downtown Austin's real estate and neighborhood blog
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.”
I spent a good portion of this past weekend browsing the skyscraperpage forums. I have been hooked ever since I discovered this website. Members of this forum are actively photographing and discussing development progress in Austin. Many of them have serious photography chops, too. One of the best reasons for tuning in to the discussion is for the ‘golden nuggets’ that people find on the inter-tubes and share with the other members. One example is the “Texas Archive of the Moving Image” – a repository for old films about Texas.
The history of Austin is something I am fascinated with, so you can imagine how excited I was when I learned about these videos. Here is a link to an old video of Barton Springs and Lamar Blvd. Search around the website and post your favorites in the comments section.
Austin’s 21c museum residences and hotel may be on hold for now, but this morning NPR gave a glowing review of the original concept in Louisville, Kentucky. The NPR story incorrectly states that the Austin 21c is under construction; however, Marriott’s decision to not build 1,000 hotel rooms should reflect favorably on 21c’s pro-formas. 21c was originally planned for development at the Whitley paper building on 3rd and San Jacinto, however, plans changed to locate the building(s) at Red River and Cesar Chavez, along Waller Creek.
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.
This morning Austin is covered in a thick blanket of fog. This is the best fog I’ve seen in years, and a quick search through Google images queues up some picturesque photos that comes with a fog like this. (link)
/it’s a slow news week.
//and, I didn’t want to jump on this bandwagon.