AUSTIN | Fairmont Hotel | 595 FEET/ SPIRE | 456 FEET/ROOF | 37 FLRS

KevinFromTexas · #1 Posted **Jun 25, 2011, 5:38 AM**

Name: The Fairmont Austin
Developer: Manchester Texas Financial Group
Architect: Gensler
Use: Convention Hotel
Size: 1000 rooms
Floors: 48 floors
Height: 700 feet spire | 581 roof
Location: Northeast corner of Cesar Chavez Street & Red River Street
Projected start: Spring 2012
Completion: 2015

http://www.statesman.com/business/sa...inglePage=true

Quote:

San Diego developer plans 50-story hotel east of Austin Convention Center

By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 11:26 p.m. Friday, June 24, 2011
Published: 10:36 p.m. Friday, June 24, 2011

GENSLER
This rendering shows the downtown hotel planned by Manchester Financial Group. It would include 115,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, plus two restaurants and retail space.

A San Diego hotel developer plans to build a $350 million hotel with more than 50 stories and 1,035 rooms east of the Austin Convention Center. The hotel would be built on land now used for parking at the northeast corner of Red River and Cesar Chavez streets, near Waller Creek.

Manchester Texas Financial Group could find itself in competition with White Lodging Services Corp., which plans a 1,003-room Marriott Marquis hotel on Congress Avenue between Second and Third streets.

Douglas Manchester, founder and chairman of Manchester Financial Group, said Friday that the project has been going "at a pretty fast speed" and that he anticipates starting construction in the next 12 months. The project would take at least 18 to 24 months to build, he said. He said Manchester Financial can put the required equity into the project and attract the loans to complete it.

KevinFromTexas · #2 Posted **Jun 25, 2011, 5:40 AM**

Here are all the renderings I've saved of the Fairmont Hotel so far. Some of these came from the PDF linked below.

http://www.ccimtexas.com/images/webs...ment_12012.pdf

KevinFromTexas · #3 Posted **Jun 25, 2011, 5:43 AM**

From Thursday:

http://www.statesman.com/business/se...n-1558983.html

Quote:

Second developer said to be working on downtown convention hotel plan

By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 10:16 p.m. Thursday, June 23, 2011
Published: 9:39 p.m. Thursday, June 23, 2011

Austin developers Perry Lorenz and Robert Knight say they have a prospective developer who wants to build a second convention hotel on land they own at the northeast corner of Red River and Cesar Chavez streets east of the Austin Convention Center.

The hotel would have more than 1,000 rooms and require no city subsidies, Lorenz said Thursday.

Lorenz said he had met recently with most Austin City Council members about the new project — a potential rival to a proposed 1,003-room high-rise Marriott Marquis hotel on Congress Avenue.

City Council Member Bill Spelman said the emergence of a second potential project led the council on Thursday to postpone until next week a vote on $4.3 million in fee waivers for White Lodging Services Inc., which would develop the Marriott.

KevinFromTexas · #4 Posted **Jun 25, 2011, 5:43 AM**

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...conventio.html

Quote:

San Diego firm plans convention hotel in Austin

By Shonda Novak | Friday, June 24, 2011, 11:53 AM

A San Diego firm that develops and manages high-profile hotel and convention center properties plans to build a 1,035-room hotel in the Waller Creek area just east of the Austin Convention Center.

The hotel would be built on land that is now a parking lot at the northeast corner of Red River and Cesar Chavez streets. It is owned by local developers Perry Lorenz and Robert Knight.

Manchester Texas Financial Group would develop the hotel. Its parent, San Diego-based Manchester Financial Group, contributed the land for the San Diego Convention Center and built the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the Marriott Hotel and Marina in San Diego, which have a combined 3,000 rooms.

Gensler, an international architecture firm that has worked with brands including Ritz-Carlton, Starwood and Hilton, will design the project. Gensler has an Austin office in the new W hotel project downtown.

KevinFromTexas · #5 Posted **Jun 25, 2011, 6:00 AM**

We could be talking about a new tallest. Our current convention center hotel is 377 feet tall with 31 floors. This hotel would have 20 more floors plus a spire. It could end up being 550 to 600 feet to the roof and 650 to 700 feet to the spire.

The ATX · #6 Posted **Jun 25, 2011, 10:18 AM**

Since it's so close to IH35 it will make a big statement when driving through downtown.

RobertWalpole · #7 Posted **Jun 25, 2011, 1:47 PM**

This is great news for Austin!

photoLith · #8 Posted **Jun 25, 2011, 4:22 PM**

Holy balls, whats up, theres been an explosion of proposals and what not this past week, this is nuts! A few of these projects should see the light of day, especially this one.

Onn · #9 Posted **Jun 25, 2011, 7:01 PM**

This is pretty big news for Austin, WOW!

JasonShallPerish · #10 Posted **Jun 25, 2011, 11:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

We could be talking about a new tallest. Our current convention center hotel is 377 feet tall with 31 floors. This hotel would have 20 more floors plus a spire. It could end up being 550 to 600 feet to the roof and 650 to 700 feet to the spire.

I was wondering what the height of the spire (and the whole thing) was going to be. So it might pass the Austonian by 20 feet or so. This thing would be easily visible driving in from either direction on I-35, possibly seen from as far Round Rock. Good news indeed.

wwmiv · #11 Posted **Jun 25, 2011, 11:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

We could be talking about a new tallest. Our current convention center hotel is 377 feet tall with 31 floors. This hotel would have 20 more floors plus a spire. It could end up being 550 to 600 feet to the roof and 650 to 700 feet to the spire.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ndirishdad

How tall it will be? It stated 50 floors .. 600 feet?

This additional will blast out Austin skyline for sure!

COOL!!!

51 floors, according to Kevin's count. The Austonian is 56 floors at 683'. So 650' at minimum to the roof is a safe bet. Given that this thing has a spire that looks to rise about a quarter more than the building, I'd say it's a safe bet to state that this building will be at least 800 feet - I.E. a new tallest.

photoLith · #12 Posted **Jun 26, 2011, 12:19 AM**

It will be weird if this is built and if its nearly 700ft tall being in the location its in because theres nothing really tall at all or any scrapers in that area of downtown. Theres nothing really after you cross over Waller Creek from the Convention Center, its just parking lots, open land, and suburban like crap along the highway. It will be nice to have an awesome dense scraper in that area of downtown.

Its on that big tan parking lot in front of the convention center.

wwmiv · #13 Posted **Jun 26, 2011, 12:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by photolitherland

It will be weird if this is built and if its nearly 700ft tall being in the location its in because theres nothing really tall at all or any scrapers in that area of downtown. Theres nothing really after you cross over Waller Creek from the Convention Center, its just parking lots, open land, and suburban like crap along the highway. It will be nice to have an awesome dense scraper in that area of downtown.

There will be more eventually. Austin's skyline, in my opinion, is on the path to have a very Honolulu-esque or Miami-esque quality (just, ofcourse, on a smaller scale).

AusHou · #14 Posted **Jun 26, 2011, 2:40 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wwmiv

There will be more eventually. Austin's skyline, in my opinion, is on the path to have a very Honolulu-esque or Miami-esque quality (just, ofcourse, on a smaller scale).

I agree. The view from across the river shows how beautiful the new skyline is. My cousin from Virginia stayed at the Hyatt recently and was completely blown away by the view from the hotel. As much as I like the skylines of Houston, Dallas, and other cities in the U.S., there's something about the way Austin's skyline all comes together that beats out many other cities, even though it's not a huge skyline.

Complex01 · #15 Posted **Jun 26, 2011, 2:13 PM**

That is one nice looking tower. I like the spire too. It looks really good. I likes...

ATXboom · #16 Posted **Jun 26, 2011, 5:32 PM**

Good call... Honolulu, Miami and I would also say Vancouver represent the aspirational potential of Austin's skyline. It won't be office tower centric like Houston... it won't have the older devleopment of Seattle.

photoLith · #17 Posted **Jun 26, 2011, 6:14 PM**

I hope it doesnt end up looking like Vancouver or Honolulu, which have imo very ugly skylines filled with ugly condos. So far, Austins condos and such have been looking pretty damn good and lets hope they keep with the quality towers, which it looks like they are. Honolulus problem and Vancouvers is that a lot of the towers went up in the 90s, 80s, and 70s, which wasnt exactly the best time for architecture in history.

wwmiv · #18 Posted **Jun 26, 2011, 6:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by photolitherland

I hope it doesnt end up looking like Vancouver or Honolulu, which have imo very ugly skylines filled with ugly condos. So far, Austins condos and such have been looking pretty damn good and lets hope they keep with the quality towers, which it looks like they are. Honolulus problem and Vancouvers is that a lot of the towers went up in the 90s, 80s, and 70s, which wasnt exactly the best time for architecture in history.

I wasn't talking style really, I was more talking about the aesthetic of how it all comes together. Very flat and spread out. San Diego is probably a really good example.

caltrane74 · #19 Posted **Jun 27, 2011, 6:50 PM**

Wow!

What the hell has been going on in Austin these past few days?

good loard...

Thymant · #20 Posted **Jun 28, 2011, 1:09 PM**

What an Amazing tower!