According to the ABJ’s Jacob Dirr’s twitter feed, paperwork was filed today by Bury and Partners for the construction of Hotel Van Zandt. This time sans condos. We confirmed this with the city, and indeed the .68 acre site is back in play. Owned by JMI Realty, the site sits adjacent (north) of The Shore Condos in Downtown Austin’s Rainey Street neighborhood. Years ago, the project was slated to be a hotel and condos. The newly envisioned project scraps the condo idea, and we expect the height to be reduced to 16 stories.
When completed, the increase in pedestrian traffic that comes with a hotel like this will draw day time and retail uses onto Rainey Street, and in general the Waller Creek District.
According to JMI’s website, (which may be out dated) the plan calles for:
Hotel Van Zandt, vitals: 16 stories 327 rooms three levels of underground parking restaurant 6800 ft pool deck 12000 ft of meeting space 1300 ft exercise facility
About Jude Galligan
Not the most inspired design, IMO. Hoping we will see some aesthetic enhancements, considering this building will be with us for a while.
Hope for the best. Plan for the worst. One would think that the design of hotel with the name Van Zandt would be a bit more of a RocknRolla.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Van_Zandt
Adding to the critical mass downtown . . . More hotel space is needed and a hotel on Rainey Street will add to that street’s vibrancy . . . JMI does good work.
Where exactly is the hotel going to be located?
north/adjacent to The Shore Condos.
Ah, interesting. I thought that was a water retention pond ala suburbs. Guess they don’t have those downtown. Thanks.
Thrilled to hear the news this is moving forward; Rainey Street is moving at rapid development clip. It only makes sense to have a boutique hotel this close to the Convention Center. Now if we could only get those sidewalks…
anyone know who the architect is on this one?
WDG-Habib Architecture Inc. (according to ABJ)
Let’s hope that they add more than three levels of parking and make it available for public use!
As I see it, this is indeed an opportunity for the city to strike a deal. Bringing more underground parking into the area would be a huge economic engine, for the neighborhood and convention center…. in addition to being done in a sustainable way.
It would also preserve the MACC and waterfront overlay from a free standing parking garage. Yuck!
And they need Great Streets in that area. That is the one thing that the Shore dropped the ball with. I hope they don’t put more parking, the less parking the better. What we need is more rail!
The Shore didnt drop any ball on Great Streets. The Shore doesn’t own the land that fronts Davis Street. That land is owned by JMI, and they will have to do Great Streets.
Anyone know when this project is set to begin and be completed? I live at The Shore and just got a letter from the City saying the project in underway. I just want to be prepared when all the bang and dust will start. Looking forward to the hotel, just not the building process :S
No date is set for groundbreaking. If/when it does, expect 12-15 months.
Has the site plan been presented to City ? Approved ? Ty
Yes, they’ve submitted a site plan, which I believe was approved. However, they say construction is still a year or so away.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/theticker/entries/2011/03/16/downtown_hotel_project_still_o.html?cxntfid=blogs_statesman_business_blog