Austin & Austin Metro Projects Compilation

[The ATX]

Construction of the appropriately named 19-story University House residential tower near the University of Texas campus seems to be close to starting. I have it listed as starting in "early 2015" based on city permit filings in my Austin projects list.  

There have been several 10 to 20-story mid-rises that have started construction downtown recently. But I'm waiting for the next wave of the big boy projects that should be getting off the ground in the next couple of months.

 

The University House site from this week:  

 

Both photos by Urbannizer:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6759465&postcount=5

Edited October 9, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

Here's a live webcam of the demolition taking place on the site of the future University of Texas System Headquarters.  Most of the work seems to be focused on scrapping the taller building on the right prior to its demolition:

 

http://new.livestream.com/utsystem/events/3336584

[The ATX]

Here's an update on the proposed ECC tower.  It's one of the three developments that are part of the huge Green Water and Seaholm developments, and it's the only one of the three that is not U/C yet.  The developer hasn't named the project yet, and "ECC" refers to the now empty Austin Energy Control Center building that will be demolished for this project.  The original development proposal was for two residential towers.  But that has since changed to one taller residential project with 400 to 500 apartments.  Rhode Partners is the architect.  The "News" section of their website says they are in the preliminary design phase of the tower, and it will be between 50 and 60 stories.  It will be LEED Gold certified, and construction will start in 3Q 2015.  

 

If this gets built on the higher end of the floor count it could be a new tallest, even surpassing either of the other two proposals (The Fairmont and Waller Park Place Tower C) that could also be a new tallest. 

 

http://rhodepartners.com/

[The ATX]

Finally, and  .   The Austin American-Statesman is reporting that the long delayed (due to some apparent legal issues behind the scenes) Hotel ZaZa and residences is about to start construction.  Hotel ZaZa is a high end boutique hotel with locations in Houston, Dallas and soon, Austin.  

 

The Statesman story:  

http://www.statesman.com/news/business/austins-hotel-zaza-set-to-break-ground/nhfJX/

 

 

A reminder of what it will look like at 24-stories and 305':

 

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=105940613&postcount=12

 

 

 

[The ATX]

Here's the location of the future ECC tower as seen on Streeview in July.  The site is currently being used as a construction staging/project management area for the Green Water and/or Seaholm developments:  

 

 

 

 

Immediately to the right are the Green Water and Seaholm projects:  

 

[The ATX]

I've been wondering when the eight tower cranes were going to start rising at the sites that make up Phase I of the University of Texas Dell Medical Center.  This permit filing from today says three of them will be going up in January.  Those eight tightly clustered tower cranes are going to be a pretty site.  Well, at least to some people. 

 

http://ttps://www.austintexas.gov/devreview...erRSN=11230943 

Edited October 9, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

Another permit filing from today says what will probably be the first of the eight cranes to go up as part of Phase I of the University of Texas Dell Medical Center is going up on 11/18.

 

https://www.austintexas.gov/devrevie...erRSN=11231401

Edited October 9, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

The proposed 50 to 60-story ECC Tower has been given a name by the developer.  It's called:  Block 24 Condominiums.  They have a website that's not much more than a place holder at this point:  

 

http://www.block24condos.com/  

Edited October 10, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

This seems to be the latest rendering of the Hotel ZaZa and Residences.  It's from one of the Statesman's articles announcing the start of construction two days ago.   IMO it has some improved architectural details over the previous rendering in post #286: 

 

http://www.statesman.com/news/business/austins-hotel-zaza-set-to-break-ground/nhfJX/

Edited October 11, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

Here are two West Campus residential projects that have been approved by the city since yesterday.  I haven't posted about them since they are only six stories and no big deal.  But they are a good example of the rapid residential infill taking place around Downtown and Central Austin in general.

 

 

Villas on 26th

https://www.austintexas.gov/devreview/b_showpublicpermitfolderdetails.jsp?FolderRSN=10854071

 

Regents West at 24th

https://www.austintexas.gov/devreview/b_showpublicpermitfolderdetails.jsp?FolderRSN=11231787

[The ATX]

Here's an updated project listing for Austin's projects that are at least 100' and/or 10-stories.  I posted the last list only a week ago in the U/C thread.  But I have made several updates since then.

 

 

[The ATX]

The developers of University House are wasting no time.  This is from today:  

 

Photo by baller:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6764551&postcount=10

 

 

This 19-story project seems to be getting squeezed in between two other West Campus high rises.  That may explain the cantilever design:  

[The ATX]

Here are some very recent and awesome skyline views brought to you by drones and Christopher Sherman Photography.  Sometimes I wish I could do a 5-year Rip Van Winkle act and wake up to see what the skyline will look like.  The amount of towers in the pipeline will overwhelm this view in a few years.  

 

https://www.facebook.com/cvsherman/p...type=3&theater

[The ATX]

The second tower crane base was installed this week at the Millennium Rainey site.  The actual tower cranes should be going up real soon.  This project fronts I-35 on the eastern edge of Downtown.  This project didn't make my project list because it came up a little bit too short at 99'.

 

Here's the rendering.  It will add a lot of density to the area.  But I hate it because it takes up a lot real estate in an area that doesn't have height limitations.  Don't let the rendering fool you.  This is Downtown, and there are high rises all around it.  That has to be the most pleasant rendering of the I-35 nightmare that I have ever seen.

 

   

http://www.urbanspacerealtors.com/blog/downtown-development-digest-millenium-rainey.html

Edited October 15, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

I posted this in the proposed projects thread yesterday, but I'll go ahead and post it here.  It's up-to-date as of today, but things change fast around here.  So I'll probably have another updated list in a week or two:

 

[The ATX]

From earlier today.  Site Prep/demolition is underway for the 24-story Hotel ZaZA and Residences.  The construction site behind it is for the 18-story 5th & Colorado office tower that jut got underway:  

 

Photo by SkyPie:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6768581&postcount=172

 

 

Photo by: Paul78701 http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6768253&postcount=169

Edited October 15, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

From today.  The 12-story IHG Hotel (Duo branded Hotel Indigo and Holiday Inn Express):  

 

Both photos by Urbannizer:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6768480&postcount=80

 

 

 

From today.  The 19-story University house residential tower in West Campus:  

 

Both photos by Urbannizer:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6768410&postcount=19

 

 

 

From today.  The Millennium Rainey residential mid-rise:  

 

Both photos by Urbannizer:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6768432&postcount=132

 

 

 

From today.  Capitol Commons office tower, also known as St. David's Foundation headquarters:  

 

Photo by Urbannizer:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6768463&postcount=13

Edited October 15, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

From today.  The Seven apartment tower.  (The tower crane on the right is for Cirrus Logic's headquarters campus expansion - I think.)  

 

All photos by Urbannizer:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6768473&postcount=159

 

 

From today.  The Hotel Van Zandt in the Rainey St area:  

 

Photo by Urbannizer:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6768424&postcount=98

Edited October 15, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

The big news of the day.  The 5th & West condo tower will be getting underway this month.  There is a big shortage of condos Downtown right now because most of the high rise construction has been for apartments.  But now the focus is shifting to condos.  This is in the general area of the huge Green Water and Seaholm high rise development areas.  Two floors were added based on previously released information, and it's now 39-stories and 448'.  The renderings are from the Austin American-Statesman article from today in the link below the renderings:  

 

 

What would a "luxury" high rise condo tower be without the obligatory indoor dog park?  

 

http://www.statesman.com/news/business/new-condo-project-set-to-start-in-downtown-austin/nhjBD/

 

 

 

From today.  The Seaholm Residences:  

 

Both photos by Urbannizer:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6768455&postcount=54

Edited October 15, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

From yesterday.  The topped out Bowie apartment tower (in the middle) is in the process of installing an interesting night time lighting scheme.  Cool night time lighting is thankfully becoming a standard for the new high rises:  

 

Photo by Urbannizer:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6767438&postcount=417

[The ATX]

From Yesterday.  The 38-story North Shore (formerly known as Green Water Residential #1) apartment tower is just starting to rise above the trees:  

 

Photo by Urbannizer:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6767439&postcount=980

Edited October 15, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

From yesterday.  Here's the topped out 19-story Catherine apartment tower with the 422 @ The Lake mid-rise (formerly The Broadstone) going up in front of it:  

 

Photo by Urbannizer:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6767232&postcount=3884

 

 

 

The Westin Hotel:  

 

Photo by Urbannizer:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6767232&postcount=3884

 

 

 

The almost completed Colorado tower:  

 

Photo by Urbannizer:  http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6767232&postcount=3884

[The ATX]

A site plan was filed with the city today for Waterloo Park Tower.  This project was originally proposed pre-recession in a then dead area on the north side of Downtown near the U.T. campus.  The project went missing when the recession hit.  But the location is on Red River St. which is now the heart of the the massive University of Texas Dell Medical Center.  Construction of Phase I of the medical center is well underway which means the location is now prime real estate.  But in addition to that, a 14-acre site near this project and the medical center will be open to development in 2017.  The announcement about the 14 acres being opened to development was just made this week.  This area is going to pop with development over the next few years.  

 

The Waterloo tower site plan doesn't have any specific info other than it's mixed uses with a hotel component.  Previous plans had the tower rising anywhere between 20 and 40-stories.  The site plan:  

https://www.austintexas.gov/devreview/b_showpublicpermitfolderdetails.jsp?FolderRSN=11233037

 

The story about the 14-acres of prime real estate opening up for development:  

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/real-estate/2014/10/plans-for-brackenridge-hospital-site-entering.html

 

Not only is Downtown development firing on all cylinders right now, but there are large areas adjacent to the current downtown core that look to be exploding with high rise development in the near future.

Edited October 16, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

This week a Minneapolis developer made a big move into the Austin market with a 625,000 square foot office project proposal just SE of Downtown on Lady Bird Lake. That amount of square footage is akin to a ~600' office tower.  But Austin - very much unlike Houston - doesn't like high rises outside of the well defined downtown boundaries.  So we get a "horizontal skyscraper" instead.    

 

The area is between S. Lake Shore Dr. and Riverside Dr.  A few years ago it was large area of run down ~40 year old apartment buildings.  Most of the area has been gentrified as most of the older apartments have been torn down and bigger (as well as very much more expensive) apartments have been and are currently being built in their place.  This project will go in the last large area that still has old apartment buildings.  I actually lived in the apartments where this project is going when I first moved to Austin.  It was ghetto way back then, and I couldn't wait to get the hell out of there even with its excellent location by Downtown.  I'm surprised those apartments are still occupied (but not for long).  

 

I normally hate suburban style development in the center of the city.  But this is the best that can be done under the zoning restrictions, and there is a huge demand for office space by the local start up community and others that want to be near Downtown.  Plus it seems to be a quality project that is replacing something undesirable.  The rendering can be found in the link to the article about the project.

 

Austin Business Journal article:  http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/real-estate/2014/10/ryan-cos-unveils-huge-corporate-development-on.html

 

Edited October 16, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

The Shoal Creek Walk office tower has been removed from life support.  This was originally proposed in ~2005, and the site is adjacent to Whole Foods' headquarters.  At one point it was planned as an expansion for Whole Foods' offices.  But the site ran into permitting delays due to floodplain issues.  Then the recession hit, and there was an apparent falling out between the developers and Whole Foods.  Earlier this year Whole Foods announced they would be expanding their campus on a different piece of property that they purchased on the other side of their current offices. That seemed to be the end of the project.

 

But about two weeks ago the developer filed a new permit request for the site for a mixed use tower.  That makes sense because since this project was announced in ~2005 several ~40-story residential buildings have been built or proposed for this SW corner of Downtown.  So a larger mixed uses tower is much more viable now.

 

The permit filing didn't have any details other than that it was for a mixed use project:  https://www.austintexas.gov/devreview/b_showpublicpermitfolderdetails.jsp?FolderRSN=11224354

 

The original proposals varied in height between 18 and 24-stories.  The developer still has a rendering of the 18-story proposal on their website:  

 

   

http://www.sdcaustin.com/ShoalCreekWalk.html

 

 

Here's the 24-story version.  I believe a CVC (Capitol View Corridor) cuts through the site which explains the placement and the sharp angled look of the tower.

 

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=80249460&postcount=394

Edited October 18, 2014 by The ATX