Like a number of other large chunks of city park property still waiting for their time in the spotlight, at the moment Bolm District Park is practically a blank canvas. Located directly south of U.S. 183 on the banks of the Colorado River as it meanders into a region known for somewhat resembling the head of a dog, the…
architecture
West Sixth and Rio Grande Residential Tower Plan Not Dead Yet, Actually
Everybody wants to announce they’re building a tower, but nobody wants to announce they’re not building a tower. That state of limbo is where we find a lot of projects unveiled between 2020 and 2022 but as yet unbuilt in downtown Austin, with a slowing market and some remarkably low occupancy numbers in the office sector forcing pivots and delays all over. But…
Changing the X-Change Center in South Austin’s St. Elmo District
The St. Elmo region of South Austin has been the “next big thing” for nearly a decade. Although the ongoing infusion of residential and creative retail uses into this warehouse-heavy industrial district still has plenty of potential, the whole enterprise got a big bucket of cold water to the face earlier this month with the announcement that the long-awaited St. Elmo Public Market plan — an adaptive reuse project…
Hundreds of Apartments Replacing a Big Ol’ Drive-Thru Bank on Burnet Road
An apartment project set to bring approximately 300 new residences to a drive-thru bank and adjacent parking lot of an office building on Burnet Road is preparing to take its first steps in the Allandale neighborhood of North Central Austin, with the site plan for the development at 7618 Burnet Road now approved by the city and…
Downtown Austin’s Lost Fourth Square Could Serve the Public Once Again
When Edwin Waller drafted the original plan for the City of Austin in 1839, he designated four blocks in the plan’s grid as public squares. Three of those four blocks still exist in the modern-day downtown — Wooldridge Square, Republic Square, and Brush Square. But one block, known as Hamilton Square, is missing. Bound by Ninth, Tenth,…
Demolition Pending for Downtown Austin’s Former Brick Oven Pizza Site
After roughly 11 years of hemming and hawing, it looks like the 27-story hotel tower long prophesied at the northeast corner of 12th and Red River Streets in downtown Austin is taking at least a baby step into the real world. A demolition permit for the approximately 5,900-square-foot building dating back to the late 1940s currently occupying the corner at…