Austin Projects & Construction

[KevinFromTexas]

I do hope they keep up with the original theme, but maybe expand it. I also hope they keep the original stage, or atleast the wood in it. There's a lot of history in that stage. For me, as a huge fan of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan, Willie Nelson and others who played there, I do hope they keep it intact.

[KevinFromTexas]

The Hyatt is for sale by Fairfield. The article also talks about the nearby planned condo towers.

From the Austin American-Statesman
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/realestate/12/06/6hyatt.html

HOTELS
Austin's Hyatt on the market
In Austin's hot real estate climate, prospects seem good.

By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF



Wednesday, December 06, 2006

The newly remodeled Hyatt Regency Austin on Town Lake is on the market, 14 months after Grand Prairie-based Fairfield Properties Inc. purchased the property with plans to build two condominium towers on the site.

Jones Lang La Salle is marketing the 448-room hotel, which Fairfield bought for about $50 million in October 2005. Fairfield recently completed a $10 million renovation of the 17-story hotel, updating the guest rooms with new carpet, drapes, furniture, fixtures, wall coverings and flat-panel televisions.

Fairfield could get as much as $85 million for the hotel, according to a report in Real Estate Alert, a national investment publication. The property is appraised at $36.2 million on the Travis County tax rolls.

Regardless of who buys the hotel, Hyatt would continue to operate it under a long-term management agreement that has more than 20 years remaining, said Morrie Graves, the hotel's general manager for 15 years.

"Hyatt has been running it since it opened (in 1982), and it has changed hands at least five times that I'm aware of," Graves said.

Paul Johnston, a vice president with Fairfield, a residential developer, said the company intended all along to sell the hotel after refurbishing it.

"That's always been our business plan, to buy the entire property, renovate the hotel and market it, and keep ownership of the land around the hotel and redevelop it," Johnston said. In the hot real estate investment climate now, "it seemed like the right market environment to sell the hotel."

Randy McCaslin, a vice president in the Houston office of PKF Consulting, said it's a good time for the Hyatt to be sold because the downtown Austin hotel market is strong.

Through September 2006, downtown hotel rooms were 76.8 percent occupied, and room rates averaged $146.02, up from 73.5 percent occupied and average daily rates of $130.53 during the first nine months of 2005, McCaslin said.

"Although a lot of hotels are planned for the downtown area, none of them will enter the market before 2009, giving a new hotel owner the chance to experience two years of strong economic activity," McCaslin said. "Interest rates are still reasonable. There is a lot of money available for real estate projects, and the cost of new construction has increased 25 percent in the last two years, making the purchase of an existing hotel very attractive."

Austin is seeing changes in its downtown hotel market, with some properties remodeling and adding services, others changing hands, and eight new ones planned, including three Marriott hotels that White Lodging Services Corp. intends to build on Congress Avenue that would be the largest hotel development in Austin's history.

Indiana-based White Lodging opened two Marriott-brand hotels in August near the Austin Convention Center downtown.

Although many additional rooms are being planned, "it's unlikely all these projects will come on the market at the same time, and as some of them begin to start construction, it could delay some of the other projects," McCaslin said.

At the Hyatt site, Fairfield is seeking a zoning change to build 500 condominiums in two towers of up to 19 stories each on the hotel's south and west parking lots. The earliest construction would start is 2008, said Michael Whellan, an attorney in Austin for Fairfield.

Next door, Crescent Resources LLC plans to start construction in early 2007 on AquaTerra, a 20-story luxury condominium tower. AquaTerra would be the first high-rise to be built south of Town Lake since the Hyatt opened..

Crescent, a real estate development and land management company based in Charlotte, N.C., is partners with Duke Energy, Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund V U.S. and Crescent's senior management in AquaTerra. The tower is slated for a parking lot that faces a five-story building housing the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and other tenants at 210 Barton Springs Road.

Crescent won't break ground until it has buyers for half of the units, but that is on track to happen soon, said Steven Brandt, vice president of Crescent's Texas operations.

When AquaTerra's marketing office opened in November, Brandt said the project was drawing interest from potential buyers including young professionals, empty-nesters and second-home buyers.

Crescent and Fairfield aren't saying much about how views from their planned high-rises might be affected by their neighbor's project.

"We're proceeding with our plan," Brandt said. "We've taken every measure to design a project that protects as many views as we can. I won't comment on what a developer next to us may or may not do."

Whellan said he had nothing to add to his recent comments, in which he noted that both projects are being designed by "sophisticated residential builders whose architects and engineers know how to design buildings in a way that takes into account the locations of other nearby structures."

The city's planning commission has recommended approval of Fairfield's zoning change request, which next goes to the City Council. Fairfield is not asking to build higher than the site's 200-foot limit.

Fairfield plans to make improvements to the Town Lake hike-and-bike trail that adjoins its property, including rounding out some sharp curves and modifying some landscaping to improve visibility, Johnston said.

Planned

•Three Marriott hotels, part of a $185 million project by White Lodging Services Corp. for much of the block bounded by Congress Avenue and Second, Third and Brazos streets. The tallest: a 26-story Marriott convention center hotel with 650 rooms. Two others: an 11-story upscale Renaissance Hotel with 200 rooms and a 15-story Springhill Suites by Marriott with 150 rooms.

•Hotel Van Zandt, a $100-million, 29-story hotel with 55 luxury condos slated for Red River and Davis streets. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants will manage it.

•A 250-room W Hotel on West Second Street, including a 2,000-seat venue for 'Austin City Limits.'

•A luxury hotel at Third and Colorado streets, planned by San Antonio-based Hixon Properties Inc. The site includes the former Bitter End restaurant.

•Seaholm Plaza Hotel, a 22-story hotel and condo tower that would be part of a multimillion-dollar mixed-use project at the former Seaholm Power Plant.

•A hotel tower of about 30 stories and an adjacent condo tower as part of a $250 million project at the southwest corner of Red River and East Cesar Chavez streets. From Australian developer Constellation Property Group.

Sold

•The Driskill Hotel, to Los Angeles-based Lowe Enterprises Investors for $55 million in October 2005.

•The Four Seasons Hotel, in February to Chicago-based Lodging Capital Partners LLC, which will begin a $15 million makeover in January.

•The Holiday Inn on Town Lake, sold in August to San Diego-based Pacifica Host Hotels, which plans to do a multimillion-dollar makeover.

— Shonda Novak

[Gallup]

Austin-San Antonio corridor is smokin.

[Boris]

Why are they building the hillcountry galleria so far out?




......................................

[arbeiter]

Beats me, Boris. All it will do is encourage more suburbanization of our most precious natural landscape...

[LoneStarMike]

The current building boom in Austin was one of four feature stories for November about condos and high-rises over at the McGraw-Hill Construction website on their Texas Construction page.

(I didn't include the renderings or their captions because most of us have seen them.)

Austin Rises to the Occasion
More Than $1.5 Billion in High-Rise Projects Bringing New Energy Downtown

by Rob Patterson

Downtown Austin is reaching for the sky with 18 high-rise projects announced to break ground in the next year or so, and more to follow. The building boom represents at least $1.5 billion in planned construction projects.

It also reflects a sharp upsurge in downtown tower construction, a market that had been dormant in the capital city since the mid-1980s until the completion of the 33-story Frost Bank Tower in 2003, built by Dallas-based Constructors & Associates Inc.

Then in 2004 the 31-story Hilton hotel was completed by Austin-based Faulkner USA and, most recently, Faulkner finished the 14-story Austin City Lofts project, which was designed by local architect firm PageSoutherlandPage.

While the 1980s high-rises were primarily office towers, the current spate of projects are mixed use with a strong emphasis on residential.

The 18 projects will add 21 towers to the downtown Austin skyline along with at least 3,000 residential units and some 2,000 hotel rooms to the center city.

"I live downtown and walk out on my balcony where I can watch the tower cranes being erected," said Austin Mayor Will Wynn, who is an Austin City Lofts resident. Wynn said that the downtown construction boom was abetted by the efforts of the city and the Downtown Austin Alliance, which provides services to and advocates for central-city property owners. Wynn helped found the alliance, and has served as its chairman.

"We were all collectively talking about changing the fundamental dynamics in downtown and having a far more mixed-use, dense and vibrant 24/7 downtown," he said.

Although some locals fear a repeat of the economic downturn in the mid-1980s that left many of the newly constructed office towers largely empty for a number of years, developer and former city councilman Robert Barnstone - a partner in the 41-story planned project, Spring - said such worries are unfounded.

"It's nothing but good news and major good news," Barnstone said of the residential tower boom. "I cheer every time another building is announced and I don't see it as competition. It increases the magnet effect of downtown."

Downtown Austin Alliance executive director Charlie Betts said downtown development was not stifled by a slight economic slump in Austin at the turn of the decade.

"I think our city political leaders created a momentum that sustained us through a modest downturn a few years ago," he added. "The residential development survived that downturn and is coming on stronger than ever."

Barnstone pointed to the example of Vancouver (where he also has a residence) - a city with almost the same population as Austin, which is nearly 1.5 million including the entire metro area. He said that Vancouver has added 150 towers and 15 million sq. ft. in its downtown over the last 10 years.

But while the outlook remains bullish, the current construction boom in downtown Austin faces possible impediments.

Contractors have noted the increased competition for skilled labor across the state and in Austin in particular. Hanover Co. of Houston development partner Ed Hamilton cited a current national shortage of available tower cranes. And a national economic downturn could also affect construction progress in downtown Austin, although most observers believe the city's growth would remain largely unaffected.

Wynn has advocated adding enough residential units in Austin's center city over the next decade to house 25,000 people. Betts estimated that 5,700 residents live downtown and that the population should double in the next two to three years.

"I tell people 'You haven't seen anything yet,'" Wynn said.

Tunnel, Visions

Betts said the northeast quadrant of the city's hub has yet to experience a high-rise construction boom. One factor that has stymied development in that area is that it includes the 100-year floodplain for Waller Creek.

In 1998, Austin voters approved $28 million in bonds toward the construction of a tunnel to reroute floodwaters. But the project, most recently budgeted at $57 million, has been delayed by negotiations between the city and Travis County regarding its financing.

Betts said those issues are close to being resolved. And some developers and local leaders hope that the tunnel would allow Austin's Waller Creek to be redeveloped in a fashion similar to San Antonio's River Walk.

But another roadblock to high-rise development in the northeast downtown quadrant as well as the rest of the center city is the Capitol View Corridor - a city zoning ordinance that specifies 35 corridors radiating from the Texas Capitol building that restricts building heights along those corridors.

Betts said that it has resulted in uneven development. "The most restrictions are on the northeast part of downtown," he added. "And little is going on there."

"The Capitol View Corridor has to be rethought," Barnstone said.

Still, there remains much available space in downtown Austin for further high-rise development well beyond the current boom. One such locality is the recently rezoned Rainey Street neighborhood, where four projects - Milagro, [sic] Shore, Hotel Van Zandt and Legacy - are under way. Otherwise, the area remains largely undeveloped.

"In San Diego, Seattle and Vancouver, the more that is built, the more the demand," Barnstone said. "There is a lifestyle transformation in our society towards urban living."

Going Up

At least five residential high-rise projects have broken ground in Austin's center city since the beginning of the year. They include AMLI II Block 22, the Altavida, The Monarch, The 360 and The Shore. More such projects are have been proposed or approved.

AMLI Block 22 Tower

AMLI Residential Development of Chicago began construction in May on a $44 million, 414,364-sq.-ft. apartment tower with 47,000 sq. ft. of first- and second-story retail space on West Third Street between Guadalupe and San Antonio streets. The 18-story structure, known as AMLI II Block 22, will be 219 ft. tall. AMLI has completed four levels of the concrete-frame structure, which was designed by PageSoutherlandPage of Austin.

One challenge the project has faced will likely be shared by many of the other planned projects downtown. "Essentially there's no lay-down area," said Jay Darwish, project manager for AMLI. "All of our material and equipment deliveries have to be on time. Scheduling is critical.

We have to schedule, literally, by the hour." Concrete pours happen between 12:30 a.m. and 7 a.m.

The building, like a number of nearby center-city projects, will also tie in with the city's chilled-water system to support its HVAC needs and promote energy
efficiency.

Altavida

Nearby, at the intersection of Colorado and Cesar Chavez streets, the in-house construction arm of developer The Hanover Co. began work in August on an approximately $90 million, 445,711-sq.-ft. tower. Developed in partnership with MetLife, the 36-story structure, The Altavida, will house 258 rental units and six street-level live/work townhouse-style units fronting Cesar Chavez along with 716 sq. ft. of ground-floor retail.

The structure includes a five-story, below-grade parking garage that will serve MetLife's adjacent office tower at 100 Congress and five above-ground levels of parking for residents.

Monarch

Lyda Swinerton Builders of San Antonio broke ground in June on The Monarch. Located on West Fifth Street, the apartment tower is being developed by Zom Residential of Orlando, Fla. The firm declined to reveal the project cost. The 29-story, 300-ft.-plus-tall concrete-frame tower designed by RTKL Associates Inc. of Dallas will house 305 rental units and 9,000 sq. ft. of ground-floor commercial space integrated into its five-level parking garage.

360 Condominiums

In May, the southwest division of JE Dunn Construction Group, headquartered in Kansas City, Kan., started work at Third and Nueces streets on The 360, a 520,000-sq.-ft., 44-level condo tower with an approximate project cost of $85 million.

The 432-unit, 580-ft.-tall concrete frame high-rise will house 432 units and 13,500 sq. ft. of retail on the ground floor. The tower is being developed under a partnership between Novare Group Holdings of Atlanta and Austin-based Andrews Urban. It was designed by The Preston Partnership of Atlanta.

The Shore

In September, the Austin office of Houston-based Harvey-Cleary Builders (the firm is known in Houston as D.E. Harvey Builders) broke ground on The Shore, a $45 million, 275,000-sq.-ft. condo project on Red River and Davis streets in the southeast quadrant of downtown. WDG Architecture of Dallas designed the 22-story tower for owners Hill Street Residential, a division of Trammell Crow. It will house 192 units atop a five-level garage and will connect with the future Hotel Van Zandt by a sixth-floor deck.

The five projects follow last month's completion of 13-story Milagro.[sic] a 13-story, 250-unit condominium project constructed by Fairfield Residential LLC of Grand Prairie. All condos were sold out well before the building's completion.

Coming Attractions

Hotel Van Zandt

JMI Realty of San Diego is developing the $100 million 388,000-sq.-ft. Hotel Van Zandt, which will be managed by the Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group of San Francisco. The 29-story high-rise will be 340-ft. tall and feature 290 rooms and 55 condominiums. It was designed by Hornberger + Worstel of San Francisco in association with WDG Architecture of Washington, D.C.

Harvey-Cleary has been performing pre-construction services on the project, which is expected to begin construction by the end of this year.

Spring

The Southwest Division of Hensel Phelps Construction Co., based in Greeley, Colo., expects to break ground early next year on Spring, a $60 million, 250,000-sq.-ft. condominium tower on the western edge of downtown. Spring will be 41 stories tall.

Spring has 650 reservations for its 256 condo units.

The concrete-frame building developed by Spring Austin Partners Ltd. and designed by Rafii Architects Inc. of Vancouver will feature no interior columns and in-slab HVAC ducts and rise to a height of about 400 ft. A six-story garage with two underground levels and four above ground will be co-owned by Spring and Schlosser Development of Austin.

Legacy at Town Lake

Work is expected to begin in March at Rainey and Cummings streets on the Legacy at Town Lake, a 207,000-sq.-ft., 31-story apartment tower that will feature 184 rental units. The developer is Legacy Partners of Foster City, Calif., who declined to share the cost of the 340-ft.-tall structure.

Andres Construction Services of Dallas will be the general contractor in association with Legacy's construction division. The tower was designed by EDI Architecture of Houston.

Block 21 Tower

Also slated to break ground in early 2007 is the Block 21 mixed-use project next to Austin's City Hall on a long-empty tract between Second and Third streets and Guadalupe and Lavaca. Developed by Austin's Stratus Properties, the 780,000-sq.-ft. building will cost more than $200 million.

The 32-story high-rise will include a 225-room W Hotel and 125 condominiums as well as a 30,000 sq. ft. space for the Austin Children's Museum and a new 10,000-sq.-ft. studio for the Austin City Limits TV show. The 300-ft.-tall tower will be built by Austin Commercial and was designed by Andersson-Wise Architects of Austin. It is expected to be the first commercial multifamily/hospitality building in Austin to qualify for LEED certification.

AquaTerra

An early 2007 groundbreaking is also expected for AquaTerra, a $50 million condominium project on Barton Springs Road just across Town Lake from downtown and adjacent to the Hyatt Regency hotel. The 20-story structure will house 174 units. It will be built by Yates Construction headquartered in Philadelphia, Miss., and is designed by Rhode:Hurt Architects of Austin.

Seaholm Plaza Hotel

Centro Partners of Austin anticipates the start of construction next summer for the tentatively named Seaholm Plaza Hotel on the grounds of the city's retired Seaholm Power Plant. The approximately 400,000-sq.-ft. project is expected to cost more than $100 million and house 163 hotel rooms and 62 condos in a 22-story tower.

Four Seasons Residences

Slated to break ground in the summer is a 400,000-sq.-ft. apartment and condominium tower on San Jacinto Street adjacent to the Four Seasons Hotel at an estimated cost of about $75 million. The structure is planned at 36 or so stories and will include some 250 rental units and 75 condos. It is being developed by Austin's Ardent Residential in partnership with Post Properties of Atlanta and is being designed by Michael Graves & Associates of New York.

Marriott Complex

White Lodging Services of Merrillville, Ind. - which owns 15 hotel properties in Austin - is finalizing plans for a $180 million Marriott hotel complex on the east side of Congress Avenue and Second Street that will include three towers: a 26-story, 650-room Marriott; a 15-story, 150-room Springhill Suites; and an 11-story, 200-room Renaissance Hotel. Start date for the project is yet to be set, but White expects to open the complex by summer 2009.

501 Congress Avenue

Austin's T. Stacy & Associates recently announced a 925,000-sq.-ft., 47-story, mixed-use tower project that it will build at Congress and Fifth Street designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects of New Haven, Conn. The planned project is known as 501 Congress Avenue, and will contain condos, offices and retail space, and at about 700 ft. in height is expected to be the tallest building in downtown Austin.

200 Congress

Benchmark Land Development of Austin may match that height with a 750,000-sq.-ft. condominium tower with 200 units to be built on the west side of Congress at Second Street. The tower will feature a unique elliptical floor plate and is being designed by Ziegler Cooper Architects of Houston.

More to Come, a Courthouse to Boot

Austin's Gables Residential hopes to begin construction in the next two years on a condominium complex at Cesar Chavez and Lamar streets that is anticipated to include 18- and 14- story towers alongside two low-rise buildings.

Australia's Constellation Property Group, which is based in San Diego in the United States, is developing two towers of approximately 30 stories each for a mixed-use project at Red River and Cesar Chavez streets that will include a hotel, condos, offices and ground-floor retail. It is expected to break ground in 2008.

And Hixon Properties of San Antonio is finalizing plans for a luxury hotel tower at Third and Colorado streets.

T. Stacy & Associates is negotiating with the Austin Museum of Art to develop a new museum building with a condominium tower, also to be designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, on what is now a parking lot bordered by Guadalupe and San Antonio streets between Second and Third streets.

And in August, the U.S. Postal Service called for development proposals for a high-rise on the block occupied by the downtown post office two blocks north of the potential Austin Museum of Art site.

In a related development, the Pomeroy Investment Corp. of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., recently purchased two downtown towers that it will renovate. The 14-story One Commodore Building at Brazos and Eighth Street, originally built as a hotel and currently used as offices, will be converted into a combination of condos, office and ground-floor retail. The 20-story Capitol Tower at Brazos and Ninth Street will remain office space.

Austin is also getting a new U.S. courthouse on the site of the abandoned Intel project between Fourth and Fifth streets and Nueces and San Antonio streets. The 7-story, $63 million, 211,690-sq.-ft. structure was designed by Mack Scogin Merrilll Elam Architects of Atlanta.

Nearby, the Austin Music Hall entertainment venue at Second and Nueces streets will undergo a renovation that will nearly double its square footage from 22,000 to 42,000 and add a
restaurant.

Across Town Lake, Fairfield Residential plans a renovation of the Hyatt Regency hotel to add expanded meeting space, housing and retail and restaurant space. And the Holiday Inn on the southeast edge of downtown was recently sold to Pacific Host Hotels of San Diego, which intends to refurbish the 14- and 11-story towers of the property.

------------------------------------------------

Some of my thoughts after reading all this were:

• Oh boy . . wait until the NIMBY's hear about "rethinking" the Capitol View Corridor.
  
  
• The Legacy at Town Lake is mentioned as 31 stories and gives a height of 340 feet. The website says 27 stories and the rendering seems to reflect that. Anyone know more about that discrepancy?
  
  
• The Gables complex at Cesar Chavez abd Lamar was originally mentioned as having a 15 story tower, a 10-story tower and two smaller buildings. This aticle states 18 stories and 14 stories. Seems like I read the height for that project was 195 feet, but I can't remember where.
  
  
• The info for this article must have been gathered around September or so. It doesn't mention the proposed 32 story residential tower at 7th and Rio Grande announced in October or the proposed 18 story residential towers on the south shore of Town Lake.
  
  
• It also mentions that the financing issues between the city and Travis County regarding regarding the waller Creek tunnel are close to being resolved. Anyone heard/know more about that?
  
  
• Could someone refresh my memory about Hixon Properties' plans for a luxury hotel tower at Third and Colorado? How tall & how many stories? I haven't heard anything about that project in so long I've kind of forgotten about it.

[KevinFromTexas]

I hate the Hill Country Galleria. My brother and I rock climb out at Reimer's Ranch. Everytime on our way there along Texas 71 it makes me want to barf. The Reimer's Ranch tract of land, which is over 1,100 acres, was almost grabbed up by developers for tract housing. I honestly can not see any reason why anyone would want to or need to live that far out. It's almost outside of Travis County. It's a 45 minute drive there from our house in South Austin.

Mike, there really isn't much info out about the Hixon Properties hotel at 3rd & Colorado. I keep hearing 300 to 400 rooms, but it's been a while since we've heard anything about it.

They're wrong on some of the heights in that article, though. They mention the Block 21 Tower as being 300 feet. I got an email back from the architects themselves who said it would be 432 feet 6 inches. And Goldenboot mentioned they're asking for an allowance of up to 450 feet and it will have 35 floors, not 32. The Gables Park Plaza height came from what the developers were asking for from the city. They wanted to be allowed to build to atleast 195 feet. The original floor number I heard was 15 floors. The Legacy on Town Lake and Hotel Van Zandt heights seem to be about right. I'd guess they would be around 340 feet or so.

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

...They're wrong on some of the heights in that article, though. They mention the Block 21 Tower as being 300 feet. I got an email back from the architects themselves who said it would be 432 feet 6 inches. And Goldenboot mentioned they're asking for an allowance of up to 450 feet and it will have 35 floors, not 32. The Gables Park Plaza height came from what the developers were asking for from the city. They wanted to be allowed to build to atleast 195 feet. The original floor number I heard was 15 floors. The Legacy on Town Lake and Hotel Van Zandt heights seem to be about right. I'd guess they would be around 340 feet or so...

FYI: The City Council approved the Block 21 zoning change (on all three readings) Thursday, Nov. 30. Therefore, in its current configuration, the new FAR will allow for a structure of 450' tall (mechanical penthouse, if any, not included). Stratus Properties obviously has the right to tweak the design of the project. By doing so, the tower could become a taller or shorter structure depending on the size of the development’s overall footprint.

Also, I'm not so confident about the Hixon Properties development at this point. They've been talking about a luxury hotel (purportedly a Ritz-Carlton) at that site for three or four years now. With no start date nor any information as to density. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if they deside to sell the land in the not so distant future. Or maybe not?!?

[Mopacs]

Originally Posted by Boris

Why are they building the hillcountry galleria so far out?




......................................

Its all about the $$$. A prime location, at the confluence of 3 major, regional highways, centered around Austin's most affluent suburbs (which has been under-retailed for many years). Not only that, but the population growth of the trade area (Lakeway,West Austin, etc.) continues to boom. Add the demographics together and it makes total economic sense. Now as for being a responsible development? Thats a whole other ballgame, of course.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Pecan Grove Plaza. Not much on this other than it's planned to be an 8-story office/retail project. This would go up along Barton Springs Road at the Pecan Grove Park, (camping park). I'm sort of against this. The Pecan Grove Park, which is a trailer camping park is the only one of it's kind in the US in an urban environment, within sight of the skyline. The site also is shaded by 70 foot tall Pecan trees as the name suggests. This is also the only Pecan grove in Texas. So I'm sort of against it. It would sigificantly hurt the vibe of Barton Springs Road being more of a distraction/disruption then benefit to the area.

OK, so I'm responding to a post made 14 months ago, but has anyone heard anything about this project? Other than the post mentioning it back in Oct. 2005, there's been no word of it. Was it defintiely shelved or is it still in "unknown status?"

I'm askng because I happened to find renderings and some info on this project earlier today at the website below

http://www.shefelman-nix.com/bartonsprings.html

Elevations:



Renderings:









Is/was this office/retail project supposed to be near the proposed condos at Shady Grove recently reported by the Austin American Statesman?

[LiveattheOasis]

Yes sir, I believe that's the one.

[KevinFromTexas]

Yep, that's it. I haven't heard anything about this project for atleast a year, though. It may have been shelved, or even cancelled. I'm not really sure.

However, it was released last week to the media that another developer plans to develope the Shady Grove RV Park nextdoor.

Here's that article from last week:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=2486391&postcount=1866

The designs of these two projects look suspiciously similar also.

[GoldenBoot]

Yes, they do look eerily similar. However, the Shady Grove RV proposal does not seem to contain any “office space,” just 250 condo units. Maybe this is a redesigned submittal of an old proposal (“The Pecan Grove Plaza” office project)?

[KevinFromTexas]

Ha, this is interesting. I just found this about Stubbs, they want to expand it. The architect who is designing it, (Craig Nasso), is the son of a family friend of our's. His dad dated my aunt.

From the Austin American-Statesman
http://www.austin360.com/music/content/music/stories/2006/12/13stubbs.html

Bigger serving of Stubb's planned
Restaurant to expand music operations with new indoor venue, bigger outdoor stage.

By Michael Corcoran
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

What started 10 years ago as a barbecue joint with an uncovered outdoor stage will be transformed into a live music complex with a new 1,400-capacity indoor nightclub and a reconfigured outdoor amphitheater that plays to the land's natural slope.

Stubb's Bar-B-Q owners plan to spend $5 million on the expansion, which is expected to break ground next fall. Work could be completed as early as summer 2008. The five co-owners of Stubb's, who will finance the project themselves, bought the former Oak Farms dairy on Ninth Street six years ago. Plans call for the Stubb's outdoor stage to be repositioned on that property, facing west.

That's good news for guests at the Austin Marriott at the Capitol two blocks north and residents as far away as Hyde Park, who often feel like they've got a band playing next door when the sound from Stubb's shoots up the Waller Creek corridor. Capacity at the outdoor venue will rise from 2,100 to 3,000. Two-story balconies will be built above the compound, helping to contain the sound, said Stubb's partner Charles Attal.

The former Oak Farms land is in a flood plain, and Stubb's is working with city staff to resolve that issue, Stubb's co-owner Jeff Waughtal said. "It's a long process."

The Stubb's expansion has the support of City Manager Toby Futrell. "Because of the flood plain on the last half of the block, they may have to build up a bit," Futrell said, adding that if the Waller Creek tunnel project, currently on hold because of a lack of funds, gets back on track, Stubb's would be entirely out of the flood plain. "We'll figure out a way to make it work," she said.

Attal said the expansion reflects the owners' growing experience in the music business.

"Stubb's was built on a shoestring," said Attal, who books the venue, as well as the Austin City Limits Music Festival and Lollapalooza. "We were in our 20s when we started. We've learned a lot, and now we know what it takes to build a world-class concert venue."

The current portable bathrooms will be replaced by permanent facilities, and the spacious new backstage area will have dressing rooms, an artist lounge and plentiful tour bus parking. The restaurant, in an old stone building at 801 Red River St., will remain.

Waughtal said the new plans "grew out of what Austin has become." Indeed, this latest project continues the enhancement of a downtown Austin music scene formerly incubated in dank dives, former restaurants and, in the case of the late, lamented Liberty Lunch, a former lumberyard.

In July, owners of the Austin Music Hall and the nearby under-construction 360 Condo- miniums announced a $5 million joint overhaul of the live music club at 208 Nueces St. The upgrade, which has not yet star- ted, will include new lighting and sound systems and expand the hall's capacity from 3,000 to 4,000. A new late-night restaurant is planned at the location.

Last week, Willie Nelson and his nephew Freddy Fletcher announced they would be part-owners of a 2,000-capacity venue planned on West Second Street to serve as the new home of "Austin City Limits," as well as a House of Blues-style club on nights when there are no tapings. Cost of that project, helmed by Stratus Properties Inc., is estimated at $15 million. The new multi-use venue is expected to be built in time for the 2010 season of the venerable TV music show.

"I'm really excited to see the proliferation of new and/or redeveloped venues, particularly in downtown," Austin Mayor Will Wynn said Tuesday. "And the more we have within walking or pedicab distance of each other, the better."

Stubb's owners have been working on the new complex for three years, Waughtal said. "I went around the country looking at the best clubs, seeing what worked and what didn't," he said. "What I found was that I liked the feel of the independent clubs like the Bowery Ballroom in New York and 9:30 in D.C., but I liked a lot of things about the corporately owned clubs like House of Blues."

Waughtal said he wants the new Stubb's to retain an indie feel, but with greater stage and sound production capabilities.

The new indoor venue not only gives booker Attal more flexibility but adds a big, rain-proof room for the restaurant's private party catering operation. That hall is planned for the north end of the Stubb's block, where a new incarnation of Liberty Lunch once was proposed. After that club closed in 1999 to make way for the Computer Sciences Corp. headquarters, the city offered Lunch owners Mark Pratz and J-Net Ward a $600,000 loan to help relocate. But when projected costs for a new Lunch at Ninth and Red River far exceeded the loan amount, that project was abandoned in 2003.

Waughtal said Stubb's owners kept alive the idea of more music on the block. Besides Attal and Waughtal, the other owners are a trio of former Lubbockites: Eddie Patterson, John Scott and Scott Jensen. Those three also own Stubb's sauce company, a separate business from the restaurant and nightclub.

"We've been saving our money for three years," Waughtal said. "This is a long process that will go through multiple stages. But when we're done we hope to build a place that will do justice to the artists and make Austin proud."


CRAIG NASSO
A new indoor nightclub is planned for the corner of Red River and Ninth streets. The restaurant will remain at 801 Red River St.



CRAIG NASSO
The new outdoor stage will be flanked by two-story balconies.

[AustinBob]

I saw that story about Stubbs in the Statesman this morning. I think this is great news. I've been to a few concerts at Stubbs and it has such a great vibe. I think what they want to do will only make it better.

[OfCourse]

Nice. Stubb's is awesome!

[StoOgE]

Stubbs is my second favorite place in this city right behind emos.

These new changes look like it'll be great, but Ive got some good memories of the dustbowl that is the current stage. I hope they leave the dirt floor that kicks up dust when the crowd gets going.

[MichaelB]

Cool! The two story balcony is smart..... so is the placement of the new outdoor stage... creates a common backstage area for the new indoor venue..... and directs some of the backstage maddness away from the restaurant..... good thinking! I'm excited!

[Boris]

Wal-Mart development delayed for 60 days
12/13/2006 2:06 PM
By: News 8 Austin Staff


The Austin City Council announced Wednesday that it brokered a deal with the proposed Wal-Mart at Northcross Mall to hold off for 60 days.

Council members say Wal-Mart wants to get more input from the community. For the next two months, Wal-Mart has agreed to stop development and not file any permits with the city.

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=176426

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I think that a Walmart at Northcross Mall will just bring the mall down in the end.

Memorial City Mall in Houston brought in a Target and it just brought in a clientelle which IMHO attracted low end shoppers. I heard that Nieman Marcus decided not to build at Memorial City because Target was going in. Now, Memorial City has a Target and a new JC Penney's,

This crap is in one of the highest earning zip codes in the country.

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[StoOgE]

Yepp, thats in my new backyard (Shoal Creek near 2222).

Walmart has absolutely no place in this neighborhood. Its a part of town that is really turning into a great place to be and has a real local flavor.. and they are going to throw a walmart in the middle of it.

I hate to sound elitist, but its going to bring in traffic the area doesnt need and clientel that will encourage more low end developments that could threaten to sink the entire area from its current upscale trends.

Luckily, this is in the part of town where people make noise (why do you think 2222 turns into a city street instead of a major throughofare through the neighboorhood and has for decades?). This wont happen. The wailing and nashing of teeth around here is getting REALLY loud.