I-35 is broken. If you use the highway frequently near downtown during peak hours, you’ll understand this statement is less a matter of opinion, and more an invitation to explore just how much of its brokenness can be fixed through design alone. Urbanists, at least the optimistic ones, will tell you that the actual solution to our city’s continuing nightmare of…
New Views of 31-Story Marriott Hotel Planned Downtown
We’ve known for some time that a new Marriott Hotel was on the way at the corner of Cesar Chavez and Trinity Streets near the Austin Convention Center, but it seems the project is finally moving forward in earnest, with demolition permits filed at the block and new renderings released at a recent city meeting. Here’s what we…
New Mixed-Use Tower Plan Heats Up East 11th & 12th Streets
Here’s a little surprise for your weekend: All of a sudden, the narrow strip of downtown between the Capitol building and I-35 is the most interesting part of the city, and it’s not even close. Well, from a development perspective, that is. We’re just as surprised as you, but the writing’s on the wall —…
Austin Redditors Dig Up Rainey Street’s Past Life
A view of the house at 96 Rainey Street in 1980 and 2017, which is now a sports bar called Bar 96. Photos courtesy of the Texas Historical Commission and the Austin Convention & Visitor’s Bureau. Austin’s changed all over, but you might not find a better example of the city’s transformation over the last…
New Block 87 Plans Describe Market, Hotel Space at 7th and Trinity Mixed-Use Project
New city filings for the mixed-use project at Block 87, one of Austin’s final undeveloped blocks downtown, shed a bit more light on the future of the Episcopal Church-owned parking lot at Seventh and Trinity Streets. The development by Cielo Property Group, which is currently known as “Episcopal Archives” in city filings, will in fact host the church’s substantial historical archives —…
An Inside Look at Fifth & West
Last night, I had the opportunity to take a brief tour of the Fifth & West luxury residential tower project construction site. The tower will top out at 39 stories, but this tour only took us as high as seven — enough to get a good look at the view from the building’s pool deck, which is probably the most…