Austin | Domain/North Austin

[East7thStreet]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Reminds me of the place that got torn down just north of St. John on the west side of IH35, a 1950's style motel spread out in a park like setting of mature trees, etc. I forget what it was called, but it turned into one huge crack hotel. This proposal is certainly is not the urban icon that one might expect from the developers of Austin's "second downtown". I personally think the entire Domaine project is trash, a pseudo urban environment for people who hope to avoid any kind of contact with a real urban environment.

That crack hotel just north of St Johns was torn down a few years ago. Hopefully something new is built there as now the vacant lot is filled with the homeless and day laborers.

[Mopacs]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Reminds me of the place that got torn down just north of St. John on the west side of IH35, a 1950's style motel spread out in a park like setting of mature trees, etc. I forget what it was called, but it turned into one huge crack hotel. This proposal is certainly is not the urban icon that one might expect from the developers of Austin's "second downtown". I personally think the entire Domaine project is trash, a pseudo urban environment for people who hope to avoid any kind of contact with a real urban environment.

The old hotel was the Chariot Inn.. My family would go for the Thanksgiving meals every year at the hotel restaurant. Kind of funny looking back, but the hotel grounds really were a cool little oasis.

Here's an old photo:



http://www.cardcow.com/102126/best-w...-austin-texas/

EDIT... be sure to check out the linked site above. The old postcards of Austin are amazing!

Regarding the Domain hotel, I completely agree. Looks out of place.

[PartyLine]

Dunno if anyone saw this on the news some things going on in the North Burnet area

http://www.kvue.com/news/Master-plan...158485685.html

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.statesman.com/business/re...e-2439568.html

New apartment project joins Burnet Road renaissance

By Shonda Novak
Updated: 8:46 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012
Published: 8:31 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012

Amid the region's apartment building boom, Ardent Residential has broken ground on Burnet Flats, a project that will bring 179 upscale apartments to an evolving stretch of Burnet Road in North Central Austin.

At 5453 Burnet, next to Karavel Shoes, Burnet Flats is Austin-based Ardent's second project along Burnet between 45th Street and RM 2222/Koenig Lane. Ardent also developed a 175-unit mixed-use project two blocks south that it sold to AMLI in December 2010.

Burnet Flats' first units are expected to be ready in late 2013, with the project due to wrap up in the second quarter of 2014. Market rates have not yet been set, said Brett Denton, co-founder and a principal in Ardent along with Art Carpenter. Some units will be leased to qualifying tenants at below-market rents. The project will also have about 3,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.

The height that I have for this is 56 feet with 5 floors.

Rendering:

[JoninATX]

It just keeps on getting better...

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/l...-faces-/nT3LZ/

Posted: 3:32 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013
BRENTWOOD
Plan for Little Woodrow’s bar on Burnet Road faces opposition from neighbors

By Farzad Mashhood
American-Statesman Staff

Residents along fast-changing Burnet Road in North Central Austin are fighting a plan to bring a bar to the area, and so far they haven’t found many allies in City Hall.

The owner of Little Woodrow’s, a popular chain of nine bars in Austin and Houston, hopes to install a fifth location amid new storefronts and across the street from a four-story AMLI apartment building that opened in 2010, but he needs the City Council to approve a zoning change first.

City officials say rezoning the property, previously a real estate office, to allow a bar is appropriate for a commercial area such as that, and the City Council has given the move preliminary approval, with a final vote tentatively scheduled for Jan. 31.

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/b...entwood/nWLQP/

Posted: 6:49 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013
STATESMAN IN-DEPTH: CENTRAL AUSTIN DEVELOPMENT
Burst of growth raises hackles in Brentwood

By Ricardo Gandara
American-Statesman Staff

Sam Shore’s 3-year-old daughter almost got struck by a car crossing busy Koenig Lane one morning. She was on a bike with training wheels and the car was coming fast, so close that her mother, Christie, shoved the child out of the way to keep her from getting hit. The bike hit a curb, and the girl took a tumble.

The child, Poet, broke her collarbone, but “we were lucky,” said Sam Shore. His wife, Christie, called Austin 311 to report the incident to get the city’s attention.

Sam Shore believes near misses like this are becoming too common in the Brentwood neighborhood in North Central Austin where his family lives, a place where growth has flooded the streets with too much traffic, as far as he’s concerned.

It’s about to get some more.

[SecretAgentMan]

North Burnet / Gateway is north of 183.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by SecretAgentMan

North Burnet / Gateway is north of 183.

We know, but we've been using it as shorthand for the entire corridor in this thread. Look at the history of posts.

[smith_atx]

Two new office projects planned at the Domain; HomeAway to be among tenants

The Domain 2 building is the first of two new office buildings planned for the development. The second office building, to be known as Domain 7, is scheduled to break ground in August or September and open in late 2014, Marsh said. The six-story building will have 222,000 square feet of space, Marsh said.

http://www.statesman.com/news/busine...in-home/nYg3B/

[KevinFromTexas]

I found the heights for Domain 7. It'll be 94 feet 6 inches to the mechanical penthouse and 86 feet to the main roof.

https://www.austintexas.gov/devrevie...erRSN=10781470

The elevations are files 39, 40 and 41.

I couldn't find the files for Domain 2.

Rendering:

[wwmiv]

That's a beautiful building.

[LoneStarMike]

There was a link to an uglier rendering (with the Home Away signage) in a separate article in the AAS.

link

[KevinFromTexas]

That one is for the 5-story Domain 2 which I think Homeaway is going to occupy. Honestly that building has better street interaction than Domain 7 does.

This is Endeavor's page showing Domain 7. It shows there being a driveway right up to the building.

http://www.endeavor-re.com/property/office/domain-7/

Here's another PDF showing a slightly different rendering.

http://www.endeavor-re.com/get-pdf.p...7_Brochure.pdf

[M1EK]

These are depressingly short for the so-called 'second downtown'. Even the IBM buildings on the east side of Burnet go 8 stories, although they suffer from suburban campus syndrome.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by M1EK

These are depressingly short for the so-called 'second downtown'. Even the IBM buildings on the east side of Burnet go 8 stories, although they suffer from suburban campus syndrome.

I agree, I've been really disappointed with how the Domain is turning out. Its just an overglamorized outdoor mall with low to some mid level density. It really doesn't seem like its going to be anymore than that and I have yet to see anything in the future phases that would change that.

I know several people like the Mueller development but I feel the same way about it as well, it could have been much more than what it is. If I was the urban planner and designer, it would have been a lot better.

In a way its still a good thing we have yet to see a real high density area outside of Downtown/Capitol/UT/West Campus because it keeps the focus on Downtown development and density. I think the city should concentrate on building out the central core, once that is done then build a real secondary high density uptown or 2nd DT. If they start one sooner then you'll see many developers likely overlooking DT due to the higher land values which could severely slow DT growth.

[KevinFromTexas]

Domain 7 is a pretty good sized building. 222,000 square feet could have easily made it a highrise had they made the footprint smaller. The twin One & Two Stonebridge Plaza buildings at Mopac & 183 are each 202,000 square feet. The two buildings are 9 floors each (no parking in the tower) and 150 feet tall. They're some of the tallest suburban office buildings in Austin. This building could have been 10 floors and double the height it is had they made it comparable to those.

[smith_atx]

Well I for one enjoy what the Domain provides me. Since I can't reasonably afford to live downtown, Hyde Park, or any of the other west/central neighborhoods, NW Austin is where I reside. My employer leases in a midrise right next to the domain so it's nice for me to live/work within a 5 mile drive. I don't know, it seems to me that there will be significant employment there in the upcoming years and if that means more people get to work closer to where they live then all the better.

Of course I don't think it will ever be seen as a "2nd downtown" and whoever thought to market it that way shouldn't have. But without an enhanced mass transit system for the city, it does/could keep people like me from clogging up the downtown streets. Just my opinion.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by smithlua

Well I for one enjoy what the Domain provides me. Since I can't reasonably afford to live downtown, Hyde Park, or any of the other west/central neighborhoods, NW Austin is where I reside. My employer leases in a midrise right next to the domain so it's nice for me to live/work within a 5 mile drive. I don't know, it seems to me that there will be significant employment there in the upcoming years and if that means more people get to work closer to where they live then all the better.

Of course I don't think it will ever be seen as a "2nd downtown" and whoever thought to market it that way shouldn't have. But without an enhanced mass transit system for the city, it does/could keep people like me from clogging up the downtown streets. Just my opinion.

I like the Domain also. To appreciate it even more, I got to watch the IBM manufacturing complex I worked at since '81 get torn down after I was laid off after 23 years of service.The transformation and continuing evolution is quite amazing to me. When it was being touted as a second downtown, there was, I believe, at least one 30 story hotel planned. I don't think when its built out it will even be on the same scale as the old Mueller airport developement, excluding the single family homes of course. My one problem with the Domain is that from Burnet road, there are vast areas that don't look very appealing, in fact downright ugly. Hopefully that will change when they finish with the construction.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by the Genral

I like the Domain also. To appreciate it even more, I got to watch the IBM manufacturing complex I worked at since '81 get torn down after I was laid off after 23 years of service.The transformation and continuing evolution is quite amazing to me. When it was being touted as a second downtown, there was, I believe, at least one 30 story hotel planned. I don't think when its built out it will even be on the same scale as the old Mueller airport developement, excluding the single family homes of course. My one problem with the Domain is that from Burnet road, there are vast areas that don't look very appealing, in fact downright ugly. Hopefully that will change when they finish with the construction.

I also like the Domain. It was a great re-purposing of a huge abandoned (more or less) industrial site that would have stayed that way in many cities. Since I live in BF Way South Metro I only went to the Domain for the first time in January. At that time they were finishing up the demo of the IBM building that I worked in for so many years.