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Spring [almost] tops out

by | February 1, 2009 |2 Comments
Spring tops out at 42 stories
Spring tops out at 42 stories

Spring almost topped out at 42 stories

According to an email I received this morning from the developer, Spring condominiums will complete it’s vertical construction soon and is on pace to be ready for move in by this summer.  Word on the street is Spring has more than 60% of the units under contract.

From the announcement…

“Expect to see a tree on the top of Spring Condominium soon.  The tree is a tradition, symbolizing a building has reached the top floor of its construction.  Spring’s glass envelope will also soon be complete.  Once the painters have completed the exterior color coating, most of the tower’s exterior elements will be complete.

Interior work continues with installations of finishes reaching level 25.  Over 400 workers are on-site working simultaneously on all aspects of the construction of Spring.  From work on the structure to installations of glass windows and walls, flooring, tile, cabinetry, electrical and mechanical to the finalization of the pool deck and lobby design, Spring’s team is combining efforts to complete the building by Summer 2009.“

Filed Under: buildings, development, downtown austin, Real Estate

Urbanspace's – Urban Lifestyle Guide

by | January 31, 2009 |2 Comments
downtown-austin-guide-sm
Urban Lifestyle Guide

Urban Lifestyle Guide

Urbanspace Realtors [my broker] has published its latest edition of the urban lifestyle guide.  If you live in Downtown Austin, then it’s very likely that you’ve visited the Urbanspace office.  For newbies to the Downtown Austin scene, this guide can be a resource for getting to know the different buildings and where small businesses are located.  The guide is not only focused on Downtown Austin, but more broadly focuses on Austin’s urban core (South Congress, East Austin, Mueller, Zilker, South Lamar).  Even if you are a veteran urban Austinite, this is a convenient all-in-one reference guide to Austin’s urban attractions.

Get your free copy by sending me an email with your mailing address.

JudeGalligan [@] gmail.com

Filed Under: buildings, development, downtown austin, life, retail

Blight

by | January 29, 2009 |1 Comment
Downtown Austin - Parking Garage Nirvana
Downtown Austin - Parking Garage Nirvana

Downtown Austin - Parking Garage Nirvana

Blight: Something that impairs growth, withers hopes and ambitions, or impedes progress and prosperity.

In Downtown Austin nothing kills hopes, dreams, ambitions, old ladies and little children like under-developed land.  According to DANA board member Roger Cauvin, in economic terms, blight can be considered an “externality,” which “are the indirect costs imposed on society by an economic activity. Pollution is an example of an externality.  If economic agents (e.g. developers) aren’t made to pay for the externalities, we are effectively subsidizing harmful behavior.”

In Downtown Austin, blight manifests itself in the primary forms of:
1) parking lots (or razed lots)
2) parking garages
3) chain link fence
4) perpetual disrepair

The Northeast quadrant of Downtown Austin takes the cake for parking garages.  The area is desolate and completely void of human interaction. Unimproved parking lots are scattered throughout Downtown.  It could easily be argued that Downtown Austin blight reaches it’s zenith on 6th Street.  (slideshow)  Broken doors, windows, tattered chain link fence, destroyed ATMs, it’s all there.

As I see it, the problem of blight is rooted with the owner of the property that is creating or hosting the blight.  The economic behavior of hoarding undeveloped property in the CBD is contrary to the density goals of Downtown Austin stake holders.  It is also contrary to the city’s and county’s goals of collecting ad valorem taxes.  Perhaps more importantly, razing your lot and wrapping it in chain link fence is contrary to the sense of community.

Over the past couple of months you’ve seen related topics discussed at Austin Contrarian.  According to Chris Bradford, “We badly need a mechanism for discouraging property owners from warehousing vacant lots downtown.  The solution is not to shut out all redevelopment to eliminate the risk of this kind of behavior.  What we need is a vacant-lot surcharge or something like it.  A surcharge calibrated to compensate the other downtown property owners, businesses and visitors for the very real cost of blighting a block.  This might encourage property owners/developers to leave existing buildings in place or  to fill in currently vacant lots, even if the structures are inexpensive and small.”

Well said.

-Jude

Tattered chain link fence along Waller Creek

Tattered chain link fence along Waller Creek

Filed Under: Austin photos, images, buildings, downtown austin, entertainment district, urban planning

Downtown Austin Emerging Projects – updated poster

by | January 6, 2009 |1 Comment
downtown austin emerging projects

downtown austin emerging projects

The City of Austin periodically publishes a poster of emerging projects.  The latest version (pdf) was just released.  This poster shows projects under construction or being planned in Downtown Austin.  Big changes can be seen on this poster compared to the last version.

Added:
1) Lance Armstrong Crosstown Bikeway

Removed:
1) Monarch (complete)
2) 360 (complete)
3) AMLI on 2nd (complete)
4) Museum Tower, AMOA (dead)
5) Red River Flats (complete)
6) La Vista on Lavaca (on hold)
7) Aqua Terra (dead)

Buildings not likely to get built within the next five years.
1) 7Rio
2) Ovation
3) Navare Block 52
4) Federal Courthouse
5) The Orsey
6) Marriott Hotel

Filed Under: buildings, development, downtown austin, Real Estate, urban planning

UPDATE: AMOA museum tower is officially cancelled

by | December 31, 2008 |1 Comment
its official

it's official

Recently it was speculation, but now it’s official. According the Austin Business Journal, Hines Interestes LP, the developer planning the office portion of the museum tower, will allow its option on the land to expire today.

“Due to the uncertain economy, we made the difficult decision not to renew the option in 2009. However, Hines is still interested in developing an office building in Austin when the market recovers, and we hope it will be in conjunction with AMOA and its museum. The project will not restart until the market improves.  Our hope would be to get a new deal together in 2009 or 2010, and then move full steam ahead. We see great potential in the long-term viability of the city of Austin.” -Travis Overall, Hines vice president

Located at 4th and Guadalupe, this is one of the few undeveloped sites in Downtown Austin that is not in a capitol view corridor, so it’s availability should quickly attract the interest of opportunistic developers.  Otherwise we’ll endure another couple of years of surface parking blight :-(    Add this site to the other prime downtown sites available and I expect to see some interesting proposals over the next year.

Thanks to DANA‘s Roger Cauvin for the heads up!

Filed Under: buildings, development, downtown austin, Real Estate

AMOA building on hold?

by | December 30, 2008 |1 Comment
AMOA museum tower is on hold

AMOA museum tower is on hold

According to this WSJ article…

“Houston-based developer Hines says it won’t likely start construction as planned in the first quarter on a mixed-use project it is developing in downtown Austin with the Austin Museum of Art. A Hines spokeswoman says the company still hopes to start construction in 2009. Hines will need to prelease at least half the project’s 425,000 square feet of office space before it seeks financing for the office component, the spokeswoman says.”

Filed Under: buildings, development, downtown austin, office, Real Estate

The Marriott debacle

by | December 22, 2008 |3 Comments
Proposed Marriott on Congress Ave in Downtown Austin

Proposed Marriott on Congress Ave in Downtown Austin

The inopportune demolition of the Las Manitas restaurant and neighboring buildings has sparked some discussion in the blogosphere. On December 5th, it was announced that the 1,000 room Marriott hotel development was put on hold. Chris Bradford over at Austin Contrarian suggests we charge developers a fee if they delay development of blighted block.

Time will tell how long it takes Marriott to develop to sell the site. One reason to be optimistic that Marriott may still have sincere interest in developing the hotel is that Downtown Austin hotels routinely reach full capacity. Meanwhile, wrapping a block in chain link fence and leaving it to sid idly will not be taken kindly by local stakeholders. I would like to see City Council implement maximum development timelines for projects like this and begin to revoke concessions initially granted to the project.

AustinTowers has some photos of the demolished block.

Filed Under: buildings, city council, development, downtown austin, Real Estate

Required reading

by | December 17, 2008 |Leave a Comment
How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand

How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand

Last year I purged my book shelves by giving away hundreds of books that I’ve collected over the years.  I kept a dozen, or so, that were too significant to give up.   Since it’s been a slow news week for Downtown Austin, I thought I would use this time to recommend a couple of books that you can read over the holidays.  After reading these books it will come as no surprise why hundreds of thousands of people across the country are retreating back to the cities after 50 years of suburban growth.

  • “How Buildings Learn” by Stewart Brand
    This book is interesting to me, not only because it has lots of pictures of old architecture, rather because Stewart Brand attempts to follow how the greatest buildings change use over the course time.
  • “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” by Jane Jacobs
    Long considered the urban planner’s bible, this book should be required reading for our elected officials (City Council and staff, County Commissioners, CAMPO board)

Extra credit
I encourage you to check out another book by Stewart Brand “The Clock of The Long Now“.  This book is about many things including how civilizations evolve, how the digital age changes the way we archive and access our collective knowledge, and more.  Throughout the book is a story about the design of a 10,000 clock that will be installed in the side of a mountain.  Great read.

Filed Under: buildings, city council, life, urban planning

Lake/Flato will design new Central Library in Downtown Austin

by | December 12, 2008 |4 Comments
Site of Downtown Austins new Central Libary

Site of Downtown Austin's new Central Libary

Lake Flato has been awarded the design contract for Downtown Austin’s new Central Library.  They’ve got $90MM to work with to build 250,000 square feet by 2013.

Below is an estimated timeline for the new Central Library project:

  • May 2009 ~ Citizen/Stakeholder input meetings –Co-sponsored by Library Commission and Library Foundation June 2009 ~ Design phase begins
  • Spring 2011 ~ Design development completed
  • Winter 2011 ~ Construction begins
  • Fall 2013 ~ Construction complete
  • Spring/Summer 2014-Grand Opening

The site sits partially within a capitol view corridor, so the future building can only be mid-rise and will likely only by three stories.  In that regard I like this choice of location.  Still, I think this is a poor choice of location in terms of accessibility.  I’ve seen plenty of proposed transit maps for ‘future’ Austin, and not a single one shows rail stopping near the library.  The people that would benefit the most from this new Central Library are, in my opinion, going to benefit the most from mass transit that can get them to the library!   It was an easy choice for the City because they own the land; however, the city could have used condemnation to select a better site that would be more accessible.  I expect the building will be beautiful.  I just hope it gets used.

Jude Galligan

Filed Under: austin transit, buildings, city council, downtown austin, life, Real Estate, urban planning

SOLD! Plaza Lofts #1208

by | December 11, 2008 |2 Comments
Downtown Austins Plaza Lofts

Downtown Austin's Plaza Lofts

LP: $320,000
SP: $310,000
SF: 1,194

Top floor at Plaza Lofts for $260psf is a very good deal.  From Kumara Wilcoxen’s listing… “Top floor condo located in the most desirable location downtown. 13ft ceilings, floor-ceiling windows, polished concrete floors, granite, travertine marble baths. Walk to dining, entertainment, town lake etc.”

311 w 5th st, austin, tx 78701

[map]

Filed Under: buildings, Real Estate, sold
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