AUSTIN | Misc. Discussions - No Politics

[the Genral]

If it's an office tower, it's going to have relatively low ceilings.

[austlar1]

Downtown Dallas has a long history of major high rise project announcements that never move forward. With the current uncertainty about the office market, these projects may never secure financing. Demand for office space in downtown Dallas is not that strong. The Field Street proposal might have a better shot since Goldman Sachs seems to be lined up as the major tenant.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by sjk

I'm not sure if this was already discussed in another thread, but I saw this headline and watched the clip. They mention some big projects taking place including Dallas's new tallest building, which they say will be ~90 stories tall.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/2-...elnarop0aa0VMw

Yep. "~90 stories" is media speak for ~900 foot building. I always cringe when I hear "stories" to describe the height because it can either mean it's a 900 foot building or it might mean it'll have 90 floors. A 90 floor building will pretty much always be taller than a 900 foot building.

[kingkirbythe....]

Can't find parking at the park? Austin launches weekend shuttle to Zilker

https://www.statesman.com/story/news...st/7699801001/

You've been thinking it. We've been thinking it. Say it with us: There are too many people out and about these days. As Austin's growth explodes, little things like finding a parking spot for a weekend outing to Zilker Park might involve more hassle.

Austin's Parks and Recreation Department has announced a new shuttle service to the city's central park, starting on June 25. The two free shuttles will only run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday each week. Rides will leave from One Texas Center (505 Barton Springs Road) every 20 minutes.

This is a pilot program, the city noted in a news release, and it's set to end on Sept. 5, which is Labor Day. The shuttle service also will be available during the Fourth of July holiday.

If you want to hitch a ride to Zilker, park in the One Texas Center parking garage. Tickets will be validated on the shuttle; if you don't get it validated, you'll have to pay the $10 garage fee.

Good timing, too: Barton Springs Pool, which recently resumed normal operating hours, can be a pain to park near on a triple-digit Austin weekend.

[lonewolf]

it may sound silly but archie manning committing to UT is a big deal for the city. type of recruit that comes around once every ten years and with his family name + NIL monetization possibilities this is uncharted territory. will certainly bring a couple other 5star recruits who want to play with him.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by lonewolf

it may sound silly but archie manning committing to UT is a big deal for the city. type of recruit that comes around once every ten years and with his family name + NIL monetization possibilities this is uncharted territory. will certainly bring a couple other 5star recruits who want to play with him.

Well there went $20. I bet on him going to Georgia, I agree, we can only guess just how big a deal this will be for Austin and UT. UT may be on the rise again.

[Urbannizer]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Yep. "~90 stories" is media speak for ~900 foot building. I always cringe when I hear "stories" to describe the height because it can either mean it's a 900 foot building or it might mean it'll have 90 floors. A 90 floor building will pretty much always be taller than a 900 foot building.

It turns out the news articles have been a bit misleading. The office building will be closer to 35-45 floors as it’s only 800,000 sq feet in size. The 83-story tower is proposed as residential/hotel and there hasn’t been an update on it since November 2020.

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by the Genral

Well there went $20. I bet on him going to Georgia, I agree, we can only guess just how big a deal this will be for Austin and UT. UT may be on the rise again.

UT moving to the SEC is definitely a game changer that will help them rise again. When A&M moved to the SEC, they were able to compete with UT for in state recruits for a little while, but that SEC advantage is gone now.

Also, one might argue that Austin will be the most desirable destination for young recruits in the most desirable FBS conference in the NCAA. It's a fun place for them to be that comes with NIL potential that is through the roof. SEC UT should have little excuse to not be in the running for best recruiting class in the country every year.

[kingkirbythe....]

Is there treasure buried at Walnut Creek Park?

https://www.kut.org/austin/2022-06-1...austin-history

Along Walnut Creek between North Lamar and I-35, there’s a human-made cave with metal grates covering its opening. It’s called Stark’s mine, dug over 100 years ago in an effort to find buried treasure.

A while back, KUT got a question about the treasure after a listener saw a post on Reddit about the tale. The listener wanted to know: Was there really treasure buried out there? And if so — was it ever found?

There are a lot of stories about the treasure’s origins, but that’s what happens when you’re chasing folklore.

The Reddit post was largely based on an article titled “The Sword in the Tree” written by Mike Cox and an archaeological survey of the area from the 1980s. According to Cox's story, a "Spanish mule train laden with gold coins” was attacked by Native Americans sometime in the 1800s.

“Desperate to lighten their load and escape attack, the teamsters bury all their gold in the bank of the stream that would come to be called Walnut Creek,” Cox told me.

The story goes that rather than an X, a sword was placed in a tree to show where the treasure was buried.

Cox says he doesn’t believe any of it, but adds: “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.”

[Armybrat]

J. Frank Dobie wrote about similar legends that supposedly happened all over the Southwest including Central Texas.
Fun stories to read though.

[kingkirbythe....]

Floating water park opening on Lake Travis just in time for the peak of summer

https://www.mysanantonio.com/life/tr...t-13024134.php

Lake Travis is already among the favorite spots for Texans to cool off from the summer heat, but thanks to a colorful, floating water park, the lake is about to get a lot more popular.

Waterloo Adventures partnered with Wibit — the creators of inflatable water parks — to build a floating water park and obstacle course that will feature "over 21 different elements [that] are sure to test your agility and skills," according to the Waterloo website.

Visitors of the park will have access to a 45-minute session on the obstacle course to conquer elements like hurdles, balance beams, bridges, monkey bars and more. When that time runs out guests can enjoy unlimited access to the aqua park area and play on a water trampoline, slides, climbing walls, or just float around on the complimentary saddle floats.

In early June 2018, a similar park also built by Wibit but owned by an unaffiliated company opened in Grapevine, Texas, claiming to be the largest floating water park in the state.

However, according to Brian George, one of the owners of Waterloo Park, the Lake Travis park is the largest inflatable water park in the state.

[kingkirbythe....]

Swimming at Jacob's Well suspended for foreseeable future, Hays County officials say

https://www.statesman.com/story/news...ay/7767162001/

Swimming at Hays County’s Jacob’s Well Natural Area has been suspended for the foreseeable future, county officials announced Wednesday.

The water has threats of high bacteria levels, other pollutants and poor visibility making it unsafe for swimming, officials said.

Jacob’s Well, a popular Central Texas swimming hole near Wimberley, contains the longest cave in Hays County and the second-longest fully submerged cave in Texas. The water temperature averages a cool 68 degrees year-round.

[kingkirbythe....]

‘The King of Sixth Street’ Fights for His Crown in Early 2000s Austin

https://austin.towers.net/the-king-o...-2000s-austin/

“It pains me to be here today, from Sixth Street in Austin, Texas, live music capital of the world…Houston, we have a problem. The left hand don’t know what the right hand is doing.”

— Gerry Van King, “The King of Sixth Street”

Calling himself the King of Sixth Street, musician Gerry Van King was once a one-man institution of Austin nightlife. Since at least the late 1980s, Van King busked in the bar district with an amplified bass guitar, quickly finding a usual spot in front of defunct restaurant Jazz: A Louisiana Kitchen at 214 East Sixth Street — the owners of the restaurant, appreciating the local flavor of his presence, eventually placed a neon crown in the front window over the spot where Van King stood:

...

Thanks to the Austin History Center, the film is now available online, and we believe it deserves far more than a few hundred views as an essential visual document of Austin in the early 2000s — and a great use for approximately 34 minutes of your Friday.

[kingkirbythe....]

Austin residents rejoice as ubiquitous crypto billboards disappear across the city

Need a personal injury lawyer?

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/lo...e-17274742.php

Anyone who has cruised through Austin over the last year has seen the billboards. No, not the "move to Ohio" billboards that make fun of Austin. The crypto ones. Anyone stuck on I-35 — 100% of its passengers — passing through the city wouldn't be crazy to think that formerly sleepy Austin was downright obsessed with non-fiat currency.

As a matter of fact, the billboards in Austin have largely skewed toward three categories as of late: Ohio, crypto, and lawyers, specifically ones that rock and ones who will earn you millions if a truck plows into your home. Amid the crypto crash, it appears that the state of Ohio's for-profit economic development corporation and local lawyers have eliminated the competition.


The billboards in Austin for crypto are going down and being replaced with personal injury lawyers once more.

Nature is healing.

— David Logan (@A_DavidLogan) June 20, 2022


The author of the tweet, an Austin resident named David Logan, tells MySA that his tweet wasn't merely in jest; he has seen multiple crypto billboards removed and replaced in recent weeks. Local personal injury lawyer Adam Loewy of Loewy Law Firm confirms that the crypto market falling has opened up space for lawyers like himself.

"The collapse of crypto has lead to an enormous buying opportunity in the billboard space," he tells MySA. "I’ve contracted for 25 boards in the Austin area."

[kingkirbythe....]

South by Southwest in Australia: Austin event plans a Down Under version in 2023

https://www.statesman.com/story/busi...23/7772398001/

Austin's famed South by Southwest festival is going global next year, putting on a weeklong version of the event in Australia.

The first SXSW in Sydney, Australia is scheduled to for Oct. 15-22, 2023, with plans calling for a lineup similar to that of the signature Austin event, including music, technology, film and other programming, SXSW organizers said Wednesday.

SXSW's annual Austin festival will still go on as planned on March 10-19.

SXSW LLC, the Austin-based company that operates the annual festival, said SXSW Sydney will aim is to be be an Asia-Pacific version of SXSW. The technology, film and music festival, which started in 1987, has grown to a world renowned event that attracts close to 100,000 registered attendees, speakers and media members from around the world to each year.

[OU812]

‘The King of Sixth Street’ Fights for His Crown in Early 2000s Austin

https://austin.towers.net/the-king-o...-2000s-austin/

[kingkirbythe....]

I missed this happening back in June.


Iconic South Congress store closes up shop after 33 years

https://austin.culturemap.com/news/h...fter-33-years/

The internationally diverse Tesoros Trading Co. is shutting down its South Congress Avenue store after more than 30 years as a fixture on the popular shopping and dining strip.

“After 33 years on Congress Avenue, the Tesoros store is retiring!” the store proclaimed in an Instagram post accompanied by a colorful graphic that declared, “Store Retiring!”

One Instagram commenter said of the news: “Whoa! The end of an era.”

Although the 4,000-square-foot store is “retiring,” Tesoros will still operate its online and wholesale businesses.

Through mid-June, Tesoros is conducting a store-closing sale, with half-off prices on items like scarves, sarongs, block-printed textiles, indigo rugs, hammocks, books, and Vietnamese dishes. The store’s furniture and displays also are being sold.

Tesoros is a retailer and wholesale distributor of handmade gifts, folk art, jewelry, clothing, and textiles from more than 30 countries, including Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the U.S., and Vietnam.

The store opened in 1989. Jonathan Williams and Kisla Jimenez are the owners.

For many years, Tesoros has been a go-to destination for local residents and out-of-town tourists alike. Reviews of the store appear on a slew of websites.

“It’s difficult to think of a more colorful shop in Austin than this South Congress mainstay. … There’s plenty of one-of-a-kind objects like Peruvian retalbos dioramas, but the store has even more shelves devoted to affordable treasures like coin purses, woven bracelets, and paper roses,” a reviewer wrote on the Time Out website.

[kingkirbythe....]

New build-to-rent development opens doors in booming Austin suburb

https://austin.culturemap.com/news/r...austin-suburb/

ouston real estate developer that specializes in build-to-rent homes has entered the Austin market with a 48-duplex community in Georgetown.

The developer, Wan Bridge Group, says the three- to four-bedroom, two-story duplexes are going up at Georgetown Heights, which is sandwiched between I-35 to the southeast and Lakeway Drive to the northwest. The rental duplexes, along Northwood Drive, range from 1,496 to 2,580 square feet.

Monthly rents start at $2,375. Some residents already have moved into Georgetown Heights. A ribbon-cutting ceremony recently was held at Georgetown Heights, where construction kicked off last September.

“Residents can expect all the Wan Bridge trademark qualities like modern, thoughtful designs, high-quality finishes, excellent service from our property management service, and 24/7 maintenance,” Ting Qiao, CEO of Wan Bridge, says in a news release.

Qiao tells CultureMap that seven more Wan Bridge build-to-rent communities are in the pipeline for the Austin area.

Each home at Georgetown Heights features energy-efficient appliances, a two-car garage, a private yard, a “smart home” package, and an open floor plan. Property maintenance includes lawn care and pest control services, replacement of filters and lightbulbs.

Georgetown Heights helps meet the demand for housing in fast-growing Georgetown.

From 2010 to 2020, the population of the Williamson County suburb soared by nearly 42 percent. With a growth rate of 10.5 percent from July 2021 to July 2022, Georgetown ranked as the country’s fastest-growing city with at least 50,000 residents.

Founded in 2016, Wan Bridge already operates two rental communities in Dallas-Fort Worth and 11 rental communities in the Houston metro area (including one community that’s under construction).

[kingkirbythe....]

Shonda Novak probably be lurking around here.



Say hello to Building Austin, our new real estate-focused newsletter

https://www.statesman.com/story/busi...er/7659075001/

We'd like to introduce you to Building Austin, a new American-Statesman newsletter aimed at keeping you in the loop on all the happenings in the booming Central Texas real estate and development market.

I'm Stateman reporter Shonda Novak, and I've been writing about the residential and commercial real estate market in Texas' capital city and surrounding areas for more than 21 years.

A native Texan, and having worked in cities including Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M., I returned to Austin in late 2000, just before the tech bust hit. I've been reporting ever since on the trends that have turned the five-county Austin region into what it is today: a market that booms with new development and appears on countless "best of" lists, while also covering the views of those who think the sweeping changes the Austin area is seeing are too much, too fast.

The Austin market is seeing its home prices soar, and its commercial sector is blazing with new downtown towers popping up on a seemingly daily basis. A 35-story building awaits Googlers downtown, and huge operations by Tesla, Apple and Samsung are underway elsewhere in the market.

I know the key players in Austin. My extensive list of sources and professional relationships span two decades with developers, analysts and researchers in every sector of the real estate market, and with representatives of Austin's neighborhood and environmental groups known for their legendary battles with developers.

We're excited to offer this new opportunity for you to stay on top of the stories about how the Austin metroplex is changing and growing, and of the people and projects that are driving its transformation.

So now, along with all of the content on our main website — www.statesman.com — our real estate-related articles will show up in your email inboxes every Tuesday at 1 p.m. You can sign up using this link, https://profile.statesman.com/newsle...uilding-austin

The newsletter will be free to sign up for. However, you will need a subscription to www.statesman.com to access some of the stories linked within the newsletter. Your subscription to the American-Statesman will help support local journalism, the kind you need to make informed decisions at the polls — and in your daily lives.

[JACKinBeantown]

I was exploring Google Maps and came across this ridiculous house in the west Austin hills. Looks like the love child of Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal and Le Corbusier's atrocity in Ronchamp, France. Check it out in globe view.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/44...!4d-97.7892356