Search Results for: waller creek

Closed Downtown Austin recycling center lot to be developed by 70 Rainey developer

Ecology Action of Texas announced back in June that the downtown recycling center — at 707 East 9th Street — would close at the end of September.

What’s more interesting for some than the center closing is what’s possibly in store.

Travis County records indicate the property was sold in May to an entity called Waller Creek Development LLC.  The company, according to web searches, was formed in April this year, and is managed by James Hefelfinger of Sackman Enterprises.

Sackman Enterprises is also developing the 70 Rainey condos.

The East 9th Street property is capped by a Capitol View Corridor, but with Sackman staking a claim in Rainey Street, expect something very interesting to come that is complementary to Waller Creek corridor redevelopment.

Filling station at 10th & Lamar sold by Travis County

The Travis County Commissioner’s Court has approved selling the gas station used to fill county vehicles to a developer.

Sam Kumar, founder and president of the construction firm Journeyman, told the Austin-American Statesman he plans to build a small office space and three or four condominium apartments at the property.

Although not a huge project, it’s a welcome addition to liven up the North Lamar corridor downtown. The property has been underutilized since the urban renaissance of downtown Austin, and left in rather dingy status by Travis County.

Block 87 — at Trinity and Seventh — as massive mixed-use development

Very exciting news broke this week, the long-blighted parking lot owned by the Episcopal Church, is being marketing for a bold new vision.

Specifically, the Church is looking for a partner to develop Block 87 as part of a 600,000 square feet tower of office, residential, retail uses, generous parking, and the Archives of The Episcopal Church.

The lot at Trinity and Seventh streets was bought by the Episcopal Church in 2009, and sits across the street from the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH).

The Church first planned a 70,000-square-foot, five-story archive building, a garage and limited ground-floor retail.. However, in 2011, it was reported that Church funds were diverted to assist in global disasters, and the lot has since sat untouched.

Sadly, derelict surface parking lots and adjacent homeless resource centers don’t exactly create welcoming environments downtown.  The community should be extremely supportive and optimistic that this project will get off the ground, sooner than later.

Villas on Town Lake HOA contemplates redevelopment

The HOA controlling the two acre site that is home to the Villas on Town Lake condos, located at 80 Red River Street, is availing themselves to proposals from potential buyers.  The 58 unit condo, built in 1982, is situated along Waller Creek.  According to the article, 80% of the ownership would need to approve any proposal.

The development regulations for properties within the Austin Waterfront Overlay, which this site is part of, are historically contentious and could impact what is feasible.

I haven’t seen this hit the mainstream news yet, but a large 1.6-acre lot, with prime frontage along Waller Creek corridor and a potentially buried I-35 is on the market.  But, it’s future is uncertain.

The lot, at 408 North IH-35 between 4th and 5th Streets, is owned by the City of Austin. The city acquired it in 2010 as a staging area for Waller Creek Tunnel project.

According to city records, staff said they will bring a viable bidder forward to Mayor and Council by the end of the year.  Current City procedure requires the approval by City Council of any sales of a fee-simple parcel after staff has successfully identified a willing and able purchaser. Under standard procedure, City Council is not involved in the development of bid criteria for proposers.

There is a rumor among downtown aficionados that the Austin Fire Department has been eyeing the parcel ever since the city bought it, as place to relocate the firehouse at Brush Square Park.

Despite being limited by a Capitol View Corridor in terms of how tall it could be, it could be tall enough for me to believe that a fire station would be a bone-headed, shortsighted use of the land!

Through tax increment financing (TIF), Austin has bonded out millions to pull a long corridor of downtown out of the Waller Creek floodplain, and won public approval to develop the Sabine Street Promenade – which runs adjacent to the lot for sale.

Further, the importance of a world-class project moving into this slot crystallizes when taken into context of the still-enduring vision by the community to cut and cap I-35. In June, TxDOT officially got behind the idea of depressing I-35 about 25 feet below the frontage road level throughout its downtown Austin stretch, from south of Cesar Chavez Street to north of 15th Street.

I’ll be keeping an eye on this site, and am at least excited that the RFP process required by the City should help make sure that whatever project lands here contributes to the Waller Creek evolution.

-Jude

Humans require some green space.  Gathering spaces that are shared by everyone.  Parks are integral to keeping a vibrant urban cores.

There is research to back it up, too.  Being next to a good public park can enhance property value in urban areas.  One report, Real Value: The Parks Premium, written by John Crompton, professor at  Texas A&M, states:

The real estate market consistently demonstrates that many people are willing to pay a larger amount for a property located close to parks and open space areas…

This particular report is from 2000, and back when it was written, there weren’t many other examples of high-rises near public parks aside from the Nokonah, located not only adjacent to Shoal Creek, but also in the midst of a booming retail / commercial district on Lamar. But now, several downtown Austin condos for sale are located near parks:  The Shore Condos, The Milago condos, the Villas on Town Lake, and 360 Condos are some examples.

Bottom line is that downtown Austin has some great green space, and not only do many of these parks offer programming that all can enjoy, but they are great public, open places that are a wonderful complement to the dense development occurring in downtown Austin. These parks are not only wonderful spots to bring a blanket and a book and simply unwind, but are also part of the complex economic fabric that makes Downtown Austin an in-demand place to live.

Downtown has several municipal parks within it’s borders:

Republic Square Park | 422 Guadalupe St. | 1.75 Acres

This is probably downtown Austin’s best known park, sitting adjacent to the Plaza Lofts, and host to a variety of programmed events, including a weekly Farmer’s Market put on by the Sustainable Food Center each Saturday morning from 9am-1pm. The Austin Parks Foundation also hosts Movies in the Park at Republic Square Park.

Historic Squares Leadership Team, a partnership between the City of Austin, Downtown Austin Alliance, and the Austin Parks Foundation, has recently formed in order to do some capital improvements to the park and foster a future of robust programming and operations management for the green space.

Below is a rendering of the currently preferred Concept Plan for the park’s re-design:

Not too very long ago, Jude wrote an op-ed about the proposed Travis County Courthouse, currently proposed to border the park to south.

Wooldridge Square | 900 Guadalupe St. | 1.73 Acres

Wooldridge Square has also been getting a fair amount of attention the last couple of years.  This historic site (it was one of the four original downtown Austin parks) has a bandstand / gazebo that is used for events held on the site.

The site had often been called a “magnet for the homeless” and went under extensive renovations in 2013, capped off by a schedule of aggressive re-opening programming, intended to diversity the public use of the space.

Current programming at this site includes Movies in the Park, Yoga in the Park, and Giant Chess.

Duncan Park | 900 W 9th St. | 5.11 Acres

Duncan Park is one of the coolest parks downtown, in my opinion. The park plays host to a volunteer built and managed BMX bicycle track and the people watching is pretty amazing. I strongly encourage taking a picnic lunch and a book and just camping out for a couple of hours to watch some astounding BMX tricks.

Here’s an amateur video of some of the track.

Brush Square | 500 E 12th St. | 1.75 Acres

Situated near the 5 Fifty-Five condos in downtown Austin, Brush Square is probably best known for hosting the annual O. Henry Pun Off. Check out some past videos from this very punny event.

Waterloo Neighborhood Park | 500 E 12th St. | 10 Acres

Waterloo Park, named after the town that preceded Austin on the same site, borders Waller Creek close to Austin’s downtown. The limestone embankments of the creek are picturesquely entwined with parts of Waller Creek Trail.

The park is currently under construction related to the Waller Creek redevelopment.

Before moving to Auditorium Shores, Fun Fun Fun Fest was held in this park. Wayyyy back in 2009, I wrote a fantastically Fun Fun Fun story using band names from that years’ line-up (this is one of my very favorite posts to have ever authored, by the way).

The Austin Recreation Center | 1301 Shoal Creek Blvd. | 5.48 Acres

The center at 1301 Shoal Creek is Austin’s oldest recreation center, and is home to several sports leagues (adult kickball and volleyball).  It also has a skate park / bowl.

Palm Park | 711 East 3rd St. | 2 Acres

Quite honestly, I feel that this is downtown Austin’s most disappointing park. It faces into I-35 and doesn’t currently have much to offer. It also has this real gross pool that doesn’t have filtration system (so it has be refilled with each use). Some groups have begun to adopt the space for programming, however (most notably, Waller Creek Conservancy for it’s very successful Waller Park picnic series).

Old Bakery and Emporium Park | 1006 Congress Ave

This is really considered more of a museum type space than park, but I love the intimate feel of the outdoor space at 1006 Congress Avenue.

The MACC 

Located in the Rainey Street district of downtown Austin, this “park” is adjacent to Lady Bird lake and used by residents of The Shore Condos, The Milago, and others.  It’s a great resource for condo dwellers in the neighborhood and you can often see folks playing with their pups or their children here.

I also consider the Texas State Capitol Grounds to be downtown park land, but that’s, of course, not managed by the City.

Related: Interested in how other types of public spaces interact with the communities that surround them? Check out our semi-related post on urban cemeteries.