Image: Ryan Companies / Page
The Hanover Brazos Street tower we checked out yesterday isn’t the only project up for a density bonus review at the City of Austin Design Commission’s next meeting — the charmingly narrow 60-story mixed-use tower planned at 321 West Sixth Street by national developers Ryan Companies and banking outfit BBVA USA is also going before the Commission at its meeting this coming Monday, June 22.
A view of the tower site at the corner of West Sixth and Guadalupe Streets. As we’ve mentioned before, Maiko Sushi Lounge’s days are numbered along with the existing drive-thru BBVA bank on the corner.
We can’t know for sure yet whether the project’s design will be ruled in sufficient compliance with the various guidelines of the Downtown Density Bonus Program, but until Monday let’s take a gander at the presentation by the tower’s local architects at Page and see what’s up with this notably slender addition to our skyline:
Click for a larger view. Image: Ryan Companies / Page
The schematic diagram above really spells out the project’s vitals better than we could, which is why it’s great when architects include them in these presentations. We’ve got detailed views of its different uses, including 12 levels of parking — including two underground levels below the ground-floor lobby, which includes a BBVA retail bank — along with BBVA office space occupying the full 12th floor, and five levels of general office space above that. Then we’ve got two floors of residential amenities including a pool, topped with 39 floors of apartments and a rooftop clubhouse and second amenity deck at the 60th floor. You got all that?
Illustrations of the BBVA tower from all sides. Look how narrow! Click for a larger view. Image: Ryan Companies / Page
The official height of 60 floors and 770.5 feet would make this tower the second tallest in the city after 6 X Guadalupe, currently under construction just across the intersection and expected to reach 848 feet — but if the Fourth and Brazos tower goes up as planned at 823 feet, the BBVA building would instead be our third-tallest.
This project’s location at the southeastern corner of West Sixth and Guadalupe Streets places it in the middle of an increasingly tall pocket of downtown surrounding Republic Square on three sides. To illustrate just how much height this area’s set to gain, the folks at Page have put together a hopeful little diagram showing what the neighborhood might look like by 2023 — you’ll spot 6 X Guadalupe, Hanover Republic Square, and the Republic, a lovely office project we haven’t heard about in a while:
Click for a larger view. Image: Ryan Companies / Page
Unlike the glossy collection of centerfolds found in the presentation for another tower we looked at yesterday, the BBVA tower’s density bonus application keeps things fairly technical, with most of the images included looking more like the schematics above than anything you’d use as phone wallpaper.
Still, since the Design Commission is concerned with urban design as it relates to the street-level realm, we’ve got a few nice looks at what’s planned for this project’s ground floor and streetscape — in both images below, we’re looking roughly southeast at the corner of West Sixth and Guadalupe Street, with the lobby and retail bank entrance closer to the corner and some sort of cafe space facing West Sixth:
Looking southeast-ish at the corner of West Sixth and Guadalupe Streets. Image: Ryan Companies / Page
The same perspective as the image above, just a little closer to the street so you can see all the stuff inside. Image: Ryan Companies / Page
Here’s a few more views even closer to street level — the first looking east down West Sixth Street from the corner, the second looking west down West Sixth Street from the building’s cafe, which nicely spills out onto the sidewalk:
From this perspective, we’re at the corner of West Sixth and Guadalupe Streets, looking east up West Sixth Street. The building’s lobby and the entrance to the BBVA retail bank are on the right. Image: Ryan Companies / Page
Here, we’re looking west down West Sixth Street towards the corner. That’s a nice cafe on the left. Image: Ryan Companies / Page
We’ll have to wait for Monday to see what the Commission has to say — via Zoom, natch — about the plan, but until then, it’s interesting to imagine how this corner of downtown could look in a few years if everything planned around Republic Square moves forward. There might even be a future for that ugly empty post office someday!
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