Downtown Austin Blog

downtown Austin's real estate and neighborhood blog

You are here: Home / Home

Home

The Best Pedicure in Austin (that I’ve had so far….)

| |

This past Sunday, I had the best manicure / pedicure that I’ve ever had.  I had the service at Hiatus Spa + Retreat, a spa concept headquartered in Dallas, but with a location on the ground floor of the Gables on West 5th – just a hop-skip-and-a-jump away from Downtown Austin.

The whole experience there is top-notch from beginning to end, actually – but the actual service is just different enough from the other places that I think it deserves to be called the best.

There are two things that make it different than any other manicure / pedicure I’ve every had.  The first thing is [Read more…] about The Best Pedicure in Austin (that I’ve had so far….)

The ONE & ONLY Way To Activate Downtown Austin Parks On A Regular Basis

| |

Have you been to any of downtown Austin’s parks recently?

I walk near and around them almost everyday. Yet, they fail to draw me in.

Over the last couple of years, Republic Square Park has received a nice face lift.  Smart people and private money ensured the auction oaks are preserved and cared for.  Add to that good programming such as the Alamo Drafthouse’s Movies in the Park and the Saturday morning farmers market.

Republic Square is doing the best of the downtown parks.  Still, most of the time downtown Austin’s parks are empty.  That’s the unfortunate truth.

And, this is the reason:

During the week (daytime) Republic Square Park offers nothing to attract workers, visitors, or residents. It is neither a conduit nor a destination for most people.

Here’s how we fix it. [Read more…] about The ONE & ONLY Way To Activate Downtown Austin Parks On A Regular Basis

Downtown Austin’s Defacto Financial District

| |

The 600 block of W. 5th Street has strangely evolved to host a single use: drive through banks.

Yesterday’s Statesman article announcing Endeavor’s forthcoming development of IBC Bank Plaza left me chuckling, as I wondered about the market forces leading to this.

It’s quite odd. Unlike retail or entertainment districts, there are no obvious economies of agglomeration with several drive through banks near each other.  They don’t even share driveways.

This particular block of 5th Street has nice wide great-streets-style sidewalks, which the respective developers paid for.  And I grant you, the surface parking is neither attractive nor productive.  I’m not complaining about the new IBC Bank.  It’s just a curious situation.

Rocket Electrics Electric Bike Rental Discount Code – Exclusive for Downtown Austin Blog Readers

| |

I love a good deal. And more than that, I love SHARING a good deal.

Luckily for me, Rocket Electrics over on E. Riverside (just south of Downtown Austin, on the ground floor of the AMLI South Shore Apartments) is offering you lucky Downtown Austin Blog readers a fabulous discount on their Electric Bike rentals. The discount starts TODAY, and is good for a WHOPPING [Read more…] about Rocket Electrics Electric Bike Rental Discount Code – Exclusive for Downtown Austin Blog Readers

Glee. (Indirectly) Making Downtown Austin a Little More Environmentally Friendly

| |

Oh, Glee.  I  sometimes enjoy you, but often I am overcome with shame for watching you.  But, last week –  you actually accomplished something useful.  Because of you, Glee, I finally recycled my big ol’ bag o’ batteries.

Okay, let me explain. See, up until last week, I had been keeping this huge Ziploc bag stuffed with used up AA batteries under my kitchen sink.  I didn’t know where to take them and I always seemed to forget to Google a nearby location. So, the bag o’ batteries just kept getting bigger.

And then I started seeing this Glee PSA about recycling batteries.  Over. And over. And over again. [Read more…] about Glee. (Indirectly) Making Downtown Austin a Little More Environmentally Friendly

Wooldridge Square Park Is Getting A Facelift

| |

Wooldridge Square Park is closed for the next year, or so, as it receives improvements to the irrigation and landscaping.

Amidst a sea of bureaucratic bunk houses, a Malaise Era parking garage, a jail, and a drive-thru Bank of America, the park’s central gazebo and the close Austin History center can still conjure up memories of a shaded and serene sloped park hill.

Wooldridge Square was a part of the original plans for the City of Austin as laid out by Edwin Waller in 1839. It became a dedicated park in 1909 when then-Mayor Wooldridge cleared and drained the site for civic green space. The gazebo in the center of the park was added in 1910 and has a rich history of political speeches and gatherings for State, County and City officials.

The park is recently best known for hosting giant chess, and being the defacto setup for Mobile Loaves & Fishes, which helps feed Austin’s homeless population.

A couple of months ago, I headed over to play giant chess in the evening.  Very enjoyable.  No safety concerns, personally, but it’s clear that vagrancy keeps the masses at a distance.

If Wooldridge’s challenges can be distilled into three buckets, below is how I would describe them:

1) no surrounding pedestrian-oriented uses (attraction)
2) vagrancy (perception of safety)
3) poor/no irrigation (placemaking, grass)

Within a year, the irrigation should be improved.  I understand that alternative placement or better coordination with MLF is being discussed. There’s a higher and better use for that parking garage and Bank of America, and those will eventually be replaced.

This is progress.

Austin Rocks Texas (Across from City Hall) Grand Opening on June 2nd, 2012

| |

Wild About Music on East Sixth Street has a fancy little sister called Austin Rocks Texas (ART), a 1,350 sf retail space at the corner of 2nd and Guadalupe.  The store features upscale apparel, jewelry, artwork and other unique items, and is a perfect stop after a concert at ACL.

From the press release: [Read more…] about Austin Rocks Texas (Across from City Hall) Grand Opening on June 2nd, 2012

Fishing Pier Coming to Lady Bird Lake in Rainey Street, Downtown Austin

| |

The focus is on inclusion.  That’s what Nicole Harmon of Core Health Foundation, a non-profit spin-off of Core Health (a for-profit facility focusing on rehabilitation of those suffering with brain injuries), tells me. The project is a fishing pier, located on the northern shore of Lady Bird Lake, just south of the Holiday Inn off I-35 in the Rainey Street District.  The project has been in the works for over 8-years, but was officially approved in 2010, and construction is expected to be complete in 2013.   And while the driver and primary purpose of this project is for [Read more…] about Fishing Pier Coming to Lady Bird Lake in Rainey Street, Downtown Austin

Episcopal Church Site: Finally Reaching For The Heavens?

| |

Back in 2009, the Episcopal Church paid $9.5MM for a 1.6 acre city block bounded by Trinity, Neches, and 7th Street.

The purpose of the site, which is currently a surface parking lot, is widely believed to house their national archives.

The Episcopal Church recently submitted a Capitol View Corridor (CVC) height determination application with the city.   This application is the first step in knowing how tall they can build.

2/3 of the site is encumbered by a CVC, so I suspect any building on this site will be capped at a few stories.

The application proposes commercial, mixed-use.

downtown austin episcopal church archive

episcopal church cvc