Downtown Projects

[Somnio 751]

 

 

 

 

[Deej 76,839]

https://austin.towers.net/atop-a-historic-austin-building-this-hilton-hotel-tower-tries-a-new-look/

 

[TPCJ007 48]

Old location of Capitol Oyster Bar back in the 70's and 80's.

[Deej 76,839]

1 minute ago, TPCJ007 said:

Old location of Capitol Oyster Bar back in the 70's and 80's.

Yep. 

[Armybrat 40,851]

Maybe they can do the same for the Ironworks BBQ.

[Somnio 751]

On 7/1/2020 at 12:35 PM, Lobo said:

No worries, I get it.  My usual MO on collecting market intel is compromised right now as it is frowned upon to meet for whiskey and lies in debaucherous locations.  

Still no timeline, and nothing is ever a done deal until the doors open, but I now feel comfortable in saying at some point an HEB will open at 504 Lavaca where the Chase drive through bank is currently.

There are currently six levels of parking above, so there should be no shortage of parking for the store.

Also, I believe HEB will be taking over all or some of the four levels of office space in the building.

During the construction of the store the entire building is to be renovated from top to bottom.

[swraith 347]

That’s interesting.  Does HEB maintain corporate staff in Austin today that are separate from the San Antonio HQ?

[blacklab 11,941]

They have a ton of technology people here in town, IT, dev ops, data engineer, data scientist types.

[Horn_Spanker 524]

On 7/27/2020 at 4:05 PM, TPCJ007 said:

Old location of Capitol Oyster Bar back in the 70's and 80's.

Wasn't it a comedy place once?  I think I saw Emo Philips there?

[DalTxHornFan 3,107]

8 hours ago, Somnio said:

Still no timeline, and nothing is ever a done deal until the doors open, but I now feel comfortable in saying at some point an HEB will open at 504 Lavaca where the Chase drive through bank is currently.

There are currently six levels of parking above, so there should be no shortage of parking for the store.

Also, I believe HEB will be taking over all or some of the four levels of office space in the building.

During the construction of the store the entire building is to be renovated from top to bottom.

Perhaps there is something happening?

Dreaming of a Downtown Austin H-E-B

https://austin.towers.net/dreaming-of-a-downtown-austin-h-e-b/?agent=caitlyn@towers.net

[3adays 454]

8 hours ago, blacklab said:

They have a ton of technology people here in town, IT, dev ops, data engineer, data scientist types.

Yep, they had a huge new office on East 6th they share with Favor. 400+ employees with room for more. 

[Deej 76,839]

[Guest Lobo]

That is one obnoxious parking garage.  Good news is that it has that 'moveable pylon technology' (I cannot remember the name and I can't figure out how to google it correctly-some smart surly poster will know what I mean)...that can me repurposed in a decade when we don't need so much fucking parking downtown.  And no Cyril...not because of the light-rail! 

[Pasken 1,309]

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

That is one obnoxious parking garage.  Good news is that it has that 'moveable pylon technology' (I cannot remember the name and I can't figure out how to google it correctly-some smart surly poster will know what I mean)...that can me repurposed in a decade when we don't need so much fucking parking downtown.  And no Cyril...not because of the light-rail! 

I would love to know how voting down prop a when the population is doubling in the next 20 years could possibly lead to a reduction of parking demand to the point that they are converted. That is bat shit crazy.

[Guest Lobo]

If you think, even without rail downtown, that we're gonna use more parking spaces than we do now in CBD's...you're out of your fucking mind.  

[Pasken 1,309]

11 minutes ago, Lobo said:

If you think, even without rail downtown, that we're gonna use more parking spaces than we do now in CBD's...you're out of your fucking mind.  

You’re avoiding the question. The issue isn’t if we would lose less than we do now but rather less in the future than if we didn’t have a real mass transit system.

Edited October 20, 2020 by Pasken

[Guest Lobo]

Start with Tony Seba.  Already, today...Without any hint of light rail coming downtown, office space is using fewer parking spaces per square foot than every before.  Ride share, biking, people living and working downtown, smart vehicles, A.I., autonomous vehicles, passive driver vehicles, etc.  A slew of options bringing fewer cars to be parked downtown than ever before and they're coming not within decades, but within years.  

As you and I sit and type...we are building a hotel downtown with zero parking spaces.  No garage, not above or below ground.  It's gonna be done in record time and it's gonna continue a trajectory that's already begun.  If I can get equity for a zero-parking space hotel, I can get it done for a zero-parking space condo tower.  And after that, I can get it done for a zero-parking space office tower.  

Light rail doesn't get us to fewer cars downtown.  Fewer cars gets us go fewer cars downtown.  The Avenue/Hyatt Centric is just an example. Tony Seba and others like him can speak more eloquently to this.  We're not at the thing yet.  But we are at the thing that gets us to the thing. 

[Pasken 1,309]

32 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Start with Tony Seba.  Already, today...Without any hint of light rail coming downtown, office space is using fewer parking spaces per square foot than every before.  Ride share, biking, people living and working downtown, smart vehicles, A.I., autonomous vehicles, passive driver vehicles, etc.  A slew of options bringing fewer cars to be parked downtown than ever before and they're coming not within decades, but within years.  

As you and I sit and type...we are building a hotel downtown with zero parking spaces.  No garage, not above or below ground.  It's gonna be done in record time and it's gonna continue a trajectory that's already begun.  If I can get equity for a zero-parking space hotel, I can get it done for a zero-parking space condo tower.  And after that, I can get it done for a zero-parking space office tower.  

Light rail doesn't get us to fewer cars downtown.  Fewer cars gets us go fewer cars downtown.  The Avenue/Hyatt Centric is just an example. Tony Seba and others like him can speak more eloquently to this.  We're not at the thing yet.  But we are at the thing that gets us to the thing. 

HA, the garage less hotel was originally a garageless condo project and because they couldn't get financing for a project like that with a city with so much congested mass transit they pivoted to a hotel. Yea, GREAT example.

More people arriving by train means less people arriving by car. It's less congestion and less parking. Are some people who worked downtown going to be able to keep working from home? Yes, but THEY ARE JUST GOING TO BE REPLACED BY EMPLOYEES WHO CAN'T. Downtown real estate will always be filled by those who need it. All we are doing is changing who is downtown slightly and MAYBE lowering rent leases to the point where they can be filled by companies that need employees working in office.

 

This is so fucking simple and people like you that think you are so much smarter than you are are royally fucking up our chance to avoid being auto congested on every fucking street with no other options. I'm so frustrated with people in this city right now. I know Austin has a high relative percentage of college graduates but I swear they all have to be liberal arts degrees or some shit. 

 

God damn.

Edited October 20, 2020 by Pasken

[Guest Lobo]

I don't think I'm smarter than you.  I was just recanting my experience with downtown CRE.  

Yes, more people arriving by train means less people arriving by car.  But there are other ways to arrive than just the train.  

I like the rail project, I just don't like the financing model.  I've got into it on other threads, but we'll know soon enough what the rest of Austin thinks about it.  

The garageless condo wasn't built because it couldn't get financing.  Somebody just bought the project for more money with the plan to turn it into a Hyatt.  I should know.  

Edited October 20, 2020 by Lobo

[Pasken 1,309]

New plan for lot on Cesar across from the Convention Center. It could become the new tallest in Texas.

 

https://austin.towers.net/downtown-austins-first-supertall-tower-plan-arrives-at-waller-creek-site/

 

[blacklab 11,941]

They forgot to put the bums, graffiti and human shit in the waller creek picture.

[Guest Lobo]

Nate Paul:   Hold my beer 

[Armybrat 40,851]

6x project well underway at 6th & Guadalupe. Only 60 or so floors to go.

 

[Armybrat 40,851]

The Grove up off 45th east of MoPac is filling in.

 

[Guest Lobo]

That photographer should be pistol-whipped.  

[bolverk 29,694]

New Austin high-rise: Proposed 64-story tower would be city's second-tallest

A 64-story tower that could become Austin's second tallest high-rise is being planned for a site overlooking Lady Bird Lake, in the booming Rainey Street District on downtown's southeast side.

The cost to build the tower, including land and all other associated costs, is estimated at $540 million, according to the developer, M2 Development Partners,  an international real estate development and investment company.

M2 is targeting an April 2022 groundbreaking for the project, and said a name for the tower will be announced in the coming weeks. The project's anticipated opening date is the third quarter of  2025.

Timothy Morris, M2's managing principal, said the skyscraper is planned for 1.2 acres at 80 Red River Street. That is next to another proposed residential tower called the Travis being developed by Dallas-based Genesis Real Estate Group.

M2's tower, which would be along Waller Creek, has a proposed height of 802 feet. If built, that would make it the second-tallest building in Austin after 6 X Guadalupe, a 66-story mixed-use tower under construction at West Sixth and Guadalupe streets whose developers say will be more than 840 feet tall when completed.

Austin's current tallest building is the Independent, known as the "Jenga tower" for its offset design. The Independent is 58 stories and 690 feet tall.

M2 executives said their planned tower would have about 1.1 million square feet of space, with 250 hotel rooms, 150 for-sale condominiums and 170 apartment units.

Morris said the project's hotel will be operated by one of the world's leading luxury brands, but declined to say which one because the paperwork hasn't been finalized yet.

"We have our luxury hospitality brand selected and we are finalizing documents at the present time," Morris said in an email.

The project's plans also include a parking garage with 550 spaces, 10,000 square feet of retail space, a rooftop restaurant and 30,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space. 

The tower would be built on half of the site that formerly housed the Villas on Town Lake. The Villas was a older condominium project that previous developers purchased several years ago, and since has been torn down, setting the stage for the site's redevelopment.

Within the past 15 years, the Rainey Street area has evolved into its own district, after the Austin City Council rezoned the area for high density development in the mid 2000s. The area has transformed with new development, with apartment and condo towers and new hotels cropping up alongside the district's numerous bars and restaurants

M2's new tower is being designed by architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP.  The Chicago-based firm also is involved in the master plan to transform the site of the American-Statesman's offices on the south shore of Lady Bird Lake into a mixed-use project. 

M2 is in discussions with several potential equity partners who view the proposed new tower as "a compelling investment" opportunity, and "is open to discussions with other interested financial partners," the company said in a news release.

Charles Heimsath, an Austin-based real estate development consultant, said the site is one of the few remaining locations that will have unimpeded lake views.

Its proposed mix of uses, Heimsath said, "will allow for a larger building that will appeal to several market segments and thus assure a more rapid absorption of the entire project. This in turn will make the project more appealing to the lenders and equity investors who are likely to see this as a terrific development opportunity."

[Guest Lobo]

If y'all could make one suggestion to the CTRMA board about transit in the area....what would it be?  

[MAUFRAIS 6,629]

Could we get one of those white glove whistle cops who’s real animated to direct traffic somewhere?

[40acredropout 2,902]

51 minutes ago, Lobo said:

If y'all could make one suggestion to the CTRMA board about transit in the area....what would it be?  

More dipshits on scooters 

Edited January 28, 2021 by 40acredropout

[DalTxHornFan 3,107]

https://austin.towers.net/skidmore-owings-merrill-headed-for-rainey-district/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=som&utm_source=twitter&pro=caitlyn@towers.net

 

[Pasken 1,309]

15 hours ago, Lobo said:

If y'all could make one suggestion to the CTRMA board about transit in the area....what would it be?  

Use your buying power to actually build Transit instead of just toll roads. They brag about trails, bike lanes sidewalks etc. that they build but they don't mention that they aren't paying for it. There is usually tax money that augments their projects like with 183 south and 45 SW. They are working to extend the 290 Tollway to Elgin. Complement that with the Green Line. Would the projects cannibalize each other? Probably but you asked what I wanted. 

[Lagunamadre 1,975]

Sorry if I missed it upthread if previously discussed, but what is to become of the 300 Colorado building now that Parsley is no longer a company? 

[bolverk 29,694]

11 minutes ago, Lagunamadre said:

Sorry if I missed it upthread if previously discussed, but what is to become of the 300 Colorado building now that Parsley is no longer a company? 

Good question. I found the below article from December in the ABJ, and it looks like they simply terminated their lease. I went to the leasing page on the tower's website, and it looks like there are only three floors (out of 30) and a single suite that are currently available. https://www.coloradotower.com/leasing-

So, maybe it'll fill up more quickly than we might expect. Of course, who knows exactly what's in store long-term for demand for office space now that companies know they can still function pretty well with so many folks working from home.

 

Parsley Energy announces hundreds of layoffs, closure of Austin offices
It was once the biggest oil company in town

Austin is losing one of its few name-brand oil drillers.

Parsley Energy Inc. plans to lay off 234 employees in Austin by early February and close its office in the Texas capital, according to a filing with the Texas Workforce Commission.

In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letter submitted Dec. 7, Parsley (NYSE: PE) notified TWC that the majority of its Austin employees will be terminated in connection with its $4.5 billion acquisition by Irving-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD), which was announced in October.

Parsley Energy has been focused on oil and gas production in West Texas' Permian Basin. The company moved its headquarters to Austin from Midland in 2014. For years it was a prolific driller in the Permian, with average daily net sales of 114,902 barrels of oil equivalent in 2019 and revenue that year of $1.96 billion, according to securities filings.

But Parsley, like many other drillers, has been walloped this year by a precipitous slump in demand for oil. In March, the company announced plans to reduce its number of development rigs in operation, pare down its hydraulic fracturing equipment and revise cash flow expectations. In May, Parsley reported a first-quarter loss of $3.4 billion in the face of “unparalleled global oil demand destruction resulting in a sharp drop in near-term oil prices,” said Matt Gallagher, Parsley president and CEO, in an earnings call at the time.

Representatives from Parsley Energy could not immediately be reached for comment.

The offices that will be closed are at 303 Colorado St. and 301 Congress Ave., according to the letter. Two employees working at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport will also lose their jobs.

Earlier this year, Parsley paid $2.8 million to terminate the majority of its lease at 303 Colorado, vacating 74,000 square feet of office space. It was not immediately clear what will become of the 302,000 square feet Parsley leased at the under-construction 300 Colorado tower, which is being developed by Cousins Properties, Riverside Resources Corp. and Ironwood Real Estate.

The layoffs for the majority of employees will occur on Feb. 8, according to the letter. That's right around the time Pioneer is expected to close its deal for Parsley.

When the merger was announced, Gallagher was said to be joining the board of Pioneer Natural Resources.

Some of the affected employees will be given the opportunity to transfer to Pioneer offices in Las Colinas and Midland.

Parsley had 496 employees at the end of 2019, making it the largest oil company in Austin’s relatively small energy sector.

[Deej 76,839]

405 Colorado today.

 

[Updawg 2,271]

If that’s the building in a rendering I once saw, it looks way better than I was expecting

[Deej 76,839]

9 minutes ago, Updawg said:

If that’s the building in a rendering I once saw, it looks way better than I was expecting

Definitely.

[Pasken 1,309]

Agreed. Hated the rendering but like the building. 

[Armybrat 40,851]

Can’t wait to see an SUV punch out of the 12th floor and do a swan dive down to Colorado Street.

[Guest Lobo]

It's the last parking garage of its size to be built in Austin.  Say hello.  Then say goodbye.  We're gonna quit burning space on that shit. 

[Pasken 1,309]

11 hours ago, Lobo said:

It's the last parking garage of its size to be built in Austin.  Say hello.  Then say goodbye.  We're gonna quit burning space on that shit. 

The new google building has by far more parking but it's better hidden.

Edited February 4, 2021 by Pasken

[Guest Lobo]

Well yeah, I meant spaces per square foot/potential tenant.  But fair point.

[Armybrat 40,851]

The 6x Guadalupe building going up now will have a 1,000 car parking garage in its 17 story podium. Interesting promo video:

 

http://www.6xguadalupe.com

[royiv 9,326]

21 hours ago, Armybrat said:

The 6x Guadalupe building going up now will have a 1,000 car parking garage in its 17 story podium. Interesting promo video:

 

http://www.6xguadalupe.com

That seems low considering it will have ~350 residential units. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of parking for 590,000sf of office space.

[bolverk 29,694]

On 11/5/2020 at 4:39 PM, Pasken said:

New plan for lot on Cesar across from the Convention Center. It could become the new tallest in Texas.

 

https://austin.towers.net/downtown-austins-first-supertall-tower-plan-arrives-at-waller-creek-site/

 

According to these latest plans, the tower now in formal review with the city rises 1,022 feet, making it the tallest building in the state by 20 feet.

The approximately 2.3 million-square-foot tower will contain a 240-unit hotel, nearly 700,000 square feet of office space, 332 residential units, and 43,000 square feet of general retail space. The building’s parking podium will contain an estimated 14 levels with approximately 1,979 spaces, according to recent documents. This all generally tracks with what we’ve seen in previous plans, but the site plan advancing through the approval process with the city should bring us more info (and more views) of this project over the next few months.

For what it’s worth, these latest documents indicate a possible start date of construction in April 2022 — and if that schedule holds, we’ve got more then a year to learn all we can about this tower as it inches closer to the real world. 

https://austin.towers.net/texas-tallest-tower-could-break-ground-on-waller-creek-in-2022/?pro=caitlyn@towers.net

[Guest Lobo]

One space for every 1,160 square feet?  So they're pre-supposing that in 4 years, when this tower is delivered...more people will be parking downtown than are right now, not less?  Bold strategy.  Levity aside, I'm guessing several levels in that 14 parking stack will be that new modular deal where they can convert the floors really easily and maintain structural integrity.  I can never remember the name of that shit.  

[bolverk 29,694]

32 minutes ago, Lobo said:

One space for every 1,160 square feet?  So they're pre-supposing that in 4 years, when this tower is delivered...more people will be parking downtown than are right now, not less?  Bold strategy.  Levity aside, I'm guessing several levels in that 14 parking stack will be that new modular deal where they can convert the floors really easily and maintain structural integrity.  I can never remember the name of that shit.  

I can't recall the exact ratio of square footage that's generally calculated for each office employee, but I think it's somewhere in the range of 300 square feet. IF that's correct, then the expectation would be 700,000 sq ft office space / 300 sq ft = 2,333 parking spaces under normal ratio parking standards. On top of that, this development offers 332 residential units, which I would assume would be assigned at least one space per unit. So, therefore (if my assumptions are correct), this building would normally be expected to require at least 2,600 spaces.

Now, my assumptions could very well be off, and I absolutely agree with you that typical parking standards require too many spaces than are generally needed, but I hope you appreciate what I'm getting at. Maybe it's not that too far off?

[Guest Lobo]

I was also taking into account the blend of hotel (which has had a dramatic decrease in the parking spots/room requirement and then also that little chunk of retail.  The 240 hotel rooms, but they get to blend that in terms of common space with other requirements in the stack (shared lobbies, service areas, etc.).  It's not that far off normal, but it's just that I don't see us needing the same amount 4 years from now as current.  I dunno, I'm just tired of building what we know is functionally obsolescent eyesores.  We are gonna be stuck with so much crap in another year or two.  We're not gonna "ACC" our way out of this blight either.  

[Texas Jeff 1,945]

On 1/27/2021 at 5:55 PM, Lobo said:

If y'all could make one suggestion to the CTRMA board about transit in the area....what would it be?  

Here's two:

1. On the Red Line, develop 3-4 stations with double tracked rail in the Robinson Ranch area to create a ribbon shaped urban area between roughly Lakeline Mall and the Domain.

2. Relocate Mopac (the train) to improve Mopac (the road) with commuter rail and maybe a second toll lane, allowing you to connect Round Rock/Robinson Ranch/the Domain/Downtown/South Austin all with commuter rail.

[Armybrat 40,851]

But as Blain used to say on Shaggy, “the railroad ain’t moving”.

[Ghost of LL 15,539]

16 hours ago, bolverk said:

I can't recall the exact ratio of square footage that's generally calculated for each office employee, but I think it's somewhere in the range of 300 square feet. IF that's correct, then the expectation would be 700,000 sq ft office space / 300 sq ft = 2,333 parking spaces under normal ratio parking standards. On top of that, this development offers 332 residential units, which I would assume would be assigned at least one space per unit. So, therefore (if my assumptions are correct), this building would normally be expected to require at least 2,600 spaces.

Now, my assumptions could very well be off, and I absolutely agree with you that typical parking standards require too many spaces than are generally needed, but I hope you appreciate what I'm getting at. Maybe it's not that too far off?

You need fewer spaces for a mixed-use tower such as this, because you don't assume that everyone is parking in there at the same time.  Hotel guests and residents are primarily parking their cars there at night/weekends; office tenants are primarily parking their cars there during the day on weekdays.  Not that there isn't some overlap, but you can plan on many of the same spaces being used by both an office tenant and a hotel guest.