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Downtown Austin LEED Buildings

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59tABEZTazo]

Established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute, LEED is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.  LEED is shorthand for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Legacy On The Lake is a downtown Austin apartment building designed by EDI Architecture that has been awarded LEED® Certification.  They are the first residential multi-family building to do so.

How did they do it?  30% reduction of water use, 10% recycled material use, 43% of building materials sourced locally, 77% of construction waste recycled, use of low VOC interior finish materials, and 90% of interior spaces having access to daylight and views.

Several other items contributed to their LEED rating including:  electric vehicle charging stations, bicycle storage and changing rooms, and water efficient landscaping.  According to EDI, “Legacy on the Lake achieved LEED Certification despite having a tight construction budget.  Total upcharge to achieve certification was about 1 percent of the total construction hard costs.”

The LEED 2009 rating system is based on 100 possible base points plus an additional 6 points for Innovation in Design and 4 points for Regional Priority. There are four categories of rating:

* Certified – 40-49 points
* Silver – 50-59 points
* Gold – 60-79 points
* Platinum – 80 points and above

Other downtown buildings that have achieved a LEED rating:
1) Whole Foods (LEED Certified)
2) Austin City Hall (LEED Gold)

Of note, Gables Park Plaza is a candidate for LEED certification, the Austin W Hotel and Residences (aka. Block 21 Residences) is expected to be LEED Silver Austin’s first LEED Platinum building.  Also, the under-construction Federal Courthouse is being built to achieve a LEED Silver rating.

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Plenty Of Parking In Downtown Austin

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[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=103511658775998588975.0004412becaf3414ba22e&ll=30.266533,-97.743144&spn=0.010615,0.017115&output=embed&w=600&h=350]

Thanks to Chris Schorre at the Downtown Commission for this.

“Generally, prices are around $5-7 M-W and around $8-10 Thursday, Friday and weekends. NOTE: Parking is free on downtown streets after 5:30PM daily and on weekends so you can ignore those Pay to Park signs during those times.”

SPECIAL OFFER FOR DAB READERS: THE Book About Urbanism In Austin

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The Congress for the New Urbanism, CNU, is on the front lines of saving the planet from suburban sprawl.  At the 2008 CNU annual conference, hosted in Austin, attending members received an amazing book titled Emergent Urbanism: Evolution in Urban Form, Texas.  Simply put, this is one of the best books about Austin, Texas.

The book is a publication of the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, Placemaking Studio, and Black + Vernooy.  Inside you will find 150 pages of incredible stories about, and history of, urbanism in Austin.  Contributors include Sinclair Black, former Austin Mayor Will Wynn, Katherine Gregor, Larry Warshaw, Cid Galindo, Senator Kirk Watson, amongst others.

One of my favorite articles is by Kent Butler and Frederick Steiner, The Green Heart of Texas.  They provide us with a history of the Edwards Plateau and geological uniqueness of Central Texas’s Balcones Fault Zone that separates the Hill Country from the Blackland Prairie.

This is a must have book for anyone that is interested in pedestrian friendly sustainable growth in Austin, Texas.  It would make a great gift for friend, family, or client.

The book can be purchased on Amazon for $30.00.  OR, drumroll … … … I’m excited to announce that Downtown Austin Blog has been given 15 30 50 100 books to disseminate to DAB readers for $9.99 + shipping!

Proceeds go directly to CNU Austin (Central Texas).  Use the button below to order yours now!

Density Bonus Program Stalls

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For better or for worse, ROMA’s density bonus recommendations aren’t likely to be adopted anytime soon.  The Planning Commission believes that not all party’s concerns have been addressed and they are requesting a four-month review period.  My experience with the density bonus recommendations is that ROMA and the City’s Planning and Development Review Department went above and beyond what was necessary to gather input.  They’ve held town halls and sought out stake holder input, ad nauseam.  Did it feel like a seminar?  Yes, at times, because these are complicated issues with a learning curve.  As someone that’s opined at these input gathering sessions, I always felt my opinion/concerns/questions were being listened to.  Anyone that hasn’t weighed in on this yet cannot credibly claim they’ve not had the opportunity to do so.  Difficult decisions will need to be made that will not always assuage the concerns of all parties.

I’m still ambivalent on the density bonus.  But it’s easy to be frustrated with City Council and the Planning Commission because there has been a year of planning and citizen input on the recommendations put forth.  What does that say about the process of stakeholder input?  Maybe an additional four month review is warranted, but the notion that ROMA and the City’s Planning and Development Review Department have not made every effort possible to seek input is patently false, and leaves me to be skeptical that this is nothing more than junk-politics at work.

For two perspectives on the issue of warehouse district protection – a highlight of ROMA’s density bonus recommendation – check out this contribution by Mike McGill and Roger Cauvin.

Statesman link

Nueces Bike Boulevard/Local Access Street Stakeholder Meeting

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Downtown Austin Blog is in support of the Nueces Bike Boulevard.  Show your support for a more walkable and pedestrian urban core by attending this event.
The City of Austin invites you to share your thoughts on a potential Nueces Bicycle Boulevard/Local Access Street at two upcoming meetings:

January 13: In response to stakeholder feedback, this meeting will include a discussion on the pros and cons of Rio Grande Street as compared to Nueces Street as a Bicycle Boulevard/Local Access Street.

February 24: City staff will present the results of traffic data analyses (This meeting was originally scheduled for 1/27).

Both meetings will be held at Pease Elementary School, 1106 Rio Grande St, from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

You can learn more about the project at the City of Austin Bicycle website.

Please contact Jason Fialkoff via email or at (512) 974-7060 or with any questions or concerns.

Thank you,
Downtown Austin Alliance

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The Shore Condos Closeout

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Perhaps in light of the upcoming Sabine auction, The Shore Condos is aggressively working to closeout their sales program.  We just received a note from sales office: eight units remain and discounts range from 10-25% off of original asking prices.  A large 1bd + study on the 18th floor can be purchased for $243,750.   This same unit would have been offered at $325,000 in late 2008.

A pdf of the remaining units and pricing can be downloaded here.

DAB readers will recall that 2009 was a great year for the Shore, as they quietly discounted and sold nearly 75 units over this past summer.  In fact, in November, we closed on our new space at the Shore [we’ve leased our beloved 1bd at the Sabine].  The construction quality is outstanding, and the proximity to Rainey Street and the trail cannot be beat.

Downtown Austin Alliance Getting New Motto?

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[UPDATE:  Thanks to the DAA for the clarifying point that this was simply the title of the annual report and is not going to become the new motto.]

“Downtown: As Austin As It Gets” could be replaced with “Downtown: Everyone’s Neighborhood”

This is what appeared on the DAA’s annual report (pdf).

I think I understand the DAA’s motivation for a new tag line. It reaches out. It acknowledges [and I agree] that downtown Austin is different and lots of people use downtown. The new tag line is a reminder that downtown respects input from the entire city.

BUT, once neighborhoods outside of the urban core decide what is NOT best for them, then whatever that is gets deflected back into downtown, de facto. Calling downtown “Everyone’s Neighborhood” leaves downtown as the catchall and invites less progressive neighborhoods to continue to ignore the environmental and economic need for density, transit, and social services in their own backyard.

Amazing Photo Of Downtown Austin At Night

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This photo wast taken and posted by Hairysun at SkyscraperPage.  It’s really an amazing theme and is something completely new.   I think the moonlight was poking through the clouds, but from this angle it also looks as if the Austonian’s “beacon” is breaking through the the low cloud base – very Gothamish.  Vantage point is Butler Park.  Cool! 🙂

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The U-Haul Indicator

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My colleague, Simon Cawley, shared this with me. The U-Haul indicator is a simple test of migration patterns in the U.S.  Put simply, it costs more to rent a U-Haul moving truck when the destination city is more popular than the origination city.

So what does it cost to leave Las Vegas?

Try $1,880 if you want to rent a 26-foot U-Haul truck, fill it with your worldly goods, and drive it to San Antonio. (In these comparisons, Nov. 3 was selected as the moving date.) But if you wanted to leave San Antonio (August unemployment rate: 7%) and move to Las Vegas, it would cost you only $437 for the same equipment.

Want to move from Chicago (9.7% unemployment) to Houston (8.4% unemployment)? It will cost you $1,970.  But it will cost only $449 to make the trip from Houston to Chicago.

Los Angeles (11.8% unemployment) to Houston was $2,051, while Houston to Los Angeles was only $555.

Not surprisingly, there is a significant Texas premium. 🙂

link

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