Austin & Austin Metro Projects Compilation

[The ATX]

Yay!  I went from Burg to Town tonight, and it only took me 12 years.  

[The ATX]

I still don't think the Columbus Crew will end up moving to Austin simply because the city doesn't care enough about pro sports.  Austin wasn't even looking for an MLS team and didn't have to go through the ass kissing expansion process.  The Crew owner will even build the stadium without any tax payer funds.  All the City has to do is provide a site.  The 15 acre piece of parkland in the photo below is a leading candidate for a stadium site.  The link below the photo is to an article with the latest info about the relocation.  The Circuit of Americas Formula 1 track owner was going to build a soccer stadium at the track for a USL team set to begin play in 2019.  But that plan is on hold until the Crew situation is settled.

Statesman Article

[The ATX]

Here's a Riverranchdrone drone view of the SW corner of downtown.  This is a Capitol View Corridor which explains the location and angles of the buildings. 

[The ATX]

While the Columbus Crew is looking for an MLS stadium site near downtown (see previous post), another group is planning a 40,000 seat stadium and a 15,000 seat arena on the east side of Austin.

Statesman Article

Rendering from the article: 

 

 

Current view of site from the article:  

[The ATX]

Here are some renderings of the stadium proposal.

Statesman

[The ATX]

Here's another potential MLS stadium rendering.  This one was put together by the Columbus Crew organization for the site they apparently favor near downtown.  Real estate is scarce and expensive downtown, and this site doesn't have room for any significant parking.  So the Crew plans to run shuttles from parking areas.

 

Austin Business Journal

[The ATX]

The site plan for the 11-story Marriott AC & Autograph hotel was approved this week and demo of the McDonald's on the site began shortly after that.  Here's a photo of the site by Urbannizer of the site taken before the destruction got underway.

 

[The ATX]

These were taken over a week ago by Urbannizer.  It's the site of the Marriott AC and Autograph hotel, and the McDonald's is no more.  The rest of the site has probably been cleared since these wer taken.

[The ATX]

There are four 17 to 18-story apartment buildings U/C in West Campus along with more 5 to 9-story apartment buildings than I can keep up with.   A new 17-story apartment building was announced this week.  It's called The Standard at Austin.  Zoning limits the height to around 18-stories which is the reason for so many buildings being that height.  Here's one of the elevations from the site plan:

 

[The ATX]

This is a zoomed in view from the Marriott convention center hotel construction webcam.  It shows a lot of cranes involved in the redevelopment of several blocks on the east side of I-35 downtown. 

  

https://app.oxblue.com/open/tournee/AustinMarriott

[The ATX]

This is a runner up proposal for a site that is part of the large ~100 acre development known as the  South Shore project.  The winning proposal was made by prolific local developer Endeavor.  The winning proposal has not been made public, but it better be good if this was a runner up.

Link

[The ATX]

Here are some more renderings of the state office buildings and Capitol Mall project that is underway.  Site Prep and utility work are taking place for Phase I, but it will be a while before actual construction starts due to the scope of the excavation activities utility relocation.  There will  be 4,400 underground parking spaces beneath the buildings and Congress Ave which will be turned into the pedestrian mall.  All of the parking will be connected making for one huge underground parking system.  By the time Phase III is done, there will be 9.3K parking spaces.

 

Link

[The ATX]

Here is a rather bizarre project on a 125 acre abandoned industrial site in far East Austin.  I would dismiss this as somebody's fantasy.  But the developer has secured $200 million worth of financing for this  $400 million project, and work is underway.  It's called Eightfold and is the site of an old Motorola turned Freescale turned NXP semiconductor manufacturing site.  In fact, I used to work there.  Here's an Austin business Journal article.  Below are some renderings from the article.  The developer doesn't have zoning in place for the 30ish story towers in the renderings.   Notice the ridiculous tower shaped like an Amazon Echo.  This is one of Austin's proposed HQ2 sites which explains the Alexa tower.  But it's underway regardless of any Amazon decision.

  

 

[The ATX]

Those stadium renderings posted a few posts back aren't going to happen.  A guy comes to town offering to self finance a $200 million stadium and to move his Columbus MLS team to Austin.  All the city has to do is give him some underutilized park land.  The city said no and has tabled discussions indefinitely.  The guy then decides to renegotiate with the City of Columbus.  The only site still on the table is undeveloped land in an industrial area a dozen miles north of Downtown.  Even that unused site is going to be a hard sell to the NIMBYs and anti-corporate/sports crowd.   The preferred site with a downtown view is locked most of the time and closed to the public except during organized ball games like Little League games.  Yet the NIMBYs didn't want it used for something more useful for the entire city. 

[The ATX]

Here are a couple shots of the U/C Greenwater towers taken from the NW.

Photos by FAVAustinTX

[The ATX]

West Campus - The land of many 17 and 18-story student apartment buildings and more five to nine-story student apartment buildings than one can keep up with.  In addition to the proposed 17-story Standard apartment building in the previous post, here's are four more 17 and 18-story buildings U/C: 

2100 Nueces - 18-stories: 

  

Photo by akashkw

 

Lofts of Austin - 18-stories

Link

 

Skyloft - 18-stories

Photos by Urbannizer

 

Aspen West Campus - 17 stories.  This is nearing completion, and that's 2100 Nueces U/C in foreground.

Photo by Urbannizer

[The ATX]

Here's a nighttime shot of six cranes up for Greenwater area towers taken from the Warehouse District.  The closest U/C tower is Hotel Zaza & Residences which doesn't show up in most shots of the Greenwater area,

Link

[The ATX]

There are also three Marriott Hotels in the works for West Campus .  I've posted about them before, but this one is the 11-story dual branded AC & Autograph hotel:  

Link

 

The third Marriott is their Moxy brand.  A site plan was filed last week, and we have some elevations.  This area has height restrictions, so it could only go four stories tall.

Sie Plan

[The ATX]

Here's a new downtown Hilton Canopy proposed for a derelict little spot on W. 6th.  A CVC runs over the site, so the height was limited.

Towers

[The ATX]

Here a couple of the site of the awesome new SWSX HQ building.

#ATXrising

[The ATX]

504 E. 5th was marketed as a site for a potential 30+ story tower before a Houston developer bought the site last year.  We now know part of the plans.  The historic Depot Hotel on the site will be preserved, and we have some renderings.  The renderings show the columns and base of the tower portion of the project.  But we have no details about the tower yet.

Austin Historic Landmark Commission

 

As this site map shows, a CVC runs over the right part of the block limiting the height.  That would be the location of any potential parking podium.  The tower has to be a very narrow and angled building to fit between the CVC and historic structure.

Austin Historic Landmark Commission

[The ATX]

Man, what could have been.  Here are more renderings of that runner up South Shore proposal from  a few posts up.  Endeavor was selected as the developer,  and they do good work.  So I'm hopeful they have something equally impressive planned.  This 14 acre site would also be an obvious choice for one of Austin's leading  HQ2 options.   All of the proposals were made well before HQ2 was a thing.   So something big will be built here regardless of that hysteria.

And of course there's one with obligatory bats...

Gensler

[Dr. B.]

18 hours ago, The ATX said:

Man, what could have been.  Here are more renderings of that runner up South Shore proposal from  a few posts up.  Endeavor was selected as the developer,  and they do good work.  So I'm hopeful they have something equally impressive planned.  This 14 acre site would also be an obvious choice for one of Austin's leading  HQ2 options.   All of the proposals were made well before HQ2 was a thing.   So something big will be built here regardless of that hysteria.

And of course there's one with obligatory bats...

Gensler

holy cow, I hope we get something at least as nice (if not better). These mock-ups are fantastic.

[The ATX]

4 hours ago, Dr. B. said:

holy cow, I hope we get something at least as nice (if not better). These mock-ups are fantastic.

I suspect Endeavor has something pretty nice planned for the site.  My main fear is that the City is heavily involved in the South Shore build out, and the City Council caves whenever a dozed NIMBYs with no urban planning experience start pissing their pants. 

[The ATX]

The five block U/C Plaza Saltillo project will have a Whole Foods 365 store which will be their second downtown store.  This store will be along 5th St. and I-35 on the eastern edge of Downtown while the Whole Foods HQ store is also on 5th St. at Lamar on the western edge of Downtown.

Link

Here's an aerial of the Plaza Saltillo development.  The 365 store will be at the far end of the project in this view by I-35. 

KXAN