East Avenue, running parallel to Rainey Street on the southeastern edge of downtown Austin, gets a lot of attention from this site. That’s because despite its slightly lesser-known status compared to Rainey Street proper, it currently hosts many promising developments expanding the overall Rainey Street District . . . Become a patron to get the full story and gain…
At Butler Shores, a New Life for Austin’s Dougherty Arts Center Takes Shape
In 2010, an architectural report prepared for Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department declared the facility housing the city’s Dougherty Arts Center had aged beyond its useful life — in fact, the much-loved community theater and gallery space near Butler Park at 1110 Barton Springs Road was “beyond repair,” according to the parks department’s own summary of the…
Don’t You Dare Park Here
After six-ish years working in urban planning and design, I can confidently say that nothing gets people more riled up than parking — not even traffic compares. This is especially true in Austin, as we frequently hash out the merits of parking-centric topics like parking minimums, parking podiums, event parking, and residential parking permits. The city’s Residential…
Getting to Know 44 East Avenue, Raising the Roof in the Rainey Street District
Although our first good look at the Block 185 office tower was obviously the hottest item at last week’s meeting of the City of Austin’s Design Commission, another topic of interest showed up on the agenda — 44 East Avenue, a downtown Austin condo project planned atop a roughly .68-acre plot in the Rainey Street District by Vancouver…
A Brief History of Downtown Austin’s Avenue Lofts
Avenue Lofts , located at 410 East Fifth Street in downtown Austin, might be the city’s most architecturally underrated residential property. This 1940s state office building, adapted for condo use by local real estate development firm the Sutton Company in 1999, retains the original Art Moderne stylings common for many institutional buildings of the era — in…
Google’s New Home at Block 185 is Downtown Austin’s Next Signature Tower
Block 185 is an all-star tower. This 35-floor office building by national developer Trammell Crow Company, which broke ground last month in downtown Austin, is already leased in full by tech juggernaut Google, and features a striking sail-like design courtesy of “starchitecture” outfit Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. For such a stacked project, it’s kind of surprising how few renderings…