After several years of planning, two of the three permanent “Portland Loo” public restroom facilities previously announced by the City of Austin are officially installed and “open for business,” you might say, in the downtown area. The restrooms, one on the east side of Trinity Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets and the other on the east side of Brazos Street between Fifth…
architecture
The Independent’s Crown Officially Lights Up Tomorrow Night
According to an announcement by the HOA management team of the downtown Austin condo tower the Independent, the building’s divisive crown will officially power up its lighting system at dusk on Friday, February 7 — that’s tomorrow night. From now on, according to the announcement, the building will “light up each night and remain lit until dawn through the…
The Trump Administration Thinks This Austin Courthouse Is Really Ugly
A draft executive order from the White House outlining a rewrite of national guidelines for federal architecture cites downtown Austin’s U.S. courthouse facility as an example of a government building with “little aesthetic appeal.” Good heavens! The draft order, titled “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again,” would hugely shape the design of future federal structures by demanding adherence to…
Let’s Have a Nice Day at Waterloo Park, (Finally) Set to Open This Fall
We’d be lying if we said the redevelopment of Waterloo Park wasn’t an agonizingly slow process — this downtown Austin park has remained closed to the public since 2011, which means we’re creeping up on nearly a decade without its 11 acres of green space around the banks of Waller Creek between East 12th and East 15th…
Two Towers at the Railyard Could Redefine Austin’s Skyline Twice
After last year’s blockbuster $104 million sale of downtown Austin condo community the Railyard to Los Angeles investment firm Karlin Real Estate, we knew it was only a matter of time before the site’s redevelopment — in part simply because it’s a big piece of land downtown, roughly 1.6 acres of low-rise residential units spanning two half-blocks on both…
East Austin’s Centro Offices Will Transform Nearly Two Full Blocks
Centro, a mixed-use development by local firm Riverside Resources set to bring five floors of office and retail space to the so-called “Saltillo District” of East Austin, is still working its way through the city’s permitting process — meaning the project technically exists mostly on people’s computers at this point. But looking at renderings doesn’t really…