It has been 15 months since the Texas Facilities Commission approved the 2016 Texas Capitol Complex Master Plan , and the concepts unveiled at the time were of a stunningly ambitious, years-long project that would extend the Capitol Complex north by four blocks, incorporating along the way many mixed-use structures, a pedestrian-friendly “Texas Mall” and a massive underground parking system. The TFC recently set…
Refresh Your Memory on Plaza Saltillo’s Upcoming Mixed-Use Development
Ground’s finally broken on the Plaza Saltillo mixed-use development in East Austin. Woo! We’re heard about this project in various forms since 2014, but now it’s time to hurry up and wait — the estimated time to completion is about 30 months. After all these years, we’ve kind of forgotten what’s even in store for the 10-acre…
Block 87 Plans Reveal 37-Story Tower at 7th and Trinity
Since it’s arguably one of the most thought-provoking projects planned in downtown, we’ve followed the upcoming development of the Episcopal Church-owned Block 87 site at Seventh and Trinity Streets pretty closely for the last few months. Now, we’ve got our hands on a copy of the latest detailed plans for the building known only for the time…
Is Downtown Austin Bike-Friendly? Not Quite, but We’re Getting There
People tend to make a couple of wild assumptions when anyone voices support for public investment in bicycling infrastructure. No, bike advocates do not necessarily want you to completely replace every single car trip in town with one powered by pedals. It’d be nuts to expect all the state workers who live in Buda to opt…
Good and Bad News on Block 185
Everyone wants to know what’s up with Block 185. It’s the final undeveloped parcel of the former Green Water Treatment Plant, situated at the convergence of the emerging Seaholm and 2nd Street Districts, and represents the final piece of the puzzle for an area that now includes the New Central Library, the Northshore apartments, the Austin Proper condo/hotel tower, and two office developments:…
Skybridges: Yes or No?
Downtown Austin’s getting two, maybe three skybridges in the near future, and many of my fellow urbanists aren’t too happy about it. The skybridges contemplated would connect hotels to the City of Austin Convention Center, creating a sort of hermetically sealed convention district that never meaningfully interacts with the street. These elevated pathways between buildings…