Sabine Tower, a 39-story building planned at a former state pension fund headquarters near the corner of East 12th and Sabine Streets in downtown Austin, is one of several projects contributing to the city’s freshly-defined Innovation District — which seems mostly like a marketing effort to attract biotech industry tenants to buildings near the UT Dell Medical School and Central Health’s redevelopment of the former Brackenridge Hospital campus. Not…
architecture
Let’s Catch Up With Downtown Austin’s Waterline Supertall Tower Project
Aren’t you glad the Waterline supertall broke ground in the Rainey Street District around this time last year? Otherwise, the 74-story tower planned by developers Lincoln Property Company and Kairoi Residential might have found itself in purgatory forever — or perhaps even seen its record-breaking height cut in half. But instead, this 1,022-foot monument capping off a generation of Austin’s growth will likely remain the high…
Here’s a New View of the Plaza Headed for Mueller’s Historic Control Tower Site
Did you know that Austin’s celebrated Mueller neighborhood used to be an airport? Yeah, sure, laugh it up — you might think that’s common knowledge if you’ve lived around here for a while, but what if you got here yesterday? The only two remaining elements of the 700-acre neighborhood that really hit you over the head with…
Excuse Me, I Would Like To Get Inside John Treviño Jr. Metropolitan Park
For years, I’ve yearned to get inside John Treviño Jr. Metropolitan Park. The request seems simple enough, as far as hopes and dreams go — it’s a roughly 330-acre tract of former ranch land located on FM 969 in Far East Austin on the northern bank of the Colorado River, purchased by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department in 2003 and named for…
Here’s Our First Look at Downtown Austin’s Fifth and Trinity Hotel Plan
The plan by prolific local hospitality developer White Lodging to build a 13-floor hotel at the southwest corner of East Fifth and Trinity Streets in downtown Austin heads for review at the city’s Design Commission meeting on Monday next week, meaning we’re now getting our first public look at renderings of the building — which will reportedly contain a…
How Does Austin’s VMU2 Zoning Program Create Affordable Housing?
It’s been about a year since the City of Austin approved new rules for development under the city’s Vertical Mixed-Use (VMU) zoning program, which allows properties on central transit corridors to exceed typical limits on height and density in exchange for a percentage of on-site affordable residences. Last year’s update created a new tier of…