It’s both ironic and instructional that South By Southwest 2018 presented a panel on “Branded Cities” as part of its growing Cities Summit programming. After all, during the nine days in mid-March when the hydra-headed conference takes over our central city, the branding iron of commerce is hot in downtown Austin and beyond. Empty lots sprout into promotional…
VIDEO: Implosion Brings Down Ashbel Smith Hall in Downtown Austin
Ashbel Smith Hall, a 10-story office tower formerly occupied by the University of Texas System at downtown Austin’s Block 71, is officially no more. Its unfortunate pedigree as perhaps one of the ugliest buildings in the city certainly didn’t tarnish the spectacle of the tower’s implosion at 8:00 a.m. this morning, the first demolition of its type Austin’s seen in more…
East Riverside Drive’s Apartment Boom Continues With Aspen Heights Project
Developer Aspen Heights Partners plans to break ground this summer on Aspen Heights Riverside, a $42 million, 325-unit market-rate apartment complex off East Riverside Drive, on what is mostly vacant land. Located in the 1700 block of Willow Creek Drive, the project’s been making its way through the city’s review process since last June. The site…
Two East Austin Affordable Housing Projects Vie for State Tax Credits
Two affordable housing multifamily projects in East Austin are competing for a 9 percent housing tax credit from the state, but only one is likely to get it. That doesn’t mean, however, that only one of the projects will get built — the weaker candidate determined by the Texas Department of Housing and Consumer Affairs’…
With Instagram and Memes, These Guys Are Finding You Things to Do in Austin
The chaos and energy of South by Southwest 2018 is only three days away when I meet Chris Cates, but he doesn’t seem stressed. In fact, he’s pretty hung over. That’s one of the occupational hazards you might discover when your job is keeping a finger on the pulse of events all over the city,…
Implosion at Block 71 in Downtown Austin Scheduled for Sunday, March 25
An email sent this morning to the mailing list of the Downtown Austin Alliance appears to confirm the suspected date of the Ashbel Smith Hall demolition at Block 71, the first building implosion planned in the downtown area in more than 11 years — and quite possibly the largest of its type the city has ever seen. Since TOWERS.net…
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