Archives for July 2015

You thought Austin had reached peak hotel development? Think again.

Jude Galligan | July 30, 2015 |

There has been a bit of chatter recently about the (literally) sky high hotel development in and around downtown Austin.

How much more hotel development can downtown Austin support? More, it seems.

The half-acre surface parking lot at 519 W. Sixth Street, adjacent to the IBC Bank Plaza and near the Plaza Lofts condo building, long slated for a hotel but mute on progress is not only still alive, it is growing.

A nascent group of developers are in preliminary stages of design for a 32-story, 250-key hotel with ground floor restaurant, and 5 levels of parking connecting to the adjacent IBC Bank garage. Right now, there’s no drawing laying around to show, but the facts are otherwise confirmed.

HKS rendering of Aloft/Element hotel proposal at 7th & Congress

There’s speculation that the design would have to be somewhat similar to White Lodging’s 33-story, 410 key, Aloft/Element hotel at 7th & Congress Ave. pictured left because they are similar height and occupy the similarly sized footprint.

As noted above, the IBC Bank site has been the source of water cooler talk for years.

When the IBC Bank Plaza was announced in 2012, it added a bookend to a series of fables about the block. But, like a dangling storyline slated for a sequel, downtown development watchers still waited to hear what would become of the southeast corner of the 6th Street and Nueces Street intersection (also known as “Block 51”).

The popular mythology for some time was that IBC Bank was considering developing a 28-story hotel on site. To have gotten word that a concept for the site, albeit different, is in the works is exciting.

IBC Bank Plaza, while encumbered by a Capitol View Corridor (shakes fist) and a meager 13-stories, is an architecturally beautiful building and the notion of a unique project to compliment its style has a lot of potential. The proposed hotel site isn’t in the Capitol View Corridor.

There are no clues right now as to whether HKS, the firm that designed IBC Bank Plaza, has a hand in the designs of the corner project but I’m hopeful. IBC Bank’s architectural style and street-level presence is designed to support Austin’s Great Street’s Program through ground-level restaurant, retail and landscaped streetscape.

More to come on this project in coming months hopefully as an area of downtown that was once destitute continues a regeneration.

Social Scene: Wu Chow, Seven Apartments, and Austin Way

AG | July 30, 2015 |

A couple weeks back, I was invited to a small get-together at Seven Apartments in downtown Austin, one of downtown Austin’s newest towers. The event was put on by Austin Way magazine in coordination with Seven Apartments and Wu Chow, and the program consisted of tours of the model units and amenities of Seven, followed by a special tasting menu from Wu Chow (serving up genuine Chinese cuisine, and one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in downtown Austin this summer).

The Setting

Gorgeous, of course. Seven has become one of our favorite downtown apartment buildings (Jude’s original skepticism has come full circle), and several of our clients have recently moved in with rave reviews, too. The event started with champagne in the lobby, followed by tours of the model units, and then we were seated at a well appointed table on the pool deck – complete with stunning views of downtown.

Whilst enjoying our champagne, we viewed tricked out model units.

A downtown view

The Capitol view

Our well-appointed table

The eating is about to begin!

A Seven Staffer takes part in the fun.

The People

Austin Way is a relatively new social magazine that launched in Austin fall / winter of 2014, but is stepping up its game with several events this summer season. Not too long before this event at Seven, Austin Way hosted a large-scale dynamite event at Searsucker, and are appearing more and more at many of the “it” events in Austin.

Wu Chow is brought to you by the same team that owns Swift’s Attic on Congress, C.K. Chin and Stuart Thomajan. C.K. Chin and his team created a decadent, authentic Chinese menu for this tasting party. The restaurant is set to open any day now, and will be located in the same building as Fixe.

The Food

Really good, bona fide Chinese cooking, served family style. Don’t even think about comparing it to P.F. Changs.

Tasting menu included: Spicy Sichuan Pickles, Sichuan Sesame Peanut Noodles, Shanghai Soup Dumplings, Shanghai Egg Rolls, Ginger Soy Marinated Chicken Skewers, Mongolian Beef Skewers, Shrimp Dumplings, Scallion Pancake, Curried Squid Skewers, Sichuan Spicy Grilled Tofu, Pork Shumai, BBQ Lamp Chops, Scallop Shu Mai, Pan Fried Pork Bun, Mapo Tofu, Potstickers, Sesame Fritters, and Fruit Tartlets for dessert. All served with fabulous wine. A few pics of the early stuff below.

The Tasting Menu

All in all, it was a first class event that was made truly special by the folks that put it on – and a fun way to celebrate downtown Austin’s invigorating growth and evolution!

(Note: some of these pictures were taken by me, but others I took from the folks at Seven and Austin Way – thanks for allowing us to share!)

The Sabine Street Promenade: Don’t Call It A Comeback

Jude Galligan | July 14, 2015 |

The Sabine Street Promenade project — between Fourth St. and Seventh St. — has always been a rough jewel I’ve been waiting to see cut. The project will transform a parked-car-congested design dinosaur from the 1980s into a modern, landscaped, walk/cycle through-way.

I’ve been a strong advocate of the project from day one. Now, there are signals of progress behind the scenes.

Not only will the Sabine Street redevelopment be a great public space, but it will also create great connectivity along the Waller Creek redevelopment.

First approved back in 2011, the pace of urban progress is never a fast one, but we’ve finally got our first actual look at the layout between 4th and 6th Streets of the pedestrian/bikeway corridor.

It is still unclear when the redevelopment would take place, but the initial plan was sometime this year. It’s not uncommon for massive infrastructure projects to get delayed for one reason or another. Even still, those who spends time downtown, especially nearby residents at the 5 Fifty Five, Avenue Lofts, or The Sabine, should be excited to see it move from concept to an engineer’s plan.

Based on the road redevelopment plans, submitted by the City of Austin last month, it looks like the nuts and bolts of traffic flow remains unchanged from what was announced a few years ago.

Back in 2012, city officials were quoted in the newspaper saying 60 percent of the corridor would be devoted to bikeways, sidewalks, and trees. The corridor will still have on-street parking — which is not a surprise — but drastically less than now.

The Sabine Street redevelopment runs parallel to the Waller Creek Corridor, and adjacent to a portion called “The Narrows” which will be focused on outdoor socializing, rather than transportation. (Think San Antonio Riverwalk but less campy.)

In 2013, the City Council picked Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) as the lead consultant for the Sabine Street project, which makes sense given that MVVA is the lead designer for Waller Creek.

Personally, I’m hoping the promenade has some MVVA flare, versus coming out a cookie-cutter image of other redeveloped downtown Austin streets. (Don’t get me wrong, I love cookies even if they are cookie-cut. I’m just saying, MVVA bring a lot to the table).

Waller Creek is envisioned as a chain of parks in the heart of Downtown Austin. Sabine Street will connect an envisioned year-round event park to the north (Refuge) and a reinvigorated Palm Park to the south.

If you look at the architectural drawings below, you also notice the promenade is going to be enhanced by a good dose of trees, which are noted by the triangle symbols, and other shrub beds on the north side.

-Jude