Search Results for: Waller Park Place

Big News for Rainey Street District

Jude Galligan | May 3, 2013 |

By now you might have read the breaking news that the Sutton Co. is proposing to build a three-tower complex (including a 65 story tower!) across the street from Iron Works BBQ, with a tower that would be taller than the Austonian.

What you may not realize yet is that Rainey Center, the dual tower project that was supposed to encompass up to 50 stories each, and include up to 1,000 apartments and condos, next door to the Lustre Pearl in Rainey Street, is dead as envisioned… BUT will be replaced by a new concept.

Wally Scott and Mac Pike – aka the Sutton Co. – have sold the 2-acre site to subsidiary of the Houston-based Dinerstein Companies. This information was buried in the last paragraph in a blockbuster story the Statesman published about a larger than life deal around the block.

According to information posted over at the SkyscraperPage forum, alleged to be taken from city records, Dinerstein is scrapping the dual tower concept for an eight-story mixed use building with an internal parking garage.

That’s a major let down, IMO. Austin has no shortage of squat beige buildings. Hopefully the new proposal will retain some ‘wow’ factor.

Maybe it just didn’t make sense from a traffic management standpoint to have that much of a draw right off the Cesar Chavez and I-35 access road, and in any case enables Sutton Co. to get capital for an even more inspiring, legacy project.

Still, once people start absorbing this information, it could instill a sense of skepticism about the Sutton Co.’s latest proposal. It wasn’t long ago – after all – that the Statesman broke news about the Rainey Center project (now Dinerstein is reducing the scope), just like it is doing now with the Waller Center project. Even the Statesman’s Shonda Novak — perennial cheerleader of Austin development — put a caveat in the first line her story about Waller Center of “if it happens”.

The details on the Waller Center project are as follows:

$500 million project
3 acres at East Cesar Chavez and Red River streets near Waller Creek.
Condos/Hotel tower – 65 floors
Apartment tower – 35 to 45 floors
Office tower – 17 to 20 floors
Proposed groundbreaking – mid to late 2014.

We’d love to see this one happen and reflect the vision below. It would be a huge boon to downtown, specifically the Waller Creek District. Cheers to ambitious thinking.

The Rainey Street Rundown: A MEGA Post of (Almost) Everything That’s Happening in the Rainey District

AG | October 18, 2012 |

The Rainey Street District in downtown Austin has been a hotbed of activity lately, from new apartment high rises, to an influx of new bars – things are really happening in Rainey. So, we thought it helpful to put together a property-by-property guide about all that’s going on. Everything we know about Rainey Street to date [mostly] in one place – this post!

This picture of the Rainey Street has each lot numbered with its numerical address. Look below to the corresponding number to see the skinny on the lot.

51 Rainey Street, Austin (address not shown on map, across from the Milago Condos), Austin Skyhouse apartments

The ABJ reported on the imminent ground-breaking of the Austin Skyhouse Apartments last month. Being built by Novare-Andrews Urban, the same group behind the successful 360 condos, the 20,000 feet of ground floor retail is rumored to include a Royal Blue Grocery.

Vote for Proposition One and Complete the Trail

Griffin Davis | October 22, 2010 |

— Below is a guest post from Griffin Davis, past President of The Trail Foundation —

The $14.4 million project to finally complete the lakefront hike and bike trail is the best possible investment Austin can make right now when it comes to alternative transportation. A little explanation on the cost.

In order to be accessible for citizens of all ability levels, the Boardwalk must be compliant with the American with Disabilities Act. Essentially, that means the trail needs to be at a low grade, basically flat. So, it needs to follow the shoreline. In some cases, explained below, that means we must build over the water. Building any bridge over water is costly. (The Pfluger Bridge for instance which spans 200 feet north to south cost 9.8 million dollars.)

This last section of Town Lake Trail has never been completed because of the challenging topography and the large number of private landowners along that section of the lake who are under no obligation to give or sell the City of Austin an easement.

In the case of the former, some sections along the route are steep cliffs where less expensive overland trail can’t be built safely or without damaging the environment. In those places, an overwater pedestrian bridge is necessary. One bridge segment crosses the outflow of Blunn Creek and has wetlands that need to be protected, again necessitating that the trail be built over water on piers.

In the case of the latter, private land owners don’t have to allow the city an easement to build land based trail, so along those sections, we have to build trail over water. Wherever it was possible, the Complete the Trail project routes the trail on land where the grade is fairly flat, where there is a straight route away from vehicular traffic and where there is enough width to meet the new Trail standard of 14 feet. Some individuals suggested routes that stay on land but were rejected because their proposed route would have required the trail to bend for several 90 degree turns to go around their condo building rather than run along the lakefront and those routes were only 8 feet wide in spots.

The route the City Council approved runs through at least two negotiated overland easements with private landowners and some city owned parkland below the Norwood House. About 50% of the planned route is on land.

So why complete the Trail at all? There are six reasons:

1) The current route is unsafe. For 1.1 miles, bicyclists, walkers, mothers with strollers and runners must leave the lakefront trail and use a narrow sidewalk on Riverside Drive, cross dozens of driveways for active commercial buildings and high occupancy apartment/condo complexes. They also have to cross 4 high speed entrance and exit ramps to I35. The Riverside Boardwalk Investment Study documented dozens of accidents involving pedestrians, bicyclists, runners and cars. No one has been killed yet. But a similar situation existed 15 years ago at the Trail crossing at Lamar Boulevard over the Lake. In separate accidents in the 1990’s, a pedestrian and a bicyclist legally using the narrow sidewalk next to an active traffic lane were struck by cars and killed. Since the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge was built, no one has been killed or injured at that crossing.

2) There is no safe pedestrian east-west corridor on the south side of the Lake. The population in this area is growing rapidly and deserves the same kind of safe pedestrian route enjoyed on the west side. The Boardwalk can help connect east and west Austin and bridge that hard dividing line of I35.

3) Without a complete lakefront Trail, most citizens of Austin are denied access public access to an especially beautiful section of their lake.

4) The Trail is increasingly being used as a commuting route, especially for bicyclists. If we safely connect the east-west sections of the Trail on the south side, we can provide a transportation choice for more people. And every commuter who chooses to bike or walk means one less car congesting traffic on Austin’s roads.

5) Completing the Trail creates a safe and complete hub that connects with many spoke trails (Shoal Creek Trail, Waller Creek Trail, Barton Creek Greenbelt, Johnson Creek Trail, Country Club Trail). This creates a truly useful large scale, city-wide trail network that provides choices for people who want an alternative to driving their car.

6) This is the only major transportation project that leverages local, private sector funds. The Trail Foundation has pledged $3 million dollars in matching funds for this project. Even in its incomplete state, the Trail is a success. It is a recreational asset and a proven transportation choice for thousands of folks who use it every week to bike or walk to get to where they want to go. We should complete it now when we have matching funds and negotiated easements over private land in place. The City has already dedicated $1.7 million in design and engineering studies to plan this. It would be a waste to not invest in the Trail that serves this city in so many ways. 40 years ago, Lady Bird and the rest of her gang contemplated a trail all around this man-made lake to serve all the people of Austin. This is our best chance in a generation to realize that vision. Vote for Proposition 1.

Griffin Davis,
Past President,
The Trail Foundation

The New Capitol Complex Vision – What Else Is So Important About This?

Fred Schmidt | May 26, 2010 |

As a clued-in DAB reader, hopefully you already know about the recent announcement of a very exciting vision and plan to potentially redevelop some 20 or so blocks of Downtown Austin land surrounding the Capitol. It’s land owned by the State, most of it terribly underutilized and poorly built out today. The plan could transform the area into as much a 7 million square feet of new office and mixed use space.

Info on the plan has been well covered by both the Austin Chronicle and the Statesman. And Chris Bradford does a nice job of discussing the economic impact aspects in his Austin Contrarian blog. Obviously getting so many blocks onto the tax rolls would be a huge boost to the local economy while also bringing alive the virtual “dead zone” of downtown space between the Capitol and UT.

But the one further exciting possibility to work into this equation that I have not seen explored yet: the opportunity for new housing. AFFORDABLE HOUSING, to be specific.

This has started to be investigated somewhat as part of the planning work being done around the Waller Creek Tunnel & Redevelopment project. Now, this Capitol redevelopment plan raises the possibility of really connecting these pieces into a solution of great possibilities.

The target properties are all those hideous parking garages that line San Jacinto and Trinity streets.

And the target population to serve should be: State office workers, of course. But also downtown service and support industry workers like bar and restaurant staff, hotel housekeepers, retail clerks, musicians and artists. And also UT and ACC students, too (that would help take some pressure off of over-development of multi-unit housing along the East Riverside corridor where the EROC Neighborhood Association is fighting for survival of what SFR neighborhoods they have left).

Jude is better qualified than I to comment about the supply versus demand of half-million-dollar-plus condos within the CBD, But I am a business owner who works in and close to the aforementioned “service and support” infrastructure that provides downtown with its excitement, vibrancy and great economic vitality in this area.

In that capacity I can say that we have a massive missed opportunity right now to build out a whole neighborhood of mid-rise, mixed-use buildings that has as its core focus affordable housing. I’m talking smaller studio, 1BR and 2BR rental units that can lease for $500-$1,000 per month.

That would give us places to house our critical service industry workers, students and state office support staff within walking distance of the places where they work, study and play the rest of their dayparts. Right now, these folks are having to live in far north or south Austin, thus adding to the traffic congestion on local roads or having to add hour-long bus rides in two directions to their already long and hard days. (Not that Cap Metro runs any bus service after midnight when loads of these folks get off of work or leave our multiple downtown entertainment districts.)

If you would like to see and hear more about the Capitol Redevelopment vision/plan, the Downtown Austin Alliance is hosting a forum next week — June 3rd, 7:30am — where you can have a close up look and hear directly from the folks involved with the project. It’s early in the morning but you can do it! 🙂 Free and open to the public but an RSVP is requested to make sure there are enough breakfast tacos and OJ on hand to reward your attendance. Details can be found here.

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WHAT: Downtown Austin Alliance, Issues & Eggs Breakfast Forum
TOPIC: Capitol Complex Redevelopment Plan
WHEN: Thursday, June 3, 2010; 7:30am breakfast, 8:00am presentation
WHERE: St. David’s Episcopal Church, Sumner Hall, San Jacinto betw. 7th & 8th
RSVP by June 1 to: rsvp@downtownaustin.com or call (512) 381-6270

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Downtown Austin Link Roundup

Jude Galligan | May 20, 2010 |

Waller Creek Citizens Advisory Committee meets tonight. Link to the agenda.(pdf) Of particular interest is the update on the TIF district and its development capacity.
Car2Go goes public tomorrow, May 21st. The public launch of car2go will be celebrated tomorrow by a free event at Republic Square Park on 4th Street and Guadalupe starting at 4:00pm and ending at 10:00pm.
Development news keeps coming, though nothing imminent: Block 51, Austin Energy building on West Ave, City planning a new parking garage, State capitol considering more density.
Green Water Treatment Plant decommissioning update (pdf)