Austin | Town Lake YMCA PUD - Three Towers | Up to 425 Ft | 39/36/33 Flrs | Proposed

[chinchaaa]

Greater Austin YMCA taps developer to reimage Townlake property

The project will include market-rate housing, and initial designs also include 90 affordable rental units and a new 110,000 square foot YMCA center.

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...illennium.html

[Echostatic]

90 units isn't particularly many but I suppose if you're keeping the Y on that site it's a lot better than nothing. Hope they improve the connection to the Amtrak station.

EDIT: Reading more closely the article says 90 units alongside market-rate housing, so this could actually be a pretty sizeable development.

[Urbannizer]

Originally Posted by Echostatic

90 units isn't particularly many but I suppose if you're keeping the Y on that site it's a lot better than nothing. Hope they improve the connection to the Amtrak station.

EDIT: Reading more closely the article says 90 units alongside market-rate housing, so this could actually be a pretty sizeable development.

The city should allow taller buildings here and the large vacant areas south of W 5th. Can create a whole new district there.

[The ATX]

Plans for a nearly 5 acre project called the Town Lake YMCA PUD were discussed at yesterday's Environmental Commission meeting. Plans call for:

Three towers
425' Building heights
750 RUs with 90 affordable units
110K Sq Ft New YMCA facility
13K Sq Ft Preschool/daycare
10K Sq Ft Ground floor restaurant




Link to presentation: https://services.austintexas.gov/edi....cfm?id=460414

[The ATX]

A concept rendering from the meeting...

That would be Tower C per the site layout.

[BrBlu]

I can never say no to a brise soleil! Especially on somthing generic like your standard Ymca.
Hope they can pull it off

[clubtokyo]

Oh that would be a wonderful addition to austin!

[drummer]

If those heights hold for that area, that would be pretty substantial for west of Lamar.

I'm still holding out hope that someday...just someday...the rail line there will turn into some sort of regional rail (like the unfortunate Lonestar Rail), which would be cool to have some density right by a downtown station. Amtrak can hang out also, I guess. UP can go east of town in a perfect world.

[ahealy]

Build it nowwww. Expand the skyline and urban living much further west. Austin needs this yesterday

and drummer, I am totally with you on regional rail. Someday....

[BurtMacklin_FBI]

Real density going up west of Lamar, more housing, more affordable units, new childcare facilities, beautiful new design for the Y... that's the good stuff.

[The ATX]

Here is some more detailed info from the Town Lake YMCA PUD filing. The PUD filing with project details was filed in early July. I missed that filing for some reason. I'm somewhat surprised no other local source picked up on it - especially since the YMCA announced in May that a redevelopment plan was in the works.

Five buildings
1. Three towers with 425' height limits and up to a combined total of 750 RUs
2. One affordable apartment building with 90 RUs
3. The current 47.8K SF YMCA will be replaced with a new 110K SF YMCA building
4. One 10K SF retail space - most likely a restaurant - to be located in one of the five buildings

Included within the new 110K SF YMCA building:
>83K SF YMCA Facility
>13K SF Preschool
>7.5K SF Child play area
>4.5K SF Youth development center including mental health services
>2K SF Community retail (whatever that is)

A free YMCA membership for residents of the project

[The ATX]

I like the fact that the Townlake YMCA never changed their name to Ladybirdlake YMCA.

[IluvATX]

I think it’d be cool if all 3 towers were identical.

[Urbannizer]

https://communityimpact.com/austin/s...dable-housing/

[The ATX]

Based on the two massings, this is what I get for floor counts assuming each tower has a rooftop amenities level:

Tower A: 33-stories, 199 RUs
Tower B: 36-stories, 222 RUs
Tower C: 39-stories, 294 RUs

[ILUVSAT]

So, if they are asking for a height limit of 425', then:

39 floors = 425'
36 floors = ~392'
33 floors = ~360'

[chinchaaa]

I really hope they don’t value engineer the garage podiums facing the water like this.

[urbancore]

Originally Posted by IluvATX

I think it’d be cool if all 3 towers were identical.

Hard no.

[Croon]

Need much more "affordable housing".

25-30 years ago civic leaders and such making trips to Vancouver, BC would come back home and say we need a downtown residential construction boom here and they pretty much promised it would bring affordable housing to downtown- which hasn't panned out. It should be affordable enough for folks in service/hospitality/custodial/retail/conference event staffing industries- who are the backbone of the downtown labor force by day and night.

So, announcments like these fail to excite me these days.

[GoldenBoot]

Nobody "promised" anything other than to reiterate the fact that more, dense housing will eventually bring costs down. Supply and demand. And, developers are not going to over supply housing just to lower sales costs on themselves. It takes a lot of time to build the density to see real change. Even with the current amount of residential in central Austin, it's still not enough to noticeably bring costs down. Think about the urban densities of some older, more established large cities across the country and the world. Austin is nowhere as dense - thus, it's challenging to bring costs down. Those on City Council are still quite timid when permitting density. And, I mean real density - not an apartment building.

Additionally, developers are not going to be able to construct "affordable" housing, in central Austin, without subsidies. The cost of land and construction are prohibitive without them. So, what exactly is the City doing with the hundreds of millions of "affordable housing" dollars they have received through bond elections and density bonuses? I don't know.