AG

To pour, or not to pour… concrete… at 3am.

AG | October 20, 2014 |

11/7/2014: Yesterday, City Council postponed this item to 11/20/2014 with direction for it to be heard at the Downtown Commission meeting on 11/19/2014.

10/30/2014: There’s a substitute proposed amendmen t on the draft City Council agenda (currently item #34, as of this update) for 11/6/2014. This proposed amendment unanimously passed first reading. It still proposes an expansion of the area where overnight concrete pours would be allowed, and is also proposing, among other things, to have any and all off-peak concrete pouring in the CBD and expanded areas to end at 2am, in most situations.

10/21/2014: We’ve just been told that, due to stakeholder feedback, the consideration of this proposed amendment has been indefinitely postponed.

At this moment it is difficult to name a residential tower in downtown Austin that is not within earshot of construction. This is one of those topics that reflects the challenges of managing economic growth.

The Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association (DANA) just posted about item #18 on City Council’s draft agenda for October 23rd.

The agenda item in question is in regards expanding the areas allowed for concrete pouring from just the CBD to include the Density Bonus Area (see image below), DMU areas (which would include Seaholm), and the (P) Zoning Districts.

Here’s a map (click on it to enlarge):

The amendment also adds what some would call “weak” language regarding noticing requirements.

The proposed amendment has revealed a bit of a fury from downtown residents – many of whom want the night-time pouring stopped altogether (we’ve been told by several sources that no other major city in Texas allows for concrete pours after 8pm).

Then there are residents who want construction to be completed as soon as possible, thus are encouraging the night-time pours. Some folks on this side of the issue note that ROI is impacted when construction timelines are longer, which could impact things like affordability and the ability to even build some dense developments. They also cite that day-time traffic would be even further gridlocked if some concrete pours aren’t allowed in the late evenings.

Notably, residents of the Spring Condos and 360 Condos are within proximity of Seaholm’s construction, and will be immediately affected if this amendment passes, and residents of Plaza Lofts (with the newly started construction of Hotel ZaZa) has previously expressed concerns about night-time pours in general.

We see both sides of the issue, (personally, I see the benefits of getting construction over with) and believe that downtown should continue to push for vertical growth. Of course, I’ve been woken up by early morning concrete pours. It’s just something we accept as part of growth, but we are watching closely to see how the chips fall at the October 23.

-A

The Rainey Street House

AG | October 15, 2014 |

It looks like Rainey Street District will be getting a history center! The big question is: where will it go?

On June 12, 2014, Councilman Mike Martinez made a motion, which was amended by Councilman Chris Riley and passed a council vote to essentially read as follows:

Directs the City Manager to accept the donation of the structure formerly located at 93 Rainey St. from Austin Rainey St. D/E/P, LLC, a Delaware, LLC., for use as the Rainey Street History Center.

Here’s the house at 93 Rainey in 2012 (taken from my MEGA Rainey post from 2012) – standing on one of the sites where Dinerstein is building the Millenium Apartments.

The ~1600sf structure as it stands today:

This structure, which will be refurbished using funds from the Rainey Street District Fund, will be placed on a TBD location within the next 180 days.

Currently, these three locations are being considered:

64 Rainey, 700 Cummings, and East Avenue – all pictured below:

64 Rainey

700 Cummings

East Avenue Site

There are pros and cons to each of these sites, and the Rainey Neighbors Association will be discussing all the issues, and likely selecting the location THEY endorse (several other stakeholders may need to agree, including the MACC and the Waller Creek Conservancy) on 10/21 at 6:30pm at the Towers of Town Lake Library. If you are an RNA member – you’re welcome to come to the meeting! Otherwise, submit your thoughts on these sites in the comments below!

For more information, download the attached presentation by Austin Parks and Rec: Rainey-Street-House

New Hyatt House Hotel Proposed in Downtown Austin

AG | October 14, 2014 |

Hyatt House line of extended stay hotels (not to be confused with the relatively new Hyatt Place across the street from The Whitley) has announced plans to build at 9th and Neches.

Being catty-corner from the Mohawk, steps aways from the music district on Red River, it makes sense that they would want to put something like a hotel in this particular lot, rather than something like condos. However, it just seems crazy to see even MORE hotels coming up when you have so many other hotel projects happening. I mean, the same company is building 2 hotels (300 rooms) literally right across 9th street at 805 Neches.

Admittedly, it’s going to be an improvement of what’s currently there:

901 Neches — screenshot from Google Maps, Feb 2014

Hyatt House has an existing Austin location in the Arboretum. Here’s what we know about what’s proposed for the downtown Hyatt House:

901 Neches Street
.41 Acres of land
~17k sf of building
189 Rooms
139 parking spaces
10 stories

I’m a bit surprised by the amount of parking they are contemplating: 139 spaces, for 189 rooms. Since it’s an extended stay style of hotel, I suppose they see a demand for parking, and are investing accordingly. It’s just a bit strange because White Lodging, the owner of Hyatt, recently proposed Aloft on Congress Avenue – a larger hotel just four blocks away, without any parking!

The site plan for Hyatt House has been filed with the city, and a decision regarding the application will be made before 10/20/2014.

Looks like the current owner, Journeyman Austin Holdings, bought the land in April of this year.

Downtown Austin Voting Guide

AG | October 13, 2014 |

We know you’ve heard this a bajillion-million times, but this year’s election on November 4, 2014, is VERY important. Particularly for Downtown Austin, as the new 10-1 district system has the potential to really adversely affect policies that support a vibrant and growing downtown.

First things first – when, where, and how to vote:

When

The actual election is November 4, 2014, but EARLY VOTING starts Monday, October 20, 2014, (prompting some discussion between Jude and I as to what the real difference is between early voting and just regular voting). Early voting runs through Halloween this year.

Where

Early Voting Locations: Oddly, there are no stations officially defined as “Early Voting” stations in downtown proper (weird, huh?) – but there are some MOBILE Voting locations downtown for Early Voting (sheesh – confusing, I know) – here are a few:

Mon 10/20/14 THROUGH Fri 10/31/14, 8am-7pm: Mobile Voting Station at ACC Rio Grande (1212 Rio Grande) – no voting station on Sun 10/26, and hours are 9am-6pm on Sat 10/25
Tues 10/21/14, 1pm-3pm: Mobile Voting station at Lakeside Senior Center (85 Trinity)
Mon 10/27/14 THROUGH Fri 10/31/14, 7am-7pm: Mobile Voting station at Austin City Hall (301 W 2nd)
Tues 10/28/14, 8am-5pm: Mobile Voting station at Travis County Commissioner’s Court (700 Lavaca)
Wed, 10/29/14 & Thurs 10/30/14, 8am-5pm: Mobile Voting station at HM Sweatt Travis County Courthouse (1000 Guadalupe)
Fri, 10/31/14, 8am-5pm: Mobile Voting station at the Sam Houston Building (201 E 14th St)

On November 4th:

Austin City Hall (301 W 2nd) – 7am-7pm
ACC Rio Grande (1212 Rio Grande) – 7am-7pm

Here’s a LIST of all the mobile voting locations, sorted by date. For a comprehensive map of ALL Early Voting, Mobile Voting, and Election Day Voting locations – click here.

How

Now, as to the ballot itself – we won’t go into every race, in the interest of everyone’s sanity, but, we will give an overview to a couple of the downtown-related / pertinent issues:

There’s the General Gubernatorial ballot which has things like US Representatives, State Representatives, Judges, and County offices….

Then, there’s the CITY Ballot which will have some very important races for Downtown on it:

For District 9 (the district which includes downtown Austin), we personally support Chris Riley. The Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association also supports this candidate.
For Proposition 1 (the “rail bond”), while there is quite a bit of debate about this bond, we think it’s important to note that the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association has given $4,000 in funds to the Let’s Go Austin political action committee, who has campaigned to support the bond. The Downtown Austin Alliance and the Austin American Statesman also support Prop 1.

Also, here’s a handy dandy tool you can use to remind your friends to Go Vote!

-A

Eyebrow Threading in Downtown Austin

AG | September 18, 2014 |

Warning: This post is VERY girly! If you aren’t into finding convenient beauty solutions in downtown Austin – stop reading now!

But if you are, let’s get REAL girly together, starting now:

pink-girlie — Squeee!!! Fluffy pink unicorns and rainbows and bubbles!

I am a pale, pale lady. And along with my fair skin comes quite a bit of sensitivity. So, I’m not real big on getting my eyebrows waxed, which seems to be the common way most of my other lady friends keep their eyebrows looking spectacular.

So, for a long time, I just managed my eyebrows myself, which – you know – is not fun. And then, in the early 2000’s, I was living in Atlanta and I found a GLORIOUS alternative to waxing or tweezing [Read more…] about Eyebrow Threading in Downtown Austin