Archives for April 2016

Chill Out

Jude Galligan | April 22, 2016 |

Leave no stone unturned. Check out how Austin Energy wants to use a sliver of downtown land, next to Gables Park Tower, for a new chilling station.

The site dimensions make the site pretty much unusable for intense development, so it is great to see a municipal use. AE has engaged Cotera Reed to handle the design. The project is being presented to the City of Austin Design Commission on the 25th.

Many downtown buildings are connected to the the City’s “chilled water loop”. One of the existing chilling stations is at 5th & Sabine (that blue tile “box” connected to the ACVB parking garage).

-Jude

potential "skin" of the station — potential “skin” of the station

[Read more…] about Chill Out

The Republic Square Park Makeover

Caleb Pritchard | April 13, 2016 |

Friends, it took a minute, but we’re finally just months away from the start of a momentous project that promises to further ratchet up the quality of life here in Downtown Austin.

After nearly two decades of fitful effort and planning, work is set to start this June on tremendous upgrades to Republic Square Park.

Republic_Square_Presentation_ppt1 — Republic Square Park, renovation project

Situated on Guadalupe Street between 4th and 5th streets, you probably know it now as the place where all the buses stop, or the joint with the grass and the trees where you wait in long lines for the shuttle to ACL Fest, or the site with the weekly farmers’ market. By virtue of its central location, the park sees a ton of traffic each day, but its lack of amenities means that it doesn’t get a ton of use. Right now, Republic Square Park is essentially a verdant plaza of the largely lifeless Federal Courthouse directly to its west, and eye candy for Plaza Lofts to the east.

Millennium Rainey Apartments Wrap Up Construction

Jude Galligan | April 6, 2016 |

For the past couple of years the east side of Rainey Street’s [already limited] sidewalks were barricaded for the construction of the Millennium Rainey apartments.

Today, those barricades came down! Woo hoo!!! The Millennium Rainey adds 326 downtown apartments to the rental inventory.

Some of you will remember that The Sutton Company assembled several Rainey Street parcels back in 2012 and planned this three story tower. Then, they sold the assemblage to Dinerstein and the intertubes pitched a fit about Lustre Pearl moving.

Now, Lustre Pearl is back, Millennium Rainey is completed, Sutton is focused on Waller Park Place, and the Rainey neighborhood has better sidewalks.

-Jude

Millennium Rainey apartments in downtown Austin

Where Is All The Micro Housing?

Caleb Pritchard | April 1, 2016 |

The casual suburban view of Downtown Austin real estate is likely limited to the newsworthy towers – hotels, offices, condos. The tall glassy stuff that has been radically reordering our skyline with a seasonal regularity. But there’s far more to downtown than just towers.

78701 is arguably Austin’s only truly self-sustaining urban ZIP code, and has a rainbow of housing options to please a variety of tastes. Yes, there are shiny condo towers, but take a closer look, especially in the northwest quadrant of downtown (aka. Original Austin), and you’ll find a rich mix of mid-rises, duplexes, garage apartments, townhomes, victorian homes, a Governor’s Mansion, and more.

surprising to many casual observers, downtown Austin has more than just tall towers

One conspicuous absence, however, is that increasingly popular urban diadem known as the micro-unit development. [Read more…] about Where Is All The Micro Housing?