Austin | 44 East | 573 Feet | 49 Floors | Complete - Page 25

drummer · #**481** Posted **Oct 5, 2021, 5:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by The ATX

Someone working on the 44 East project sent me this. This is the project that should have a public observation deck.

If not there, then at least on the lot next to the Holiday Inn...I haven't heard anything about that tower in a while. Another potential candidate could be the Statesman site if the height could be increased, but the view down the river like that is certainly the best view. What a great photo!

enragedcamel · #**482** Posted **Oct 5, 2021, 10:31 PM**

I hope we fill up south of the river with skyscrapers soon too... so much empty, wasted space there right now (minus Zilker Park and stuff, obviously).

myBrain · #**483** Posted **Oct 5, 2021, 10:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by drummer

Another potential candidate could be the Statesman site if the height could be increased, but the view down the river like that is certainly the best view. What a great photo!

Yes. And an observation deck would be great to pair with an expanded/re-worked public space at the foot of the bridge for the bat-viewing crowds.

Side note, and I don't mean to derail the thread, but I've always thought it would be cool if we had some kind of exhibit on the Mexican free tail bat nearby the bridge. Great opportunity to educate people and give them something to do in the area before/after the bats take flight.

H2O · #**484** Posted **Oct 6, 2021, 1:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by myBrain

Side note, and I don't mean to derail the thread, but I've always thought it would be cool if we had some kind of exhibit on the Mexican free tail bat nearby the bridge. Great opportunity to educate people and give them something to do in the area before/after the bats take flight.

Do you mean like the one put up by Bats Conservation International on the Statesman property below the Congress Avenue Bridge, or the one on the north shore along the Butler Trail near the Four Seasons?

myBrain · #**485** Posted **Oct 6, 2021, 3:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by H2O

Do you mean like the one put up by Bats Conservation International on the Statesman property below the Congress Avenue Bridge, or the one on the north shore along the Butler Trail near the Four Seasons?

These are just a series of placards right? I'm thinking something more interactive and kid-friendly, like an actual museum exhibit.

Geckos_Rule · #**486** Posted **Oct 6, 2021, 4:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by enragedcamel

I hope we fill up south of the river with skyscrapers soon too... so much empty, wasted space there right now (minus Zilker Park and stuff, obviously).

I think to see that, we'll need at least one building that's significantly taller than the Catherine, and the silver Jawa sand-crawler (blanking on its name...).

Then other developers would see it as viable, and it'd be possible for more. That said, it seems like something on the Statesman lot is by far the best bet.

Riverranchdrone · #**487** Posted **Oct 6, 2021, 10:26 PM**

[IMG]

DJI_0404-HDR by Jason Luebbe, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]

DJI_0394-HDR-Pano by Jason Luebbe, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]

DJI_0371 by Jason Luebbe, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]

DJI_0351-HDR-Pano by Jason Luebbe, on Flickr[/IMG]

The ATX · #**488** Posted **Oct 6, 2021, 11:06 PM**

Very nice!

drummer · #**489** Posted **Oct 7, 2021, 2:00 PM**

River looks nasty, but the skyline looks great!

resansom · #**490** Posted **Oct 7, 2021, 2:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by drummer

River looks nasty, but the skyline looks great!

I was going to say something about that. I used to regularly canoe from Zilker park before it was a thing (we're talking mid to late 70s here) and I remember how amazing it was to me at that time that the water was so clean that I could swim without a second thought. When I see what the water looks like in a lot of the pictures posted here, I can't imagine taking a canoe out on that water, let alone actually going for a swim in it.

Ladybird lake is as big a part of the unique beauty of downtown Austin as the skyscrapers we love so much. Does anyone know if the city has any plans to do anything about the water in Ladybird lake? Surely they can treat the water to kill the algal blooms, remove silt, and clean up the trash.

Riverranchdrone · #**491** Posted **Oct 7, 2021, 2:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by resansom

I was going to say something about that. I used to regularly canoe from Zilker park before it was a thing (we're talking mid to late 70s here) and I remember how amazing it was to me at that time that the water was so clean that I could swim without a second thought. When I see what the water looks like in a lot of the pictures posted here, I can't imagine taking a canoe out on that water, let alone actually going for a swim in it.

Ladybird lake is as big a part of the unique beauty of downtown Austin as the skyscrapers we love so much. Does anyone know if the city has any plans to do anything about the water in Ladybird lake? Surely they can treat the water to kill the algal blooms, remove silt, and clean up the trash.

Agreed. In some of my pictures the lake is a very ugly green. I had to walk along the hike and bike trail to get into position to take these photos and the lake smelled awful. That was even away from the homeless. There was two people cleaning up trash along the lake but that is not enough for how much trash was down there.

corvairkeith · #**492** Posted **Oct 7, 2021, 3:32 PM**

I'm a Biology lab tech at ACC. A couple weeks ago I took some samples from Lady Bird Lake at Auditorium Shores as well as the new water garden at Waterloo Park for the students to look at under a microscope. When I brought them in and took off the lids I almost gagged. I had to leave the samples in the fume hood so they wouldn't stink up the classroom.

drummer · #**493** Posted **Oct 7, 2021, 3:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by corvairkeith

I'm a Biology lab tech at ACC. A couple weeks ago I took some samples from Lady Bird Lake at Auditorium Shores as well as the new water garden at Waterloo Park for the students to look at under a microscope. When I brought them in and took off the lids I almost gagged. I had to leave the samples in the fume hood so they wouldn't stink up the classroom.

So what's the verdict? Is it toxic sludge or not?

resansom · #**494** Posted **Oct 7, 2021, 4:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by drummer

So what's the verdict? Is it toxic sludge or not?

Better question: how long until we reach this:

corvairkeith · #**495** Posted **Oct 7, 2021, 4:49 PM**

Pretty sure he lives here.

H2O · #**496** Posted **Oct 7, 2021, 6:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by corvairkeith

Pretty sure he lives here.

OK, to be fair, that is a water quality pond that is supposed to capture and treat pollutants from all the new impervious cover in the park before it goes into Lady Bird Lake. It looks like it is working.

migol24 · #**497** Posted **Oct 7, 2021, 7:01 PM**

Whatever happened to those invasive mussels that were clearing out the water? Are those still a thing?

WestAustinite · #**498** Posted **Oct 7, 2021, 7:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by resansom

Better question: how long until we reach this:

Pretty good dental work for a slime monster

ATXboom · #**499** Posted **Oct 7, 2021, 7:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riverranchdrone

[IMG]

DJI_0404-HDR by Jason Luebbe, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]

DJI_0394-HDR-Pano by Jason Luebbe, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]

DJI_0371 by Jason Luebbe, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]

DJI_0351-HDR-Pano by Jason Luebbe, on Flickr[/IMG]

Good lord thats a lot of surface lots around Statesman site. That can't get redeveloped soon enough. What a hole in the city.

the Genral · #**500** Posted **Oct 7, 2021, 7:16 PM**

One good, prolonged rain event and some of the gunk will be washed down stream, only to be replaced by trash and debris. Better trade off? I think lawn fertilizer from all the houses upstream has something to do with it. We keep feeding the geew.