It’s time to bid farewell to Downtown Austin Blog. After a decade of documenting the remarkable evolution of downtown Austin, I’m redirecting my focus to TOWERS.net, where we are delivering fresh updates on Austin real estate. Our intention is to maintain the site as an archive, recognizing the valuable reference material it holds as Austin’s urban landscape evolves. Throughout the years, Downtown Austin Blog has served as a platform for diverse voices, and I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all who have contributed, commented, and read along. Thank you.
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Does Austin Need A Market For Air Rights?
I’m not talking fresh air. I’m talking about the municipal zoning God given right to build to the heavens.
The recent plan for 3rd & Colorado – a residential tower that I’m excited to see more of, if not disappointed that it isn’t taller – reminded me of a policy discussion that lost steam a few years back focused on preservation of the Warehouse District. Back in 2009 influencers with a preservationist slant vocalized concern that the charm of the Warehouse District would eventually lead to its demise unless measures were taken to limit height and density in the district.
Back then, one of the recommended approaches to preservation was facilitating the Transference of Development Rights (TDR), aka. “air rights.” That seemed like a smart way to handle preservation of low-rise historic-ish buildings sitting on highly desired CBD building sites. Creating a market for air rights in Austin would, in theory, enable property owners to capture the value of their dirt, without having to build on the site, thus able to preserve historic buildings.
The topic was dropped in 2011 when the Downtown Austin Plan (DAP) was formally adopted featuring a “density bonus” program. Recently, I’ve been participating in the DAA’s CodeNEXT task force, and we’re discussing policies that would encourage building tall on small CBD sites, notably sites that are mid-block. With CodeNext happening, this seems like a good time to rekindle the discussion.
Why would a builder want to buy air rights?
- additional density
- protect views
Why would a property owner want to sell air rights?
- property is too small, oddly shaped, or mid-block thus more difficult to develop
- capture value without having to redevelop
Why would a city want to permit air rights to be transferred?
- additional density
- encourage more development on smaller lots
- historic preservation
That last question is the one I can’t reconcile completely. The City of Austin uses the Density Bonus program to subsidize affordable housing.
Would an air rights market, in its simplest form, circumvent those fees-in-lieu [of building affordable housing] from being collected? [Read more…] about Does Austin Need A Market For Air Rights?
A Drive Through Austin – June 1996
This is an amazing time capsule of a video.
Twenty years ago this video was shot by Pete Reid and his buddy, Brian. Pete was a visiting student from Scotland at UT.
The video takes us from UT, down the Drag, along Guadalupe into downtown Austin. The video quality isn’t great, but it is good enough for some good nostalgia to kick in. From Pete’s Youtube description:
“We drove down the Drag passing the Hole in the Wall, Tower Records, some drag rats, and Miami Subs. Then down Guadalupe passed the Dog and Duck, Liberty Lunch, an empty Austin skyline, and hardly any traffic. “
It starts off with shots of the Drag. For me the most interesting part is about five minutes in when you can catch glimpses of how downtown Austin has evolved. Notably:
0:44 – Tower Records on the Drag
5:24 – on the left, Guadalupe @ 5th, that parking lot is where Plaza Lofts is now.
5:52 – on the left, Guadalupe @ 2nd, that white building is now where Austin City Hall is located. The camera pans to the right to show Liberty Lunch.
6:27 – approaching and crossing Cesar Chavez
7:01 – shots of downtown Austin from 1st Street Bridge
Thanks to Pete Reid for sharing this on Youtube, and to Chris James putting it on my radar.
~ Jude
New downtown Austin train station making room for pedestrian plaza
The downtown Austin “Red Line” train station is about to undergo a significant makeover, that will add room for two more trains at the station. The capacity upgrade is expected to double the people (from >400 to 800) to commute to downtown from north Austin during rush hour.
However, the final design seems to be departure from any of the proposed concepts.
[Read more…] about New downtown Austin train station making room for pedestrian plaza
Downtown Thriving as a Live-Work-Play Community
Nice story in The Statesman about the vibrant community that continues to grow downtown – not just in terms of nightlife, but also new economy jobs and associated residents: Austin’s Tech Scene Heats Up Downtown.
It’s worth pointing out however that all this has not “just happened” by itself.
It has been 15+ years in the making with great purpose by the likes of the Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA), the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association (DANA), Mayors Kirk Watson, Will Wynn, Lee Leffingwell and their City Councils, the Downtown Austin Plan, and many more driving forces.
Except for weekday lunchtime and weekend nights on East 6th, it was a veritable ghost town when my team first opened an expanded Wild About Music down here in 1995, then started living here in 1999.
There’s still a ton of work to be done around issues of homelessness and vagrancy (two different matters), affordability (having only $50/ft rents and million dollar condos is not sustainable), traffic (a car-free zone?), and that IH-35 east-west barrier.
Dave Sullivan, longtime Austin civic leader during this big growth period, also just told me: “When I joined the City Planning Commission in 1994, software development was a prohibited use Downtown. I remember voting to change that in the late 90s. Seems incredible.”
Incredible indeed, Dave.
And a worthy update: After this story published I received a note from a longtime steward of Downtown Austin’s evolution, Michael Knox, of the City’s Economic Development Department. He filled in another 10 years of preparation that went into the creation of today’s Downtown before my timeline even picks up. Mike says:
“I started working on downtown in 1988, when it was part of AustinPlan’s Sector 1. Of course AustinPlan, the comprehensive plan update to replace Austin Tomorrow, was never adopted.
“In 1989 we (Jose Martinez and I) started working with the Downtown Commission, actively promoting a thing called R/UDAT. The 1990 R/UDAT application we co-wrote was accepted, and in 1991 we got the R/UDAT team visit and report, followed in 1992 by “A Call to Action: R/UDAT Implementation” that, in 1993 gave birth to the Downtown Austin Alliance and the Austin Downton PID. These efforts involved hundreds of dedicated Austinites.
“Downtown initiatives were kicked up a notch in 1997 when Kirk Watson became Mayor, and Assistant City Manager Jim Smith (now Aviation Director) and I put together Kirk’s first six downtown initiatives, including the Waller Creek tunnel, Downtown Design Guidelines and the Poleyard and AMLI developments.”
So there you go…another of Downtown Austin’s many unsung heroes. We thank you, Michael Knox.
~Fred