapezoidal in shape.

[Urbannizer]

[The ATX]

I really like the Quincy webcam. Here's the Travis Towers site from this afternoon. The site is almost cleared.


https://app.oxblue.com/open/endeavor/redrivertower

[The ATX]

The City posted some pretty good project info online this morning. But all the Planning Commission and Design Commission backup file PDFs are corrupted and won't download/open. There is a huge amount of info about the Travis that should have plenty of renderings of both towers (when the files can be opened). There is also a huge presentation of a project called 17th & Guadalupe apartments.

Design Commission:
http://austintexas.gov/cityclerk/boa...tings/22_1.htm

The Planning Commission has some backup files for Broadmoor and 211 S. Lamar that can't be opened:
http://austintexas.gov/cityclerk/boa...tings/40_1.htm

[myBrain]

[myBrain]

Few more here: https://imgur.com/a/RFrJ99V

[zrx299]

That's a seriously outdated base photo they used to build their tower renders from.

Where's our resident Photoshop guru at?

[We vs us]

I have not really appreciated up till now just how freaking huge these two are.

[The ATX]

The base/podium is decent.



http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=322471

[Echostatic]

Yeah, it's a lot of parking but it's hidden well enough and the amount is reasonable for two ~600 foot towers.

[StoOgE]

Are we getting restaurant space in the first floors?

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by StoOgE

Are we getting restaurant space in the first floors?

The only retail is a coffee shop. That was one of the criticisms of this project by the Design Commission Working Group. The Working Group does not recommend approval of the density bonus/FAR increase that this project needs.

[Geckos_Rule]

Originally Posted by The ATX

The only retail is a coffee shop. That was one of the criticisms of this project by the Design Commission Working Group. The Working Group does not recommend approval of the density bonus/FAR increase that this project needs.

That just doesn't make business sense... With how close these are to the lake, how could they not plan for some restaurants/bars? All they need to do is take one look at the places at the 4 seasons, and the Line Hotel to know that those print money regardless of whether they're good.

[zrx299]

Someone needs to forward those renders to the Independent folks and tell them *this is how you finish the top of a building!*

[KevinFromTexas]

I don't know. I'm really very underwhelmed by these towers. Maybe it's just the renderings, but so far, I'm not impressed. They just look like one more tower in a forest of high rises you'd see somewhere like New York or Chicago, except that the height of these two warrants a better design.

[ILUVSAT]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I don't know. I'm really very underwhelmed by these towers. Maybe it's just the renderings, but so far, I'm not impressed. They just look like one more tower in a forest of high rises you'd see somewhere like New York or Chicago, except that the height of these two warrants a better design.

From day one the developer basically said don't expect too much! Their goal was not to be the most glamorous and tallest building(s) in Austin.

[The ATX]

I'm wondering why we don't have any quality/higher def renderings of the towers like we do of the podium? The crappy renderings of the towers with the out of date base photo aren't doing much for me. But the height and density for that area are pretty nice.

[ILUVSAT]

Based on those renderings...one is not 594' and the other 704'. They're much, much closer to the same height - like originally proposed.