Downtown Austin Districts

The Quarter-Billion Dollar Street

Jude Galligan | November 18, 2010 |

View Rainey Street District in a larger map

At last night’s Downtown Commission, the commissioners heard from representatives of Rainey Street’s high-rise HOA boards. The most salient concerns were: 1) pedestrian safety (there’s no sidewalks), 2) outdoor music venue permits (compatibility), and 3) parking (there’s not much) in the burgeoning Rainey Street District.

In seven years, the city has generated nearly a quarter-BILLION dollars in tax basis through the upzoning of Rainey Street. Andre Suissa with American Realty Corp helped me assemble some interesting data.

Rainey Street Facts:
Number of Residential High Rises = 5
Number of Residential High Rise Doors = 857
Total Value of Residential High Rise (aka. ‘condos’) Tax Base = $238,586,516 (!!!)
Total Value of Other Privately Owned Property = $56,831,501
Total Value of City Owned Property = $70,111,541
Total Tax Base of Rainey Street District = $365,529,558

The most recent draft of the Downtown Austin Plan(released yesterday) devotes two pages to priority uses for the district. While it is brief, the message is clear and on-the-money. Rainey Street is not one of downtown’s two entertainment districts. Two highlights of the DAP as it pertains to RSD: 1) Encourage new residential uses that can complement the existing, quiet neighborhood character. 2) Limit the number of cocktail uses allowed.

I’ve been devoting a lot of blog space to RSD, and there’s good reason: No other area in Austin parallels Rainey Street’s activity, specifically the type of growth we’re observing. It’s the wild west with big CBD zoning guns, feral cats, no plan, and few laws in place to keep things orderly.

Lax parking requirements for bars in CBD are precisely why you are seeing a surge in bars in RSD over other commercial uses. [The same is true for “bar creep” we’re seeing on Congress Ave] . There was a lengthy discussion on the DC about replacing parking from the west side of Rainey Street with a pedestrian/bike safety zone. Currently, arriving and departing customers are literally forced to walk in the middle of the street where it is a foregone conclusion that someone is going to get hurt. Seems like a pedestrian/bicycle/handicap refuge is good idea.

-Jude

Three New Building Permit Requests On Rainey Street

Jude Galligan | November 10, 2010 |

I love this.

On my desk sits three simultaneous requests, from different owner/operators, for building permits on Rainey Street.

Since Rainey Street is a National Registered Historic District any improvements must pass through the Historic Landmark Commission. We knew about 86 Rainey St. That will become The Blackheart. 69 Rainey Street, according to applicant Rick McMinn, will be a food concept to serve patrons at the bars located mid-block. 92 Rainey Street is expected to become a bar, but we haven’t been able to confirm if they will also serve food or if they will operate with daytime hours.

92 rainey street austin texas 78701 — 86 Rainey St

69 rainey street austin texas 78701 — 69 Rainey St

Downtown Austin TV Features Rainey Street

Jude Galligan | November 2, 2010 |

Icenhauers is Nicenhauers (Go To There!)

AG | October 14, 2010 |

Beer Cat — Only Kitties Over the Age of 21 are Permitted to Consume Alcholic Beverages

First of all, I’d like to apologize for the headline of this post, but I just couldn’t get this phrase out of my head. And it’s true! The new kid on the (Rainey Street) block, Icenhauer’s, IS nice. Nicely built and and nicely designed (kudos to the Icenhauer team for selecting the high-design architectural firm, Michael Hsu), nicely priced, and “nicely” people (shout out to staffers Nora and Matt, who made my first visit there extremely….well, nice).

A little history: Icenhauer’s is family-owned, a father-son team consisting of Michael Icenhauer, young TSU graduate turned entrepreneur, and his father Robert Icenhauer-Ramirez , a local criminal attorney. Michael Icenhauer was living at The Milago and witnessed first-hand the opening of Lustre Pearl. Inspired by Bridget Dunlap’s endeavor, the Icenhauer duo set out to replicate the success. But they didn’t replicate the vibe. Where Lustre Pearl is shabby chic, Icenhauer’s is sleek and modern. Where Lustre Pearl is a bit rough around the edges (which I like!), Icenhauer’s is smooth to the touch (which I also like!).

Alas, but a picture is worth a thousand words. So, please allow me to bury you in metaphorical words:

Generous Back Patio, Reminiscent of Lustre Pearl

There are few things I enjoy more than drinking outside.

Closing thoughts, in brief: I like the concept, and I think it’s a nice addition to what’s becoming an increasingly eclectic, but higher-end bar and restaurant scene on the edges of downtown Austin.

Also, apparently the Icenhauer clan pronounces their last name like “Eisenhower.” Presumably, this would also be the correct pronunciation of the bar, but I think most people are going to accentuate the “Ice”.

Oh! And if you are hungry, never fear, the bar is right next door to El Naranjo, or just a stone’s throw away from the other trailer eateries in the area – G’Raj Mahal, Cazamance, and East Side King.

Icenhauer’s Quick Facts:

Location
83 Rainey Street
Austin, Texas 78701

Hours of Operation
Monday – Friday: 4 pm – 2 am
Saturday: 11 am – 2 am
Sunday: 12 pm – 2 am

Happy Hour
Monday – Friday: 4 pm – 7 pm
Saturday: 11 am – 7 pm
Sunday: 12 pm – 7 pm

Happy Hour Prices
$2 Domestics
$3 Draft/Imports/Wells
$4 Glasses of Wine

Major New Live Music Venue Coming to 6ixth Street

Fred Schmidt | October 3, 2010 |

In case you missed the news this past week, there is a significant new music venue slated to open New Year’s Eve on East 6th Street. Here’s a link to the Austin360 story by Michael Corcoran.

It’s called “The Stage” and is operated by a family out of Nashville with solid experience in producing quality live music venues there where they have four: The Stage on Broadway, Legends Corner, The Second Fiddle and Nashville Crossroads.

The Sanderson’s have been in Austin quite a bit over the past year checking out the scene and trying to find a fresh angle to success in our highly competitive market. They finally settled on 508 E. 6th, the largest single-space building for something like this on the street and former home to Bourbon Rocks and Fat Tuesday. (Maggie Mae’s is larger in overall square footage but it is chopped up into essentially four separate spaces on two levels.)

Longtime building owner Terry Boothe, who owns several properties on East 6th, had loads of offers from the typical fare of 25-cent-jello-shot bar operators. But he held tight for over two years without a tenant in order to bring a quality live music operator back to 6ixth and thus help the District’s quest to upgrade the quality of visitor experiences to be found there. The Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA) and 6ixth Street Austin property/business owners association assisted in landing this deal.

Live music is supposed to be presented on pretty much the same schedule as the Nashville clubs: starting as early as 2:00 in the afternoon on Mondays-Thursdays and at 11:00am on Friday-Sunday. That should provide a welcome flow of new work for Austin’s large and talented musician community. The Stage will reportedly also serve food too.

My only caveat is that I hope The Stage will program live music with distinctly Austin and Texas-centric flavor, not a heavy Nashville bent. If you take a look at the websites for the Nashville clubs, the offerings seem a tad “formulaic” — pretty much the same stuff done under four different names, not unlike the tight-jeans-and-cowboy-hat processed “country” music that Nashville itself often cranks out. I hope the Sanderson’s and manager, Brandon Reineke, challenge themselves further in what they do in Austin.

While country is certainly one of our basic music food groups down here, the great country-flavored sounds coming out of Texas span so much greater breadth…quickly flowing into country rock, roots rock, folk, bluegrass, swing and so much more. Even Willie regularly crosses into jazz and blues in his sets regardless of what type of club or festival he is playing.

Would you label Robert Earl Keen, Joe Ely, Jimmy Lafave, Ray Benson, Carolyn Wonderland, Marcia Ball as “country”? Hardly. Yet these are the sorts of all-star Austin acts that I hope will be regularly presented as headliners on the stage at The Stage — for a decent ticket price and full-priced drinks — to provide visitors to The Live Music Capital with a truly memorable show to savor when they head home.

However it shakes out, The Stage is clearly a welcome addition to the music offerings Downtown and on East 6th. As a business owner just a few blocks west of the new venue I can attest that the area is streaming with people all day long these days, 7 days a week, looking for things to do and seeking that globally heralded Austin vibe and live music reputation. Between the Convention Center, all the great Downtown hotels, and our many new urban residents, business has never been better.

Now…if only we can lure Antone’s back to East 6th where that legendary venue began, then we’d really have some live music anchor tenants to brag about again! Gotta work on that some more. 🙂