AUSTIN | Ventnor Avenue (2307 Rio Grande) | 256 FT | 30 FLOORS | Proposed

[Urbannizer]

Next wave of West Campus high-rises are brewing. Site currently zoned for up to 300’.

https://x.com/theatx1/status/1942623...KAMHVCgfx518rg

[gillynova]

Hyped. The next wave of cranes in Austin

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

Next wave of West Campus high-rises are brewing. Site currently zoned for up to 300’.

https://x.com/theatx1/status/1942623...KAMHVCgfx518rg

Great.... more generic boxes.

[The ATX]

The site plan was updated and confirms that this will be 30-stories just as the Atlantic Ave. tower next door. There will be four underground parking levels and 219 RUs. Elevations are not publicly available yet.

[drummer]

West Campus is still nuts with ongoing growth and density.

[The ATX]

There are no public elevations yet, but the latest info on the site plan has the height listed as 256'. That's extremely short for a 30-story building.

[MichaelB]

Truly wish developers would stop building only student specific housing in west campus and build Studios and apartments that might bring in a mix of population. Especially Affordable housing . Could really use central Austin to appeal to people year round. Would help stability of restaurants and other businesses in the area.... .and maybe attract a grocery store. As it is, Campus area becomes a ghost town for several months. Having lived in the area for years, it's kinda nice for the traffic relief.... but I'd rather have a more well rounded and populated community year round.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

Truly wish developers would stop building only student specific housing in west campus and build Studios and apartments that might bring in a mix of population. Especially Affordable housing . Could really use central Austin to appeal to people year round. Would help stability of restaurants and other businesses in the area.... .and maybe attract a grocery store. As it is, Campus area becomes a ghost town for several months. Having lived in the area for years, it's kinda nice for the traffic relief.... but I'd rather have a more well rounded and populated community year round.

Amen. So much emphasis on that college and SO many missed opportunities for non-student housing and new businesses.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by ahealy

Amen. So much emphasis on that college and SO many missed opportunities for non-student housing and new businesses.

The crime and social dynamic that student ghettoes often introduce is the major block for a more economically diverse housing stock. I wouldn’t wanna live there, and neither will most working people because students are obnoxious, rude, and their schedules fundamentally get in the way of their working neighbors’ lives. Hence why developers don’t even bother with such projects: they aren’t economically viable because the consumer doesn’t actually exist.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

The crime and social dynamic that student ghettoes often introduce is the major block for a more economically diverse housing stock. I wouldn’t wanna live there, and neither will most working people because students are obnoxious, rude, and their schedules fundamentally get in the way of their working neighbors’ lives. Hence why developers don’t even bother with such projects: they aren’t economically viable because the consumer doesn’t actually exist.

But I've seen some good examples in Seattle? I recall going to some properties in W Campus when I was in real estate and it legit looked like a third world country. Rotting sofas at the curbs and trash everywhere. I get it

[chinchaaa]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

The crime and social dynamic that student ghettoes often introduce is the major block for a more economically diverse housing stock. I wouldn’t wanna live there, and neither will most working people because students are obnoxious, rude, and their schedules fundamentally get in the way of their working neighbors’ lives. Hence why developers don’t even bother with such projects: they aren’t economically viable because the consumer doesn’t actually exist.

yea, this is not true. i went to college in downtown richmond, virginia and the neighborhood the students live in is 50/50 students and families. it's an amazing neighborhood. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_District

[OfficialPBreton]

College students are not animals or criminals, and that you've connected the often dismal or dingy state of West Campus to the idea that students as a whole enable this is in direct contradiction to the solution.

Rotting couches and trash everywhere happen because the City isn't or can't keep up with management of the area. Littering and tossing out couches isn't exclusive to being young and in school.

Loud noises at ungodly times happen more often with students than others, but assuming that the occurrence and severity of these problems would increase for the average resident as you add non-student population is completely backwards. As you add non-students, the problems lessen. Yes early adopters in a neighborhood transitioning from 90%+ students to a better balance will probably not enjoy their experience until there is significant progress made.

On the other hand, the style of venues that often soften or completely ameliorate the issues of partying (bars/clubs) for a neighborhood can't exist when 3/4ths of their customer base disappears for 3 months at a time. Right now, there's a total of what, 3 venues in West/North Campus? Spiderhouse, Hole in the Wall, and Victory Lap. There's only 3 more bars/pubs of note - Crown & Anchor, Cain & Abel's, and Mockingbird Saloon. Those 6 establishments are supposed to serve a population of over 30,000 residents, which is just ridiculous and I could imagine why 1. there are house parties all over the place andd 2. why those house parties are popular.

Lastly, the idea that college student's schedules "get in the way" of neighbors living their lives is patently insane, if it's not a dig at loud parties late at night - otherwise see the above. Functioning cities, which is what we should be building skyscrapers/housing for in the first place, host the most diverse set of intertwined schedules ever known to God or man. Yes, there are annoying people and there's traffic and sometimes you'll hear your neighbor slam their door after they get home from their night shift at 5am. That's life, and if you think that mismatched schedules would get in the way of functional living, I will point you to Berlin, Amsterdam, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles...

[GoldenBoot]

This is now a "twin" tower proposal. Ventnor Avenue and Atlantic Avenue. Ventner is slated to have 219 units and Atlantic 212. Both in the 30 floor range (for now).

Also, there is no way these will have 8.5' floors (256' tall with 30 floors). Looks like the developers are waiting to see if they can end up going taller with new UNO rules.

[randalls]

Those look like something out of Miami.

[The ATX]

That article [which the link has since been deleted] is mostly nonsense. It rehashes the ABJ article about the project, and that "rendering" is actually a pair of towers in Thailand.

They are being referred to as twin towers because they are on adjacent lots. West Campus is a small dense area, and many of the towers/projects are next to other projects.

The towers are not 400', and we know this from the site plan and current zoning. The ABJ suggested the 400' number because 30-story buildings could in theory be 400'. But they didn't even consider the actual zoning or what the site plan states.

If zoning for West Campus changes before the developers want to start construction, they could then redesign the project and go taller. The 256' height listed in the site plan is suspiciously low and probably a typo - probably should be 286' or 296'. The actual height will be updated once the elevations are released.