Upzoning Sought And Supported On W 7th Street

701 7th street

Looks like an upzoning request for a half-block of W 7th Street wedged between West 6th Street and Original Austin was semi-successful.

701 and 711 W 7th Street in downtown Austin were seeking an upzoning to CBD.   701 W 7th is zoned “GR – general retail” and 711 W 7th is zoned “GO – general office”.  Both zoning definitions cap building height at 60 feet. [Read more...]

Mega Presentation On Urban Rail Tuesday

austin rail

NEWS FLASH: According to a source at City Hall, the Austin Transportation Department is slated to give a big presentation June 14 that will be “a substantial briefing” on urban rail and begins to start answering Uncle Lee’s 30 crucial questions and “then some.”

The mayor has pushed a 2012 bond election funding a first leg for a new mode of mass transit in Austin.

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W Hotel Glass Falls

w hotel window fail

The Statesman reported that glass panels fell from the W Hotel residences on Friday.

Amber was at La Condesa when she heard the crash, and snapped this pic that shows where the culprit glass panes fell from.  Crazy!

Downtown Austin Condo Sales Remain Strong In May

downtown austin condo closings may

For the first time since the bubble burst, the average price per square foot of a downtown Austin condo has increased four months in a row. Last month, downtown Austin closed 62 condos* with 29 more pending!

Highlights

In May, we counted 41 closings of new-construction condos from the Four Seasons Residences, W Hotel, Austonian, Spring Condos, and Barton Place.  The W takes the cake with 15 closings in May.

On the other hand, the number of resales comes in at 21 units closed – a strong showing – averaging a price of $334 per square foot. We also count 29 resales pending as of May 31st!  So, we can expect next month’s closing count to be similarly strong.

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Urban Outfitters Shacking Up At The W Austin Hotel

Urban Outfitters downtown Austin

The 2nd Street shopping district is likely to get a jolt from patrons still paying off college loans with a new Urban Outfitters clothing store.

As evident by the colorful graffiti, the faux-thrift store (call it ironic?) retailer has plans to move into the ground floor of The W Austin Hotel, which opened in December 2010.

I shop exclusively at Kohl’s, but allegedly Urban Outfitters’ new spot is a big deal because their only other Austin location is not so far away on Guadalupe Street, up near the University of Texas main campus. Perhaps they are targeting the PBS Austin City Limits crowd from shows taped there?

Jokes aside, this is a vindication that downtown Austin is becoming a destination and not in the way of “urban pioneers” loading up on Gatorade and PB&J to venture out of suburbia, like they do in Ohio.

For a number of reasons, Urban Outfitters joins the ranks of business interests investing in downtown Austin.

Cole Broadhead, a principal at Retail Solutions, said the folks at Urban Outfitters “do their homework.”

“Those deals take a long time,” he said. “They do a ton of research.”

Picnic This Weekend With Downtown Austin Families

downtown austin families

This weekend at Duncan Park you can catch up with and meet other downtown Austin families.

When: Sunday June 5th from 10am-noon
Where: Duncan Park (9th Street btw Lamar and West)
What: Bring a blanket or chairs, toys, and some snacks.

Sunshine Fest Tonight – Venue 222

SSC0511001-SunshineFestivalPosterREV-AddSpnsrs

Some friends of DAB are spearheading this event tonight – it looks to be a cool event sponsoring a good cause!

Venue 222

222 East 6th Street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 477-2237

Save W 6th Street

Save W 6th Street

West 6th Street is in danger.  Of what we’ve not been able to confirm (and, yes, this is a real promotion).

This could be a response by W. 6th Street bar proprietors to area push back against “bar creep” and early morning noise proliferating into more residential parts of downtown Austin, outside of established entertainment districts.

The Texas Bar & Nightclub Alliance (TBNA) has been active in recent months to reel in problematic bars operating and turning up the volume without an outdoor music venue permit.  

A subset of TBNA representing only W 6th Street proprietors has engaged Drenner Golden to find alternatives to the conditional use permit language recommended by the Downtown Austin Plan for new bars in the CBD.

If you want to Save West 6th Street, you better get to drinking and voting June 8-12.

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