Block 185, the downtown Austin office tower project best known as the future home of Google, has made significant progress since its groundbreaking back in the downright prehistoric era of 2019 — and though it hasn’t reached its full height of 594 feet just yet, the 35-floor building’s ever-growing prominence on the downtown skyline is becoming increasingly difficult to…
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Demolition Finally Kicks Off at Symphony Square in Downtown Austin
More than two years after the first appearance of plans for a 31-story mixed-use tower development surrounding the Symphony Square historic site in downtown Austin, demolition has finally arrived at the project’s approximately 1.7-acre land assembly — never mind that we still haven’t actually seen a rendering of the tower from its developer Greystar, it’s still a good sign of progress on will…
When Calcasieu Lumber Ruled Austin’s Wood Game, We Never Ran Low on Logs
Though you’ll find a lot more steel and concrete than wood these days in downtown’s newest towers, you might have heard something lately about the role of lumber prices in Austin’s “extraordinary” housing market, currently commanding the highest sales over asking price for new homes of any major city in the nation — in fact, it’s estimated that rising costs of lumber across the country…
Downtown’s Avenue Lofts Condos Hit the Market, With Redevelopment in Mind
The Avenue Lofts, a 38-unit downtown Austin condo community at 410 East Fifth Street, is being marketed for sale. According to a listing from commercial real estate investors CBRE, the owner’s association of the building has retained the firm as the property’s exclusive marketing agent, with a possible major tower redevelopment of the 0.81-acre property highlighted in marketing materials…
A Hidden Railroad Relic Steams Toward Historic Status in Downtown Austin
In the shadow of the Independent, the downtown Austin condo tower taller than any other residential structure west of the Mississippi, you’ll find an unlikely relic of an unrecognizable past — the Third Street Railroad Trestle, an overgrown piece of vestigial infrastructure removed from the current context of its urban surroundings by nearly a century. Built over…
The Mystery of Symphony Square, Austin’s Best-Kept 31-Story Secret
By all accounts, work is set to kick off any day now at the 31-floor mixed-use tower project known as (and located at) Symphony Square — within the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen demolition permits filed for the existing office buildings at the 1.7-acre site, along with permits for the raising of the project’s 430-foot tower…