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Club FUZE – citizen stakeholders want it gone

Jude Galligan | January 23, 2009 |

Club FUZE is the next venue on the Downtown stakeholders’ list of night clubs identified as hosting recurring criminal activity. A letter was sent on behalf of several Downtown stakeholders (including DANA, Capital Metro, and multiple residential buildings) to Don Garner, the owner of 505 Neches where Club FUZE is located. According to the letter:

“In the past year the criminal activity inside and surrounding Club Fuze has escalated considerably. Reports obtained from the Austin Police Department data base reveal a serious escalation of violence, public drunkenness, prostitution, and illegal drug activity both in the club and on the adjoining street.”

The letter goes on to state,

“The club’s dangerous and illegal activities have reached the point that visitors are now being warned to not walk down Neches during peak club hours, hotel guests are being encouraged to avoid the area, and local residents have been forced to avoid the area and to warn their friends to not park near the club.”

Part of the challenge for the Police is coping with venues that have recurring problems. According to data found at Krimelabb.com you might want to avoid club FUZE and the area around it. Below is a list of criminal activity inside or in front of FUZE in December.

2008-3432326 2008-12-08 POSS OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA
2008-3360157 2008-12-01 AGG ASSAULT
2008-3360157 2008-12-01 CUSTODY ARREST TRAFFIC WARR
2008-3500238 2008-12-15 DISTURBANCE/OTHER
2008-3360157 2008-12-01 ASSAULT W/INJURY-FAM/DATE VIOL
2008-3371894 2008-12-02 POSS OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA
2008-3550403 2008-12-20 UIPP
2008-3382492 2008-12-03 PEDESTRIAN ON ROADWAY
2008-3360157 2008-12-01 POSS MARIJUANA
2008-3360157 2008-12-01 FAILURE TO IDENTIFY
2008-3360157 2008-12-01 VIOL OF EMERG PROTECTIVE ORDER
2008-3361590 2008-12-01 PUBLIC INTOXICATION
2008-3361590 2008-12-01 REQUEST TO APPREHEND

Citizen stakeholders have recently been successful in purging the neighborhood of offending night clubs. Last month, Tim Finley, the owner of the building housing Club Paradox and Club Planeta, was urged to clean up his tenant’s act after discussions with residents, police, hotels, and the convention center. After years of increasing crime and violence in and around clubs Paradox and Planeta, it was clear to Tim Finley that change was needed. He terminated their lease.

Downtown Austin – Is Opportunity Knocking?

Jude Galligan | January 19, 2009 |

“NY Times article of interest: OK, so it’s NYC, but the buyer sentiments are not unlike those of many Austinites I believe. (Note the negotiated price reductions…)”

He’s dead on. Traffic at my last few open houses at the Sabine has picked up significantly over the past couple of weeks. This makes sense for two important reasons: 1) Mortgage rates are at record lows, and 2) sellers understand the need to negotiate.

From the article “Many of these buyers have never received a fat bonus check, so they don’t miss it now. They did not suffer huge stock market losses, because they didn’t have huge stock market investments. They aren’t mourning the loss of value in their existing co-ops or condos, because they have never owned one….They have jobs and good credit ratings, and they are looking to buy.”

link to article “For The Brave, The Moment Is Now”

Public Invited to View Waller Creek Tunnel Models

Jude Galligan | January 16, 2009 |

This month the public can preview at the Downtown Austin Public Library a model of the future tunnel. While progress is slower than we would like to see, this has been a good month for Waller Creek. Below are some other highlites.

US Army corp of engineers report
This is a strong indicator that the engineering efforts are moving forward.
http://downtownaustin.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/waller-creek-army-corps.pdf

Waller Creek district TIF is now line item on property tax statements
The city and county approved TIF financing is now a line item on the property tax bill for properties within the Waller Creek District. This indicates that the County is prepared to fund its portion of the redevelopment. No additional taxes are levied, rather a % of property taxes collected from Waller Creek district properties go towards repaying the bonds financing the construction of the tunnel.

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Dale Glover will replace Tracy Atkins on the Waller Creek Citizens Advisory Committee
Dale is a vocal and outspoken advocate of Downtown Austin and Waller Creek redevelopment. His appointment is for the DAA’s chair on the committee. This is in addition to his involvement with Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association, Downtown Austin Alliance, and the Austin Parks Foundation.

Also, over the holidays, I shared a thought about how the loss of the Marriott and AMOA should reflect positively on 21c’s decision to move forward. The addition of 21c museum/hotel/residences along Waller Creek would be excellent for our values. Hopefully, they will begin to see the light!

Downtown Austin Emerging Projects – updated poster

Jude Galligan | January 6, 2009 |

The City of Austin periodically publishes a poster of emerging projects. The latest version (pdf) was just released. This poster shows projects under construction or being planned in Downtown Austin. Big changes can be seen on this poster compared to the last version.

Added:
1) Lance Armstrong Crosstown Bikeway

Removed:
1) Monarch (complete)
2) 360 (complete)
3) AMLI on 2nd (complete)
4) Museum Tower, AMOA (dead)
5) Red River Flats (complete)
6) La Vista on Lavaca (on hold)
7) Aqua Terra (dead)

Buildings not likely to get built within the next five years.
1) 7Rio
2) Ovation
3) Navare Block 52
4) Federal Courthouse
5) The Orsey
6) Marriott Hotel

Emergence of Austin's Urban Family?

Jude Galligan | January 5, 2009 |

Last month a baby was born in my building! No kidding. Mom and Dad decided to employ a mid-wife and birth the baby in their condo.

This morning Chris Bradford over at Austin Contrarian posted an interesting map showing where “families” lived in the year 2000. Downtown Austin, not surprisingly, showed very few. Downtown Austin in 2000 was a much different place. We didn’t have a supermarket. We didn’t have Frost Tower. We didn’t have the Convention Center. We didn’t have much of what makes Downtown a special place. If you wanted anything more than a two bedroom home you could look at the Towers of Town Lake or Cambridge Towers – take your pick!

I know several families living in Downtown Austin. In fact, the Mayor’s family lives in a Downtown Austin condo. The U.S. Government conducts its census every 10 years and I cant wait to see the 2010 numbers.

21c Museum Hotel Residences… a new opportunity?

Jude Galligan | December 31, 2008 |

Now that the AMOA museum tower and the bazillion room Marriott are on indefinite hold, an unexpected opportunity has opened up for Downtown Austin’s proposed 21c museum/hotel/residences to consider pushing forward. 21c is making the mass-media rounds as of late. Last week 21c was featured on NPR. This morning 21c was featured on the Today show.

21c’s Cesar Chavez & Red River location is prime for participation (financial and design) in the Waller Creek Revitalization.

UPDATE: AMOA museum tower is officially cancelled

Jude Galligan | December 31, 2008 |

Recently it was speculation, but now it’s official. According the Austin Business Journal, Hines Interestes LP, the developer planning the office portion of the museum tower, will allow its option on the land to expire today.

“Due to the uncertain economy, we made the difficult decision not to renew the option in 2009. However, Hines is still interested in developing an office building in Austin when the market recovers, and we hope it will be in conjunction with AMOA and its museum. The project will not restart until the market improves. Our hope would be to get a new deal together in 2009 or 2010, and then move full steam ahead. We see great potential in the long-term viability of the city of Austin.” –Travis Overall, Hines vice president

Located at 4th and Guadalupe, this is one of the few undeveloped sites in Downtown Austin that is not in a capitol view corridor, so it’s availability should quickly attract the interest of opportunistic developers. Otherwise we’ll endure another couple of years of surface parking blight 🙁 Add this site to the other prime downtown sites available and I expect to see some interesting proposals over the next year.

Thanks to DANA‘s Roger Cauvin for the heads up!

AMOA building on hold?

Jude Galligan | December 30, 2008 |

According to this WSJ article…

“Houston-based developer Hines says it won’t likely start construction as planned in the first quarter on a mixed-use project it is developing in downtown Austin with the Austin Museum of Art. A Hines spokeswoman says the company still hopes to start construction in 2009. Hines will need to prelease at least half the project’s 425,000 square feet of office space before it seeks financing for the office component, the spokeswoman says.”

Texas Archive of the Moving Image

Jude Galligan | December 29, 2008 |

I spent a good portion of this past weekend browsing the skyscraperpage forums. I have been hooked ever since I discovered this website. Members of this forum are actively photographing and discussing development progress in Austin. Many of them have serious photography chops, too. One of the best reasons for tuning in to the discussion is for the ‘golden nuggets’ that people find on the inter-tubes and share with the other members. One example is the “Texas Archive of the Moving Image” – a repository for old films about Texas.

The history of Austin is something I am fascinated with, so you can imagine how excited I was when I learned about these videos. Here is a link to an old video of Barton Springs and Lamar Blvd. Search around the website and post your favorites in the comments section.

21c gets glowing review by NPR

Jude Galligan | December 23, 2008 |

by jude galligan

Austin’s 21c museum residences and hotel may be on hold for now, but this morning NPR gave a glowing review of the original concept in Louisville, Kentucky. The NPR story incorrectly states that the Austin 21c is under construction; however, Marriott’s decision to not build 1,000 hotel rooms should reflect favorably on 21c’s pro-formas. 21c was originally planned for development at the Whitley paper building on 3rd and San Jacinto, however, plans changed to locate the building(s) at Red River and Cesar Chavez, along Waller Creek.

link to article
link to NPR audio