Austin | 415 Colorado | 640 Feet | 47 Floors | U/C

[KevinFromTexas]

I think it's about 600 feet. In the overhead view looking southwest, the roof appears to be about as high as the main roof of The Austonian, which is 622 feet. However, this lot is 15 to 20 feet higher in elevation than The Austonian lot. It's definitely taller than Frost, Hanover Republic Square, and even the Indeed Tower.

[ATX2030]

Looks to be about 300' taller that the 356' Molar next door. Who knows based on the render but I'll take anything over 600'!

[drummer]

Just block that blank wall and I'll be happy.

[Urbannizer]

🥲

[DaveinWimberley]

You gotta be s***ting me!
WTF is this about???

[We vs us]

Probably my biggest disappointment in the entire time I’ve been in Austin. I mean look at that mother. Completely transformative. Would’ve changed the landscape here completely and utterly.

Kinda completely vaults over the blue glass box into The Space Age. It’s like a gosh dang starship.

EDIT: still makes me intensely curious about who wanted this in the first place, and what happened so that we ended up with it’s utter opposite now planned in that spot.

[DaveinWimberley]

Originally Posted by We vs us

Probably my biggest disappointment in the entire time I’ve been in Austin. I mean look at that mother. Completely transformative. Would’ve changed the landscape here completely and utterly.

Kinda completely vaults over the blue glass box into The Space Age. It’s like a gosh dang starship.

EDIT: still makes me intensely curious about who wanted this in the first place, and what happened so that we ended up with it’s utter opposite now planned in that spot.

I agree. A few people had reservations about it, but to me it would have been like Austin's version of Fountain Place in Dallas. It would have made a statement for the Austin skyline that would have made it recognizable to practically everyone in the country, which, perhaps surprisingly to most people here, it currently is not.

[The ATX]

Covid killed the original version.

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by The ATX

Covid killed the original version.

What does that mean exactly?

[myBrain]

Just go ahead and pour salt on the wound, thanks

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by We vs us

What does that mean exactly?

Ryan Co. sold the project because WFH decreased the demand for office space. This was a huge amount of office space, and getting financing for it was not going to happen any time soon. There is still a big demand for residential.

[migol24]

Is there a way we can sabotage the new project until they bring back the old one? We'll be NIMBYs and stand out there with picket signs. Lol

[KevinFromTexas]

Yeah, office demand took a hit during Covid. This was just an issue of bad timing. Not even their fault either.

I think it's goofy, though. As if things won't ever be back to normal and there will never be a use for office buildings again. There were some wild theories about that, but it's baloney.

[StoOgE]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I think it's goofy, though. As if things won't ever be back to normal and there will never be a use for office buildings again. There were some wild theories about that, but it's baloney.

Lots of companies *are* going to permanently move to hybrid models.

When I worked for Goldman they had already begun moving lots of departments to floating desks - basically you didn't have a permanent desk in any one location so you could easily float between different offices and used VPN to pull up your desktop. It didn't work for all departments of course (trade desks, control room, etc) but they employed it. Corporate culture meant very few people would work from home due to it harming career advancement - and that may be what ultimately pushes workers back into spaces more than anything else - not wanting to be forgotten.

I think we will see office space developers become a bit more cautious over the next 3-5 years until they see how this shakes out. Lots of employees want more flexible WFH ability and I think any company that is rigid in their demands for in-person may find themselves losing out to top talent.

[DaveinWimberley]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Yeah, office demand took a hit during Covid. This was just an issue of bad timing. Not even their fault either.

I think it's goofy, though. As if things won't ever be back to normal and there will never be a use for office buildings again. There were some wild theories about that, but it's baloney.

I never really got this concept that everybody was going to start working remotely. What an absolutely boring world! If I worked for Google, I would WANT to work in their building, considering how many fun things there are there. And your workplace friends? What does one want to do? Cut oneself off from the people of the entire World? No wonder so many people all over the world were going bonkers and beginning to believe in conspiracy theories that shouldn't exist outside of psychiatric case studies, with people becoming more and more antisocial by the week! The covid pandemic was like a nightmare, and it shouldn't be surprising that it made a lot of people weird, because it was hard to deal with, but finally, me, and most of the people I know, are breathing a BIG sigh of relief at getting our lives back to normal. And, yes, it IS baloney, Kevin, and downright insane that people were going to have to live in some new, dystopian world rather than having the world just get back to normal. It did 100 years ago when we had the last pandemic, (and back in those days, people didn't think the world was ever going to get back to normal, just like now) and it will this time, as well.

[KevinFromTexas]

I just think it's funny. People were whining about the lockdowns, worrying about what social distancing was doing to social life, it being both physically and mentally unhealthy and being bad for your immune system being away from others, but they're totally cool with staying home instead of going to the office. lol

[myBrain]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I just think it's funny. People were whining about the lockdowns, worrying about what social distancing was doing to social life, it being both physically and mentally unhealthy and being bad for your immune system being away from others, but they're totally cool with staying home instead of going to the office. lol

I have to second Stoog, it seems to me (at my company and many of my friends who work at other tech companies) that some sort of hybrid model is beginning to emerge. A lot of people are sick of being stuck at home, but jumping back into the standard M-F 9-5 isn't exactly appealing either, especially if it means dealing with Austin traffic again. Personally, I'd like to go in 2-3 days a week, knock out meetings in-person (I really am sick of video calls), and then take care of most of my deskwork at home.

My office is currently mulling a floating/hotdesk arrangement. We've grown since quarantine so we'd either need to reconfigure or find new space if everyone suddenly wanted to go back in right away. But if they encourage teams to stagger their office usage it could prevent us from having to lease more space.

[The ATX]

Work From Home is sticking around. But people do like to get out of their homes and be around humans that they don't live with. So it won't be as significant as a lot of people thought it would be last year. But it's enough to dampen the office market for a couple years.

[DaveinWimberley]

Originally Posted by myBrain

I have to second Stoog, it seems to me (at my company and many of my friends who work at other tech companies) that some sort of hybrid model is beginning to emerge. A lot of people are sick of being stuck at home, but jumping back into the standard M-F 9-5 isn't exactly appealing either, especially if it means dealing with Austin traffic again. Personally, I'd like to go in 2-3 days a week, knock out meetings in-person (I really am sick of video calls), and then take care of most of my deskwork at home.

My office is currently mulling a floating/hotdesk arrangement. We've grown since quarantine so we'd either need to reconfigure or find new space if everyone suddenly wanted to go back in right away. But if they encourage teams to stagger their office usage it could prevent us from having to lease more space.

I'm sure that the companies LOVE the fact that workers provide their own work space and computers when they work from home, which saves them a lot of money. And guess what? They are NOT about to share that savings with their workers. This is the biggest scam since trickle down economics!
And since the employees will have far less contact with other employees, they will have less negotiating power.
Like they say, there's a sucker born every minute. They will sell their souls to save a gallon of gas!

[Altoic]

Originally Posted by DaveinWimberley

I'm sure that the companies LOVE the fact that workers provide their own work space and computers when they work from home, which saves them a lot of money. And guess what? They are NOT about to share that savings with their workers. This is the biggest scam since trickle down economics!
And since the employees will have far less contact with other employees, they will have less negotiating power.
Like they say, there's a sucker born every minute. They will sell their souls to save a gallon of gas!

I don't think working at home will be the future. I know many who hate, and many who love working at home. By now I've seen 20+ articles about how working at home sucks. It all just comes down to what the company decides for the workers.