AUSTIN | Projects & Construction III

[The Best Forumer]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

Austin future skyline 2020 by Henry Han, on Flickr

awesome.

[SpongeG]

In Texas, high-end renters spur urban luxury boom

It’s not just about new jobs, it’s about lifestyle options
By Patrick Sisson Mar 12, 2019


The Independent in Austin last May, right as it was topping out. Set to be the tallest residential building west of the Mississippi, it symbolizes a new era of luxury urban housing in Texas. Mary Alice Kaspar

Austin’s ongoing tech boom has been good to Kevin Burns. An Urban Land Institute member and CEO of Urbanspace, a boutique real estate firm with exclusive sales rights for many of the city’s high-end high-rises, Burns has sold units in many of the city’s most expensive apartments and condos. With Google, Apple, and Facebook, among a lineup of tech and oil companies, all opening or expanding their offices in the Texas capital, the broker foresees no shortage of wealthy clients.

“We’re the closest thing you can get to California without state income tax,” he says.

But even though Austin benefits from a concentration of tech firms and talent, Burns’s wealthy clients are not all tech employees. Take the Independent, the new downtown luxury residential project nicknamed the Jenga Tower, set to open with record-setting condo prices ranging from the high $600,000s to over $3 million. Burns has found that interest in pre-sales for the Independent covers both a wide price range and a wide demographic range, including young families and empty nesters.

...

https://www.curbed.com/2019/3/12/182...ZiEI0TU9RcObOo

[clubtokyo]

Originally Posted by Dariusb

I've fallen in love with and want to marry this picture, lol! Seriously, Austin is sprouting one hell of a skyline and will really be cooking when all the announced towers are built!

This is such a great picture and really showcases Austin’s growth!!

[427MM]

Originally Posted by gillynova

^^ Beautiful. Just wow

Couple more questions for locals, how is traffic like in Austin? Is it really bad, bearable? Is the city safe? What areas should I avoid?

(Planning to move in maybe a couple of years. I'll definitely keep watch of this thread)

Edit: I saw someone commented that Austin is known to be a very safe city so I'm glad to hear that!

Now I'm wondering is the transportation in the city. Is there a reliable public transportation going in and out of the city that's not a bus?

Sorry for asking a lot of questions haha. I hope you all have a nice weekend!

To add a few thoughts to this... Traffic depends on your choices. If you're trying to be a single occupant driver and come in and out of downtown you're not helping anyone and you'll be stuck in traffic (pretty true for any great city when trying to lug a 3,000 pound machine around). We're going big on a huge transit bond in 2020. We're currently working on Austin's Strategic Mobility Plan that really looks to move the needle on transit dedicated lanes and the like. I live in East Austin and don't own a car and there are more like me by the day.

There is a strong but fading NIMBY front. They have theirs and they don't want anyone else to be their neighbor. We're doing our best to help them keep losing.

One of the single best things about Austin and what sets it apart from so many cities is the single interstate running through it. We got lucky. Had there been a few more interstates ripping the grid apart and killing the ~100 acres around where an interstate hits an interstate this city would be a very different place. As a result, it's pretty easy to keep urban fabric when leaving DT in all directions. Really a game changer.

As for where to live--within three miles of DT--you pick! We're working to rewrite our 1984 land development code and just so happen to have the best city council we've had in recent memory. Hope is that they'll be able to get the work done that gives us a code that welcomes Compact and Connected development in central Austin as called for by our comprehensive plan--Imagine Austin.

An oddity is that our most urban district is "represented" by someone who abhors urbanism and walkability. We hope to show her the exit door soon enough...

[drummer]

Originally Posted by 427MM

One of the single best things about Austin and what sets it apart from so many cities is the single interstate running through it. We got lucky. Had there been a few more interstates ripping the grid apart and killing the ~100 acres around where an interstate hits an interstate this city would be a very different place. As a result, it's pretty easy to keep urban fabric when leaving DT in all directions. Really a game changer.

Seeing some of the older plans for expressways tearing through the downtown area, we really did dodge a bullet! That said, in cancelling these plans, they didn't really come up with other alternative solutions, which is why we're facing the growing pains we have today. That said, I'm glad to not have Cesar Chavez be a giant expressway, same with Riverside, etc.

[427MM]

Originally Posted by drummer

Seeing some of the older plans for expressways tearing through the downtown area, we really did dodge a bullet! That said, in cancelling these plans, they didn't really come up with other alternative solutions, which is why we're facing the growing pains we have today. That said, I'm glad to not have Cesar Chavez be a giant expressway, same with Riverside, etc.

And so many others--3rd St going east (g'bye east Austin), 15th across, MoPac on Lamar instead of where it is--catastrophe. Our transpiration solutions won't come in the way of four wheeled individual autos--we've got to think about how to most effectively move people, not autos.

[Urbannizer]

The Travis Phase I

[gillynova]

[GoldenBoot]

AUSTIN UPDATE

As of today, Austin’s central business district has a development pipeline of just over 30 towers either U/C-T/O, U/C, site prep, approved, site plan under review, or have been proposed (publicly) which are at least 300’ in height.

The following is a selection of some of these projects:


6XGuadalupe: 848’/65 floors/Office & Residential/Site Plan Under Review-



The Republic: 708’/46 floors/Office/Site Plan Under Review-



90 Rainey: ~615’/51 floors/Hotel & Residential/Proposed-



The Travis – Tower 1: ~595’/50 floors/Residential/Site Plan Under Review-



Block 185 – Google Tower 2: 589’/35 floors/Office/Under Construction-



44 East: 585’/51 floors/Residential/Site Plan Under Review-



Block 71 – Indeed HQ Tower: 542’/36 floors/Office/Under Construction-



Hanover Republic Square: 516’/44 floors/Residential/Site Plan Under Review-



300 Colorado – Parsley Energy HQ: 446’/32 floors/Office/Under Construction-



Austin Downtown Marriott: 386’/31 floors/Hotel/Under Construction-



5th & Brazos – Thompson & Tommie Hotels & Residences: 355’/31 floors/Hotels & Residential/Site Prep-



The Avenue – A Hyatt Centric Hotel: 346’/31 floors/Hotel/Approved-





*And more 300+ ft. towers are in the works…Stay tuned.

[Dariusb]

Wow, great stuff!

[photoLith]

Austin never stops, wow.

[ATXboom]

Great post GoldenBoot!!!

[clubtokyo]

Incredible! The Austin skyline is going to be the best in Texas in my opinion!!

[The ATX]

Good post GoldenBoot.

Austin forumers tend to hang out in the Austin subforum, and we neglect this thread. There are also a lot more significant projects happening in Austin than the dozen GoldenBoot posted.

[Dariusb]

Originally Posted by The ATX

Good post GoldenBoot.

Austin forumers tend to hang out in the Austin subforum, and we neglect this thread. There are also a lot more significant projects happening in Austin than the dozen GoldenBoot posted.

Thanks for the link. Lots of cool projects! Austin just keeps rising taller and getting denser!

[ILUVSAT]

I think ATX was referring to this link (on this website):

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/foru...hp?forumid=446

[Dariusb]

Originally Posted by ILUVSAT

I think ATX was referring to this link (on this website):

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/foru...hp?forumid=446

Ok.

[The ATX]

I wasn't referring to any link, but that's OK. Maybe Dariusb was referring to my signature.

[gillynova]

I didn't know about Block 185 – Google Tower 2 and that looks AMAZING

[The ATX]

Here are a couple more of Google #2. The "G" on top of Google #1 can be seen in the second rendering.



https://www.stgdesign.com/block-185