An impressive aerial view of the 415 Colorado tower project from the crackerjack drone pilots over at Airwave Dynamics. Image: Airwave Dynamics / YouTube
415 Colorado, the 47-story apartment and office tower under construction at the southeast corner of West Fifth and Colorado Streets in downtown Austin, celebrated reaching its maximum structural height last week by hosting a “topping out” ceremony. As you might know if you’re familiar with this tradition — perhaps the only time the construction industry dabbles in paganism — the ritual involves a tree.
Posts on social media by developer Stonelake Capital Partners and other members of the building’s design team confirm this milestone, achieved by the project’s general contractors at Harvey-Cleary in a particularly difficult construction environment — considering the current economic climate downtown, where previously announced towers are far more likely to exist as a vacant lot if they exist at all, progress on new development feels more like a gift to our future selves than ever.
That might be a different story if the 415 tower was entirely an office project, and you have to think the team at Stonelake is collectively breathing a sigh of relief that the building contains 328 residential units alongside its 110,000 square feet of office space. The project is also expected to include a ground-level retail space at the corner.
Image: Stonelake Capital Partners / Ziegler Cooper Architects
Designed by Houston-based studio Ziegler Cooper Architects, the 415 Colorado tower serves as a sort of spiritual sequel to the firm’s design for the nearby Austonian condos, with both towers featuring a similar illuminated “eyebrow” crown. Alongside Stonelake, Ziegler Cooper, and Harvey-Cleary, the project team includes local landscape architecture firm TBG Partners and engineering services from GarzaEMC and SCA Consulting Engineers. Upon the completion of its apartments, expected in early 2025, the building will be the fourth-tallest residential tower in the state — that’s no small achievement considering the competition around town these days.
We’re also sort of selfishly excited to see progress on the 415 tower because its completion could give Stonelake the free time to finally move forward in earnest on its 37-story apartment tower planned at East Fifth and Red River Streets on the other end of downtown — a project we’re especially fond of due to its interesting design, redevelopment of a surface parking lot, and the thoughtful integration of the historic Depot Hotel building next door. The developers aren’t ready to comment on the status of that one at the moment, but we’re hoping it reaches a similar milestone someday.
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