The Transformation of South Lamar - Page 31

drummer · #**601** Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 3:11 PM**

I forget, is there a streetcar plan for S. Lamar with Project Connect? Or is that a future idea in anyway?

H2O · #**602** Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 3:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by drummer

I forget, is there a streetcar plan for S. Lamar with Project Connect? Or is that a future idea in anyway?

No, it is just rapid bus, which already exists, but it would be extended and made more frequent. I really do think the 803 Burnet/South Lamar is the most likely to see a future upgrade to light rail, but it would be after the current Project Connect plan, unless some new source of funding somehow becomes available.

drummer · #**603** Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 4:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by H2O

No, it is just rapid bus, which already exists, but it would be extended and made more frequent. I really do think the 803 Burnet/South Lamar is the most likely to see a future upgrade to light rail, but it would be after the current Project Connect plan, unless some new source of funding somehow becomes available.

Makes sense - thanks for filling in my memory gap (and helping me to remain lazy and depend on others for info that I could go find

)...

I envision some sort of rail in the future on the 803. I do think it'd be fun (way in the future after more density) to see some streetcar circulator in the core, whether CBD only or CBD + some surrounding areas. I can dream.

Either way, this is huge for the area. I remember I used to buy a lot of music stuff at the Brook Mays and Strait Music stores across Lamar from that site. Those two and Tommy's Drum Shop got a lot of my money for a long time, haha.

StoOgE · #**604** Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 5:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by H2O

No, it is just rapid bus, which already exists, but it would be extended and made more frequent. I really do think the 803 Burnet/South Lamar is the most likely to see a future upgrade to light rail, but it would be after the current Project Connect plan, unless some new source of funding somehow becomes available.

I have some friends in the city that are working specifically on some of the stuff around project connect/2016 mobility bond package and their sincere belief is all of these metrorapid routes are future light-rail, assuming the light-rail is popular.

ATX2030 · #**605** Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 5:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by StoOgE

I have some friends in the city that are working specifically on some of the stuff around project connect/2016 mobility bond package and their sincere belief is all of these metrorapid routes are future light-rail, assuming the light-rail is popular.

Agreed Burnet/S. Lamar are prime for LRT. Wonder what colors they would use?

H2O · #**606** Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 5:32 PM**

Here is the conceptual site plan. It looks pretty good to me. The frontages could be better, but it is a difficult context. They have an all star team - DPZ, Jeff Speck, Overland and Nelsen along with Lionheart - so it should be a first class project.

StoOgE · #**607** Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 5:38 PM**

This is fantastic, hopefully it extends North with the old apartment complex to its North into something with more density (I had a friend who lived there briefly and described it as the first-stop apartment for newly divorced middle aged men

And I wouldn't mind if everything going on the East side of Lamar at Ben White made way for more density. Both of those shopping centers are basically dead other than Target and the gym.

We vs us · #**608** Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 5:40 PM**

This project is really classically awesome upfill - it’s the best case scenario for literally every car oriented shopping center in Christendom. The environmental impacts are great, but I’m a total fan of densifying and mixing the uses. Why not live near where you shop and eat? Brilliant!

StoOgE · #**609** Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 5:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by We vs us

This project is really classically awesome upfill - it’s the best case scenario for literally every car oriented shopping center in Christendom. The environmental impacts are great, but I’m a total fan of densifying and mixing the uses. Why not live near where you shop and eat? Brilliant!

Yep! This is what every dying strip mall on Earth should become.

Echostatic · #**610** Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 5:43 PM**

This is a challenging site as far as frontage goes, so I think they did a good job. The ponds are nice and I like the tallest tower being in the corner.

Sigaven · #**611** Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 5:45 PM**

Only thing that worries me about that site plan is the giant parking garage facing onto Lamar. I hope the project isn't too inward-turned to ignore Lamar frontage.

The ATX · #**612** Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 10:11 PM**

A Development Assessment permit for the Brodie Oaks PUD was filed today. There are four attachments with a lot of general info. But here are some specifics:

https://abc.austintexas.gov/public-s...ertyrsn=675249

NYC2ATX · #**613** Posted **Dec 4, 2020, 11:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by We vs us

This project is really classically awesome upfill - it’s the best case scenario for literally every car oriented shopping center in Christendom. The environmental impacts are great, but I’m a total fan of densifying and mixing the uses. Why not live near where you shop and eat? Brilliant!

One of the things I love about Austin is its capacity for adding this exact type of density that you are describing, and at a rate and consistency throughout, where a "stitch together"-type scenario of a broader urban core of such density is conceivable. Even based on today's rosiest projections for growth, we may be surprised at how built up, and "classically" dense and walkable that Austin is by 2030, or even 2050.

Also, it's not hard to see why Save Our Springs supports this project, what with the grand front door that this project is bequeathing to the Barton Creek greenbelt. Time to redevelop the Reserve apartments now?

hookem · #**614** Posted **Dec 5, 2020, 5:46 AM**

Any idea on how high the “multi-family (hirise)” would be? I think I’ll be able to see it from my house.

Syndic · #**615** Posted **Dec 5, 2020, 6:04 AM**

DPZ... now that is a name I haven't heard in a while. Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and The Congress for New Urbanism are what actually got me into following urban development. Cool to see them still hammering away.

The ATX · #**616** Posted **Dec 5, 2020, 7:14 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by hookem

Any idea on how high the “multi-family (hirise)” would be? I think I’ll be able to see it from my house.

There is a comment about a 275' height. That's about the height of a 25-story residential building. The 430 residential high-rise DUs would also indicate a residential building around 25-stories.

KevinFromTexas · #**617** Posted **Dec 5, 2020, 7:57 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by hookem

Any idea on how high the “multi-family (hirise)” would be? I think I’ll be able to see it from my house.

I did a model of one of the buildings in Google Earth at 275 feet after The ATX posted that height from the files. My neighborhood is 2 miles from it to the southeast, and I can see it from several places nearby in Google Earth. The nearest spot from me where I can see it is just 1,200 feet away from our house. I'm not surprised I can see it from there because I remember being able to see the tower cranes back when the Terrace Office buildings were built at Mopac and Ben White. Honestly, I'm sure I could see it from my street and even from my backyard if the trees didn't block the view since there is a view just on the other side of the fence and down the hill from us. I just did a quick model, and the placement is just approximate on the site, but 275 feet is going to be big for that spot, and there could end up being 5 or 6 buildings of unknown height. The tallest ones will be near Ben White & Lamar. I'll have to finish adding the rest of the buildings and post them. I'll count the floors in the renderings and guess the heights.

By the way, here are some larger renderings I pulled from one of the articles. I can't remember which one now since I just grabbed them as soon as I could to have them saved.

The ATX · #**618** Posted **Dec 5, 2020, 8:00 AM**

That was some quick work.

That height would be to the roof. So there is chance it could be the first 300 footer in South Austin. But it'll probably be closer to 290'.

The ATX · #**619** Posted **Dec 5, 2020, 8:19 AM**

The 275' height is sought for area "1A" of the PUD. The next tallest structures are in area "1B" and would be up to 160'.

We vs us · #**620** Posted **Dec 5, 2020, 3:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sigaven

Only thing that worries me about that site plan is the giant parking garage facing onto Lamar. I hope the project isn't too inward-turned to ignore Lamar frontage.

This is one of the things I generally worry about redeveloping large tracts like this -- and one of my beefs with the Domain, too, as it happens: the developer builds an inward facing walled garden of sorts -- kind of encouraging ONLY the people within to use the amenities, not encouraging people to visit from outside. And what you get are a series of pods that aren't really connected and might be isolated from one another. In some ways it's just another suburban cul de sac, but way denser.

You gotta take pains to stitch your development into the surrounding environment, whether that's adding a lot of ingress points, or connecting up the grid (if you have one), etc. In this case, Lamar IS tough to deal with here, so I can see why they might feel limited. Still. I agree with you. They should try.