downtown Austin's real estate and neighborhood blog
There’s lots of discussion and unanswered questions about the proposed Boardwalk in Lady Bird Lake. This is your chance to become more informed. June 22, 2010 – Parks and Recreation Board, in the Boards & Commissions Room (1011), City Hall, 301 W. 2nd St. beginning at 6:00 p.m.
downtown Austin open house listings for Sunday, June 20th
When you’re done with the open houses, you can enjoy an afternoon on Lady Bird Lake by renting a canoe or kayak from at the Texas Rowing Center. Or, dine al fresco at Annie’s Cafe on Congress Ave for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Make sure to download my transactional report from May (registered members only) and discuss with a Realtor who lives and works in downtown Austin.
-Jude
PROJECT BACKGROUND & FACT SHEET
In 2004, a diverse group of citizens, businesses, and neighborhood leaders formed the I-35 Makeover Coalition to help transform this area into a public asset. They began working for a safe, clean and attractive gateway reconnecting downtown to East Austin. This area was a broad boulevard called Eastside Drive until postwar era, when IH-35 was built over it in a series of elevated and buried sections.
The Makeover Coalition provided the support necessary to improve this connection between downtown and the east side of Austin. The coalition obtained a grant of $250,000 from Keep Austin Beautiful (KAB) to help fund the landscape portion.
City Council approved two funding sources for this project. They first approved a resolution in March, 2005 explicitly supporting the use of parking revenue from the City-managed IH-35 parking lots for the IH-35 Makeover Project. In March of 2007, City Council passed a resolution setting aside $1.5 million to be provided by the future issuance of non-tax supported certificates of obligation.
These funding sources have allowed the City to move forward with the IH-35 Makeover Project, which will include reconstructing the parking lot areas, with curb and gutters to improve drainage in the area. The concrete will be cleaned, signs removed and replaced, and specialty lighting fixtures will enhance the safety, comfort, and aesthetics of the area.
The lighting project will be done through the City’s Art in Public Places Program and will be programmed LED lights in arches over the parking lots. A computer-generated illumination will create a show as well as create safe lighting.
The project is expected to start in June and take approximately seven months, at which time TXDot will begin the landscape improvements funded through the KAB grant.
More of DAB’s coverage of the I-35 Makeover
I’m REALLY late to the discussion on this. A neighbor was chatting about Pease Park losing disc golf. So I pulled up the Statesman article from June 3rd. WOW! I couldn’t believe what I was reading.
I don’t even play disc golf, but I was left speechless for a minute. Disc golf is one of the reasons Pease Park is a destination. Activity is what draws people into parks. Think about Waterloo Park – little activity, little use, taken over by vagrancy. As best as I could tell, PARD made an executive decision [with little to no public input] to remove the disc golf course.
I’m normally sympathetic to PARD’s challenges and the hard decisions they need to make to keep Austin’s parks clean and accessible for the citizens of Austin. But, this decision truly baffles me. It’s frustrating to see reasons cited like “compacted soil” as sufficient cause to eliminate one of the best nontraditional uses of public space, something that is core to the spirit [and brand] of Austin, IMO.
I love this quote from Matt Odam’s post...
“The city should consider shutting down the Arboretum and tearing up the parking lots so there is much less runoff into Shoal Creek…”
Chris Lynn at Republic of Austin has some cool back story to the renovations taking place at the ArtHouse.
Before it was the boxy ArtHouse, the block at 700 Congress had a couple of other significant iterations. The building, erected in 1851, was the first 3-story brick building in Austin. For 70 years it was a silver/high-ends goods store, law office and drug store. In 192o, it underwent its first renovation to become the Queen Theater.
I’m struck by the similarity of design that Lerner Shops had with Buttrey’s on W 6th. The clean mid-century modern architectural lines seem to include: brick facade, three stories, wall of glass on the ground floor, metal awning/canopy. Cool!
