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Originally Posted by jbssfelix
Wow. Shows how much underutilized land is still left downtown, esp north of 7th St.
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On the west side of downtown north of 7th, a lot of those parcels are historic houses that can't be demoed so don't expect much higher utilization of many of those parcels of land. Some will see high-rises, but I'd expect it will be sporadic.
On the east side of downtown north of 7th, a lot of those parcels are restricted by CVCs, so higher utilization may never happen. A few floors at most with maybe a slender point tower maxing out at 300 or 400 feet is most likely. The narrower the building, the less tall it can be because of requirements introduced after 9/11 for the number of stairwells in buildings over 400'. Generally, apart from the Brackenridge redevelopment area and neighboring parcels, north of 7th on the east side is likely to stay relatively "low" in height.
I've said this before, but downtown is rapidly becoming maxed out in easily developable land. Much of it is protected in some fashion or has been developed in the last 20 years or was a previous major high-rise that won't be demoed. Ergo, height is either going to expand eastward out of downtown and/or we're going to see more and more height and intensity at the Domain. I think the neighborhoods east of downtown know this, and they're deliberately fighting the taller developments so that their neighborhoods don't become the next Rainey Street.
After the 183 expressway is finished, I totally expect to start seeing denser urban development at the 183/7th/5th/Cesar Chavez/Springdale/river "triangle". Those will instantly become some easily accessible parcels of land for 4-5 story offices and mixed used.
That, and this also shows how underutilized the Statesman site is and south of the river generally.