It’s been 15 years since the Trail Foundation took over the upkeep and improvement of Austin’s iconic Hike-and-Bike trail, and to celebrate, the nonprofit recently announced 15 planned improvement projects to be completed along the 10-mile path over the next five years. Two of the projects are general improvements for the entire thing — updated signage for better wayfinding and environmental restoration intended…
Central Austin Development Roundup: It’s Tower Time, Y’all
Today, we’re just going to casually chat about some towers downtown. That sounds nice, doesn’t it? It’s certainly a lot nicer than me trying to write an entire article about one of these projects, since the updates we’re about to discuss are fairly small. Still, don’t you like feeling informed? Of course you do. Hit…
Fun Facts on Downtown’s Upcoming Alexan Capitol Apartment Tower
We’ve been following the Alexan Capitol apartment tower planned by developer Trammell Crow Residential Company for quite a while, but things appear to be moving right along for this 30-story mixed-use project bound for a relatively sleepy corner of downtown at 700 East 11th Street. New city filings for the building have provided us with a few fun…
Austin Curiosities: Hyde Park’s Historic Blue Bonnet Court
Blue Bonnet Court, an unassuming building at 4407 Guadalupe Street sandwiched between the Cottonwood Condos and Shanghai Kate’s tattoo shop, is easy to miss unless you look twice. Still, over the last few years the little complex hidden in Hyde Park kept catching my eye, so I decided to get to the bottom of its…
30-Story Tower Concept Could Rise at Fifth and Red River in Downtown Austin
Over the last few months, we’ve tried to make as much noise as possible regarding upcoming plans for a residential tower at 504 East Fifth Street, the former site of long-time Italian restaurant Carmelo’s — also known as the Old Depot Hotel if you’re looking at the address from a historical perspective — at the corner of Fifth and Red River Streets that…
Chasing the Ghosts of Towers Past at Downtown Austin’s 308 Guadalupe Site
It’s a little odd to imagine just how different the skyline of downtown Austin would look if only a few things had happened differently. Projects change, or simply die on the vine — they fail to secure their financing, they get significantly redesigned or “value engineered” to the point of being nearly unrecognizable from the original concept, maybe they…