Woke up to an inch of snow on the ground! I felt like a kid in a candy store as we took a walk on the trail. Part of the fun is that such small amount of snow can shut down much of the city. Snow day!
Large Rainey Street Development Site Under Contract
A 0.5702-acre parcel (24,840ft) development site in Downtown Austin’s Rainey Street neighborhood has been placed under contract. The site, 68-74 Rainey Street, is owned by Equity Secured Capital LP and comes with an asking price of of $2.5MM. It consists of three adjacent lots, one is double size, so the total Rainey Street frontage is equivalent to nearly four lots. At first glance, it doesn’t appear that power-line easements or Waterfront Overlay District create any encumbrances. Survey of the site after the jump. [Read more…] about Large Rainey Street Development Site Under Contract
State Theatre Sign Is Back On
I was thrilled to see the State Theatre sign illuminated (again) nast night,… I can’t remember the last time I saw it turned on. This particular sign – its scale, its history – adds so much life to Congress Avenue. It’s easier to see at night than during the day when a tree blocks part of the signage. Last night’s featured guest, Christopher Titus, was the the first stage performance in several years.
-Jude
Larry Speck Discusses Downtown Living
Larry Speck. That’s an important name in downtown Austin. Architect and Professor, Larry Speck is a principal with PageSoutherlandPage and a teaches at the University of Texas at Austin. Larry is the design force behind the Umlauf Sculpture Gardens, Austin Convention Center, AMLI on Second, and the Austin City Lofts, amongst dozens of other significant projects. Also notably, Speck was pivotal in the design of Downtown Houston’s Discovery Green … an effort that Austin could look to as inspiration for bringing together a public park with underground parking that serves park activities and the surrounding area [MACC or Palm Park, please!].
Austin City Council recently presented Speck with a much deserved proclamation for all of his efforts in the City as well as at the University of Texas. The American Institute of Architects recently awarded Larry the Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architecture Education – the highest honor for an AIA educator.
DAB got a note from Roy Gatling at Austin-Architecture.com alerting us to some new video interviews of Larry on the topic of Downtown Austin. Thanks, Roy!
Should The City Allow New Surface Parking On Rainey Street?
It was the Downtown Austin Convention Center Overlay combined with a down market and CBD zoning that created a perfect environment for the bungalow-to-bar renovation boom on Rainey Street. Now, to spur new infrastructure and a better mix of retail uses, allowing surface level parking in Rainey Street neighborhood is worthy of reexamination.
Some of my highly informed friends in downtown Austin, whose opinions I greatly respect, will disagree with me. And, in general, I would discourage new downtown surface level parking in most circumstances. Short of incentives to develop structured shared parking [underground!], we need to take a pragmatic look at how to deal with the Rainey Street neighborhood in the short-run.
[Read more…] about Should The City Allow New Surface Parking On Rainey Street?