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Austin Urban Vet Center

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The Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association (DANA) hosted its monthly happy hour at the Austin Urban Vet Center – a renovated 12,000 ft. building located at the corner of 5th Street and Rio Grande.  I was provided with a grand tour by Dr. Greg Biehle.  I’ve had pets most of my life and have visited many veterinary clinics.  The Austin Urban Vet Center is an amazing facility.  People should have it so good as what pets will experience here.  Each dog is provided its own room, complete with cushion, warm lighting, adjustable height bowls, and television.  Indeed, each room is equipped with a small flat screen TV tuned into Animal Planet.

This is much more than a vet, this is a resort for pets.  If you live with pets in downtown Austin, make a point to stop by and become familiar with all the Austin Urban Vet Center has to offer.

The Shore Condos Battle Developer AND Villas On Town Lake

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The rumble on Rainey Street… it’s a clash of the condos!

Like most condominiums, The Shore Condos are controlled by its home owners association (HOA).  Like several condominiums in downtown Austin, The Shore Condos are actually a sub-association of a more senior association.  In this case, The Shore Condos are the “residential unit” and one half of a master association called the Waterfront Master Condominium Association, Inc.   The other half is a “hotel unit” – ostensibly setup as the place holder for the Hotel Van Zandt (and may still be).

In 2005 High Street Rainey, LP purchased Lot 1, Red River Addition, from Sack Family Holding, Ltd (the “Waterfront Property”).  In 2006 High Street Rainey, LP created the Waterfront Master Condominium Association, Inc.  Prior to that, when the Villas On Town Lake’s land was originally deeded, the seller withheld a 50 x 50 right-of-way easement where Red River meets Davis St in order to provide access to the south of Davis Street in perpetuity.

In 2007 High Street Rainey LP + JMIR-Austin Hotel, LP + The Waterfront Master Condominium Association, Inc. sued the Villas On Town Lake Owners Association, Inc for encroaching on that easement.  Note that at this point in the story, the “residential unit”, aka the Shore Condominium HOA is not named in the lawsuit.  In fact, the “residential unit” wouldn’t learn about this lawsuit until recently.

As best as we can figure out, the Villas decided this easement could be used to locate a dumpster.  The developer of The Shore, who by right also has use of the 50 x 50 easement, removed the dumpster and the parties sued each other.  In 2008 the parties reach a written settlement agreement, but for reasons unknown this agreement wasn’t actually executed.  Earlier this month, the Villas filed a motion to enforce that settlement agreement.

Not so fast.

[youtube = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZPRf8qL8h0]

The Shore Condominium HOA (“residential unit”) legally intervened by filing an objection to the Villas motion to enforce the settlement agreement, on the grounds that any settlement agreement would bind The Shore Condominium HOA to something they weren’t a party to.  So, the Shore HOA wants to put the kibosh on a settlement agreement that could adversely affect their interests.

B-b-b-but wait it gets worse!

The Shore Condos seem to be unclear about how, or if, they are would be bound by the settlement agreement.  The Shore Condominium HOA asserts in a legal filing that:

The Shore Association is not clear on how such terms [re: the settlement agreement] would impact its’ members regarding the easement contemplated.

To the best of our knowledge this is a Mexican standoff.  Since the original parties sued each other, it’s unlikely they will both simultaneously drop all of their claims.  The judge is unlikely to enforce a settlement agreement that would bind a party that was not originally part of that agreement.

Friggin’ dumpsters.

Downtown Austin Link Roundup

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1) Bridge over troubled water

OK, not really troubled water, but I couldn’t resist a title so apropos for a city that likes to bitch and moan about growth, yet doesn’t make the hard decisions necessary to steer growth and prefers to react to it, (breath) imagine the hostility we’re going to see for this bridge.  One look at the notoriously poorly moderated comment sections of the Statesman’s online posts (seriously, take a look to feel less good about humanity) is all you need to run far, far away from the headaches of local public policy making and sound urban planning.

2) Rainey Street getting smart about traffic

Last week’s commentary by a Milago resident about the perils of walking in the Rainey Street district has spurred the City into action.  “Those people” move into the district and now they want to change it with crazy things like sidewalks.  Less than 48 hours after this video editorial aired, there were pneumatic traffic counters straddling the district’s streets recording passing cars, and adolescent kids (primarily DAB readers/writers) jumping on them.

3) Oh, hi!  Ummm… We’ll be needing your land.  KTHXBAI

City approves the use of eminent domain, should it be necessary, to get control over an important piece of land for the Waller Creek Tunnel Project.  For decades this assemblage of lots that front I-35 has been a surface level parking lot.  For the next 4-5 years it will be a staging area for creek diggin’.

Will The Austin Planetarium’s Stars Shine Over Downtown Austin?

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austin planitariumOne of my favorite podcasts is Astronomy Cast, because… well, I’m a geek for science, especially physics and astronomy.

So, I was very excited to learn that Torvald Hessel, executive director, and his colleague Dr. Ron Johns with the Austin Planetarium would be visiting with the DANA board last night to discuss the future of this $60MM planetarium in downtown Austin.  Lest you believe this is just a wacky idea, they’ve got some heavies involved including local Cosmonaut, Richard Garriott and Astronaut Rick Linnehan.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U]

Austin is the largest city without a planetarium, or a full-dome theater with projection against the ceiling (not to be confused with an observatory which is a telescope at a remote location).  Of the 50 largest cities in the U.S., Austin is the only city without a planetarium of any kind.

Planetariums boost tourism and tax revenue, and are a family oriented destination for city residents and visitors. Studies suggest that planetariums increase interest in sciences as a career – a big concern for our government – and facilitates worker retention, especially in the high tech industry.  In other words, “Nerds like to do nerdy things.” says Hessel.

The facility would include:
-planetarium
-science museum
-technology center, a showcase for locally developed technologies.

The venue under consideration would be 115,000sf and located on the Southeast corner of Congress and MLK.  This site is currently a surface level parking lot owned by the State of Texas.  The planetarium is seeking a long term lease and would include three stories of underground parking that the State could still use.

Can you see a [real] “Museum District” in the making?  I can.  With the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum ($80MM) to the west and the Blanton Museum of Art ($85MM) to the north, the addition of another exhibiting destination like an Austin Planetarium ($60MM estimate) should generate increased traffic to all three.  See economies of agglomeration (or locally by Chris Bradford who introduced me to the concept).

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&q=bob+bullock&fb=1&gl=us&hnear=&cid=0,0,7857427179010506862&ei=jPxoS43UCYH4NaL5_IsG&ved=0CBEQnwIwAA&t=h&source=embed&hq=bob+bullock&ll=30.279944,-97.738484&spn=0.006295,0.006295&layer=c&cbll=30.280567,-97.737913&panoid=85Vxxvs5jvByJGfMnztOUA&cbp=12,305.97,,0,-2.9&output=svembed&w=600&h=350]

The Austin Planetarium is operated as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3).  You can donate and become a sponsor here. 2010 goals for the Austin Planetarium are to acquire land and formalize city and state commitments, enlarge donor pool, and lock-in corporate sponsorships.

So, is the Austin Planetarium just another piece of Austin real estate vaporware? It appears they have a great team, passion, and access to big corporate and university money. The site selection is inspired, and we’re told that no other group is at the table proposing a higher and better use of the parking lot. The earliest we would see ground breaking is in 2011.

-Jude

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