AUSTIN | Tech 3443/Zen Garden/Austin Viie/EightFold | Mixed Use Development

[KevinFromTexas]

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...re-amazon.html

Huge $400M project in East Austin aims to lure Amazon, rival The Domain as Austin's 'second downtown'

Just six miles from Austin’s urban core, a local developer has quietly broken ground on a $400 million mixed-use project he believes will one day rival downtown and The Domain — and potentially even score Amazon.com Inc.'s second headquarters.

The 125-acre project, called Eightfold, aims to transform the decaying former Motorola campus in East Austin into a beacon of the “live-work-play” concept based on the eight principles of Buddhism.

With 4.8 million square feet in entitlements — that's the equivalent of about nine Frost Bank Towers — the project has permits to remodel three buildings, and additional permitting is underway, according to city of Austin records. The company reports it secured its first $200 million in financing. About 300 subcontractors already are on site with plans to deliver 525,000 square feet of building space by the end of the year. Eightfold already has secured about 250,000 square feet in leases from three major tenants.

The renderings from the article:

Office towers




Mixed use - Office, hotel, retail

[clubtokyo]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...re-amazon.html


The renderings from the article:

Office towers




Mixed use - Office, hotel, retail

Reminds me of an Asian development. It would be cool if this really cam to life but I’m not confident.

[austlar1]

Isn't this location a straight shot down MLK from 183 to downtown area? 183 is slated for major upgrade through that area as well. This seemingly out of the way location could actually prove to be very accessible to town and to new housing developments on the east edge of Austin. If it happens, the inner east side gentrification might become a tsunami. Fingers crossed on this one. The renderings are kind of scary though. Definitely not my cup of tea.

[Riverranchdrone]

Wont those towers be too tall to by in ABIA's flight path?

[ahealy]

Omg this is so great....reminds me of something you'd see near NASA.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by Riverranchdrone

Wont those towers be too tall to by in ABIA's flight path?

The tower renders definitely don't match the article

"Construction crews are busy plowing through the cleanup and renovations as Zarafshani secures additional permitting and zoning variances to allow for greater building height to 60 feet. "


The current zoning appears to be LI-NP.


The most recent Code Next proposed zoning was IF (industrial flex).


To do this proposal, it definitely seems like they'd have to do a PUD.

[freerover]

A big advantage of the lot is the ability to add a stop onto possible future Green and Mokan Lines. Someone like Amazon settling here and donating to the construction of the line in exchange for incentives would add a lot of value to the lot and to the city.

It would give you a rail connection to downtown, connection to the Red Line, East Austin, Manor and Elgin via the Green Line. It would also connect to a possible future rail to the airport by Transferring at the Downtown Station. There is also ROW available to build a rail line using the old Mokan tracks to Pflugerville, Round Rock and Georgetown and that line would go through Eightfold on its way to downtown.


I mean, 183 is going to have less congestion than 35 especially if/when they rebuild 35. This is what they are in the process of turning 183 into:
• Video Link

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by freerover

A big advantage of the lot is the ability to add a stop onto The Green Line.

The corporate campus part of the property is actually pretty far removed from the Green Line (1/3 mile at the closest and across what may officially be part of the Walnut Creek Green Belt).

That's about as far as the Domain, but it's nothing like the potential of Broadmoor.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by Novacek

The corporate campus part of the property is actually pretty far removed from the Green Line (1/3 mile at the closest and across what may officially be part of the Walnut Creek Green Belt).

That's about as far as the Domain, but it's nothing like the potential of Broadmoor.

They could use the ROW from the Mokan line which runs next to the complex by Hudson St and then cut through the Water Treatment plan to get back to the green line rail.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by freerover

They could use the ROW from the Mokan line which runs next to the complex by Hudson St and then cut through the Water Treatment plan to get back to the green line rail.

You're proposing to re-route the path of the actual Green line into the Mokan corridor to run it closer?

It definitely has that advantage (and what you're re-routing it away from doesn't really have any development/density).

My concerns would be

1. The additional cost above and beyond the large cost to start passenger service on the green line.
2. TxDot apparently claims Mokan can't be used for rail.
3. You'd be introducing 2 pretty small radius curves (ie slow) to get back to the old alignment.
4. There's also the disruption/potential disruption to the greenbelt, the trail, and the water treatment plant.

None of those are necessarily fatal (if that were to be the cost of getting Amazon) but they are some hurdles.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Isn't this location a straight shot down MLK from 183 to downtown area? 183 is slated for major upgrade through that area as well. This seemingly out of the way location could actually prove to be very accessible to town and to new housing developments on the east edge of Austin. If it happens, the inner east side gentrification might become a tsunami. Fingers crossed on this one. The renderings are kind of scary though. Definitely not my cup of tea.

MLK is a bit north of there, but not by much. You're right, it would be the logical artery into downtown from there. There's also the rail line bordering it to the south. It's not a bad plan really. The only fly in the ointment is the contrary FAA since both runways at ABIA line up almost perfectly with the property.

It's why I think Riverside Drive and environs (south to 71) is a much more logical target of increased vertical density on that side of the city.

[austlar1]

Just looked at a map. The longer runway on the west side of airport lines up a bit west of the project. The shorter runway on the eastern side of airport lines up very close to the eastern edge of the site. The site is about three miles (maybe a little more) distance from the end of the runways, so I am guessing that nothing taller than 20 stories would be permitted, maybe less. It would be another office park environment, but if enough housing and other amenities are included, it could house a considerable office component as well as new well located (and possibly more affordable?) housing. I totally agree that the Riverside corridor is the logical place to plan for really tall buildings. I expect that area to merge into an expanded central business district over the next 20 or 30 years, if Austin can continue to grow and prosper.

[ILUVSAT]

If the FAA is screwing with height in the CBD...think what they can limit here!

I don't see anything above 6-7 stories on this site cuz of the damn FAA.

[The ATX]

Everything about this project seems like a silly fantasy except the fact that $200 million in financing has been raised. So I'm hopeful that this turns into something more than rehabbed abandoned industrial buildings.

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by ILUVSAT

If the FAA is screwing with height in the CBD...think what they can limit here!

I don't see anything above 6-7 stories on this site cuz of the damn FAA.

The current recommended FAA height restriction is no taller than 250 feet within 10,000 feet of the end of a runway. This Eightfold site is about 15,000 feet (aprox. 3 miles) from the end of any runways. The FAA wanted to reduce this nationwide standard recommendation (it is not legally binding, but any development not adhering to it would face ruinous insurance costs and difficulty with lenders) to 160 feet as recently as 2014 or 2015. They got an enormous amount of push back from real estate developers around the country, and I don't believe it was actually changed. I think buildings as high as 20 stories might be possible in this development

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by The ATX

Everything about this project seems like a silly fantasy except the fact that $200 million in financing has been raised. So I'm hopeful that this turns into something more than rehabbed abandoned industrial buildings.

The HQ2 part seems silly to me, but the time might be right to try to attract substantial business development over in that area. The location is really rather central in an odd sort of way. It is just a few miles from downtown. There is massive new residential development happening just northeast of there, and the city wants more of the same. There is a long term possibility of commuter rail of some sort headed from town to Manor and Elgin. The new not-so-free "Airport Freeway" is under construction directly adjacent. The area between 183 and IH35 is a very trendy gentrification zone now that old East Austin has become so expensive. I think there is real potential for something game changing to happen there.

[wwmiv]

Here are some drone shots posted on Vimeo a year ago by EightFold of the current land:

https://vimeo.com/188317789

[The ATX]

Eightfold Development added a full on Fantasy Land video to their Youtube Channel this afternoon. It starts off with drone shots of the campus from the Vimeo video that wwmiv posted before it gets weird. They even have a couple of robots mingling among the happy humans in a futuristic greenspace.

• Video Link

Here are some stills of the towers that will never happen. But I can't fault the developer for dreaming.

[Jdawgboy]

Um yea... Can you say in your dreams? There be flying saucers or giant drones floating around lol. The quality is horrible, looks like something out of the late 90s. Is this a plan for the year 2100 I take it?.

I mean seriously, the presentation is at best unprofessional and at worst, down right ridiculous.

This leaves me with serious questions regarding the legitimacy of this company and how serious they are with the future development of this property.

If your going to make a video showing a vision, it's a good idea to produce the highest quality that you can because I can't see how they can lure companies with something so cheesy.

[wwmiv]

The whole thing looks like MineCraft.