Jude Galligan

1. Waller Creek Citizens Advisory Committee meets tonight.  Link to the agenda.(pdf)  Of particular interest is the update on the TIF district and its development capacity.
2. Car2Go goes public tomorrow, May 21st. The public launch of car2go will be celebrated tomorrow by a free event at Republic Square Park on 4th Street and Guadalupe starting at 4:00pm and ending at 10:00pm.
3. Development news keeps coming, though nothing imminent: Block 51, Austin Energy building on West Ave, City planning a new parking garage, State capitol considering more density.
4. Green Water Treatment Plant decommissioning update (pdf)

Located at 3rd Street and West Ave, surrounded by chain link fence, the fate of Austin Energy’s eye sore of a building is all but sealed. Constructive Ventures and Trammel Crow are partnering up to develop the site. According to the Statesman article…

The lead developer, Austin-based Constructive Ventures Inc. , would build the $220 million project on a 1.7-acre site that is currently home to the Austin Energy Control Center.

The City Council is set to vote today to authorize the city manager to sign a development agreement with a partnership of Constructive Ventures and Trammell Crow Co. to buy the tract for $14.5 million.

Construction couldn’t begin until 2013, at the earliest.  Then it’s unknown if the capital markets will be there to provide viable financing terms.  In summary, this is definitely progress and a step in the right direction, but there is still a long way before we see a new building.

Based on my experience and observations, downtown does not have many families with teenagers, however we have lots of families with infants and toddlers. Many downtown Austin residents are making important decisions about their children’s education.

Fortunately, downtown feeds into one of the City’s best schools, an exemplary school:  Mathews Elementary.  Built in 1916, and located on West Lynn, the current boundaries for feeding students includes the UT graduate student housing on Lake Austin Blvd.  This is the primary reason for Mathews’ diversity of cultures and backgrounds.

Right now Mathews only serves a dozen or so students from the downtown core.  But, it’s just a matter of 2-4 years before a wave of downtown toddlers enter the AISD school system.  Downtown Austin families with infants, that have moved here in the past few years, can sleep well knowing that [by good fortune] their children will have access to an exemplary elementary school.