There’s progress at the corner of W 6th Street and West Ave. The corner lot – 800 W 6th Street (tcad) – and adjacent lots, formerly home to Page Southerland Page, have been assembled and are owned by Cypress Real Estate Advisors. For years, the corner lot served as a tire repair shop. Not exactly the highest and best use. Last week that tire repair shop was torn down.
In 2007 and 2008, Cypress was planning a residential tower. The land is not in a CVC, but is not zoned CBD, and they would have needed variances in order to build what they wanted. The project never got any legs as this was when the economy began to tank.
According to an article by Jacob Dirr (pdf) at the ABJ this past February, Cypress is planning a six-story, Class A, office building. They do not need any variances, but do need an anchor tenant before construction begins.
It’s possible we’ll see the demolition of the PSP building in the next couple of months. Short run use is likely to be a surface level parking lot.
-Jude
Stateman says Cirrus Logic is putting their headquarters downtown on this lot. Maybe this will be built soon: http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/theticker/entries/2010/04/27/cirrus_logic_to_build_downtown.html
I would say that a surface-level parking lot is definitely not the highest and best use, even in the short term. I hope they really have their design and money lined up if they plan to demo anything. It’s been shown that pedestrians will cross the street to avoid walking next to a parking lot or parking garage. There have been too many buildings torn down with a big plan in mind, only to have the plan fall through and there sits a gaping hole. (Drive down S. Congress if you want to see a few wounds where they tore down historic buildings for a VMU project that fell through.) The tire shop could be adapted to another use if it isn’t demolished. Better to wait until the real plan is approved and about to start, just in case….