Search Results for: waller creek

DANA to Host Transportation Forum Monday, July 28

AG | July 24, 2014 |

The Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association will be hosting a Transportation Forum THIS upcoming Monday, July 28, at Malverde – a lush, swanky private event space downtown located right above La Condesa.

The focus of the forum will be the proposed Urban Rail alignment from Project Connect, which DANA has publicly supported. The current rail alignment would cut right through downtown through Trinity Street. The current plan would also cause the less than 2-year old Waller Creek Boathouse (which is the location of one of my favorite little coffee shops, Alta’s) to be demolished to make way for the bridge over lady bird lake – which has caused a good amount of grumbling.

The program for the presentation will be as follows:

6:00pm – Doors Open
6:15-6:30pm – Presentation by Project Connect
6:30-6:35pm – Response
6:35-6:50pm – Presentation by AURA
6:50-6:55pm – Response
7:00-7:30pm – Q&A

So, as you can see, this will be more of a dialogue or debate rather than just a stiff ol’ presentation. AURA believes that the proposed urban rail route is actually worse than doing nothing. I’m expecting things to get a little heated, for sure – which means this should be pretty darn interesting. Is it bad that I’m excited?

release-the-hounds — “Release the hounds!”

The event is free, but priority entry will be given to DANA Members, and RSVP is required. Seating is limited. Malverde will be offering 1/2 priced drinks and DANA is footing the bill for some light appetizers.

DANA to Host Transportation Forum Monday, July 28 http://t.co/C0C3oN2LzS

— Downtown Austin Blog (@downtown_austin) July 24, 2014

You can RSVP to the event directly from DAB:

Sell Tickets Online through Eventbrite

Forgotten About Downtown Austin Retail Space Available

Jude Galligan | May 9, 2014 |

Many of you have passed by the Convention Center parking garage, and could be forgiven for not noticing the vacant retail space that wraps the ground level of the garage. For the better part of 10 years the City and Harry Whittington were entrenched in lawsuits.

The space is finally available and the City is looking to get it leased up quickly. The location at 601 e 5th Street is one block from the Metro station, Convention Center, Moonshine, and 6th Street.

I think if the City gets a synergistic mix of tenants this could be the beginning of a downtown retail hub, anchored by Waller Creek and the Metro station. The location is excellent and is only made better with obvious access to parking above.

Within a half-mile you’ll find 7,365 hotel rooms, ~6mm feet of office, 69 retail stores, 84 restaurants. The City had an appraisal completed pegging the anticipated rent rate of $15.00-$18.00 NNN per year, which seems pretty conservative, even for the shell condition of the space.

There are three retail spaces available along Red River, ranging from 3,580 ft for the smallest space to the total contiguous 14,890 ft.

If you’ve got a good idea, the City is accepting lease proposals.

-Jude

p.s. If you want to check out the building, the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB) recently relocated its visitors center to one of the prominent spaces along 4th Street (much better digs than their old 6th Street spot, IMO, and includes curated murals from local artists).

Where Could You Put A Permanent Public Market In Downtown Austin?

Jude Galligan | September 23, 2013 |

The Downtown Austin Alliance is hosting a meeting this Wednesday (you can RSVP here) to discuss whether downtown Austin is ripe for a public market. They’ll also be bringing in a public market expert from a group called the Project for Public Spaces to discuss them with us.

I’m no expert but to me public markets are different than farmer’s markets. They should operate every day, often have options to sit-n-eat, and enjoy a cosmopolitan experience. Above all, a public market should be a “place,” a “destination,” and unique experience that melds cultures where you would take in-laws visiting from out of town.

Where would it go?

There are only a few sites downtown that could host a large public market. Fortunately, most of these sites desperately need more activation.

Below are four site options in order of best opportunity! (Hat tip to mi amigo, Jake Dirr, who helped brainstorm with me on this)

1) Convention Center Parking Garage ground floor (600 E 4th St): The ground floor of this city-owned parking garage is set up for retail, but fell victim to years of litigation regarding the original property owner, Harry Whittington. It’s adjacent to transit, and surrounded by parking. The ground floor could be gutted to create an indoor bazaar and market. Because this option is climate controlled, it offers a year-round option, where as open aired public markets will suffer considerably in the 100-plus degree heat.

DAB First Look: These Are The Top 3 Seaholm Intake Ideas You Voted For

Jude Galligan | August 9, 2013 |

Earlier this week, the City of Austin announced the Top 10 and requested public input to select the Top Three ideas for the redevelopment of the Seaholm Intake Building (that concrete bunker on the north shore of Lady Bird Lake by the train bridge).

Below are the Top Three finalists. Ostensibly, these are three designs the public most preferred.

Each of the winners get $5,000, but it is unclear if their ideas will ever become a reality. This fall or winter City Hall will issue an RFP for the project, and presumably these design winners stand a better chance than others of being selected. However, it doesn’t appear like this is going to go down like the Waller Creek competition did and these winning ideas are just that: ideas.

Below (in no special order) are the three winning visions, as selected by an anonymous jury of 10.

“Link” – Gumbully (pdf)

Team: Brendan Wittstruck, Justin Beadle, Philip Burkhardt, Roberto Jaime Deseda, Heath Henderson, Julia Weese-Young

link-gumbully-seaholm-intake — “Link” – Gumbully

“Lakehouse” – BOKA Powell + Design Workshop (pdf)

Team: Laura Bryant, Nathan Wilcox, Alex Ramirez, Sarah Simpson, Allison Moore Eric Van Hyfte, Kim Villavicencio, Philip Koske, Steven Moore, Tim Campbell, Mary Martinich, Conners Ladner, Jason Ferster, Magda Sayeg (local artist), Will Steakley (DEN)

lakehouse-boka-powell-seaholm-intake — “Lakehouse” – BOKA Powell + Design Workshop

“Intake” – Gensler Team George (pdf)

Team: George Blume, Brittney Couch, Jesse Adler, Vineta Clegg, Chris Curson, Adrianna Hong, Gerardo Gandy, Stacy Reed

gensler-seaholm-intake — “Intake” – Gensler Team George

Downtown News & Rumor Roundup

Jude Galligan | August 5, 2013 |

Seaholm Intake given new lease on life

This Thursday, City Hall will announce the top three submissions for the Seaholm Intake reuse project, which seeks to breath life into a behemoth concrete building on the north shore of Lady Bird Lake.

The top ten visions were announced just recently and KVUE did a nice job of compiling an in-depth 27-pic slide show of the ideas.

This is a project long simmering that is starting to boil. A big hat tip to Council Member Chris Riley’s office and the City Parks and Rec Department for keeping the heat on.

Look back here Thursday for the Top 3 finalists.

Travis County Courthouse update

Travis County Commissioners Court has decided how it wants to build a proposed new civil and family courthouse, Community Impact reports.

The project is controversial because the county paid a hefty sum for a parking lot, effectively removing one of the last remaining developable blocks for a mega tower in downtown from the tax rolls.

The county is going with the design-build route, which puts the risk on the county but allows it to retain more control of the project. The alternative would have been a public private partnership, which would have deferred risk, but loosened county control.

The county plans to float bonds for the project, and confirmed plans to go to voters for approval at some unknown date.

I’m not going to hold my breath until a new county judge is elected. Either Andy Brown or Sarah Eckhardt could change course if elected, and I’m not entirely sure the public will approve the project to begin with. If you’ve ever suffered through a Travis County Commissioner’s Court hearing, the court doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Dropbox moving into downtown Austin

Silicon Hills darling Dropbox is following other tech leaders and establishing another office in Austin, rumored to be downtown. Take that, Domain and Williamson County!

Two downtown developments gained site plan approval

When proposing a new project, the site plan approval period is the longest phase of city bureaucracy, laden with risks that can delay or derail a project. Getting the plans approved is a milestone.

Rendering of Capital Studios by Dick Clark Architecture

In July, Capital Studios — a smart project adding affordable multifamily to downtown — and a new hotel at at Fifth and ~~San Antonio~~ (Derp: San Jacinto) both received site plan approvals.

The next step, which can happen in relatively short order, is to get a building permit, and break ground.

Here’s to hoping the hotel changed the architectural design a little. You may recall a January post where I poked fun at it for being a carbon copy of another hotel down the street. You be the judge.

I-35 Cut ‘n’ Cap proposal getting national attention

I haven’t posted on the Reconnect Austin campaign to bury I-35 yet. For the record, I am for it, not the least for how it would open up the Waller Creek district in an unimaginable way.

If you’d like to learn more about the project, the national sustainable transportation advocacy blog Streetblog.net recently featured it.