Austin has a pickleball shortage. I know that sounds hard to believe, but stay with me — Austin also has too much parking. The rise of pickleball as the fastest-growing sport in America causing increased crowds at local pickleball courts happens to coincide with growing public awareness that overzealous parking requirements have screwed up the urban design of cities all over the country, with…
city life
Is Downtown Austin Back in the Office?
Hey, is anybody working in downtown Austin? This sounds like the setup to a joke, but we’re actually curious — with high office vacancy rates and an increasing preference for hybrid or fully remote work after the start of the pandemic three years ago, the current state of working downtown is kinda up in the air. One Lady Bird Lake Office Tower Project Redesigned for Residential Use This cultural shift has all sorts of…
It’s Time To Stop Asking Questions and Build a Giant Troll in Pease Park
This week, we need you to be thinking about trolls. You need to be talking about trolls. When you see a stranger, your first impulse should be to ask them about their stance on “the troll issue.” You should start describing yourself as “trollpilled.” The source of this recent obsession is the Pease Park Conservancy,…
This October, Celebrate Austin’s First ‘Legacy Business Month’
As advocates for economic development in Austin, it’s tough to see iconic local businesses struggling with the city’s current growing pains — between sky-high land values, labor shortages due to our festering housing crisis, and a municipal permitting bureaucracy largely unchanged since the 1980s, it takes increasingly deep patience and pockets to keep the lights on. That’s why we’re thrilled…
Erwin Center Demolition Work Could Start Next Month in Downtown Austin
The reveal last month that the University of Texas is pursuing a $2.5 billion partnership with the MD Anderson Cancer Center to construct a cancer treatment and research hub in downtown Austin was fantastic news for the city’s emerging Innovation District — and bad news for the Frank C. Erwin Jr. Center, the infamous drum-shaped concrete arena set to be demolished in the near future…
Brush Square’s Back in Downtown Austin
The current heat wave hasn’t made it easy to notice, but fences are finally down at Brush Square in downtown Austin. After a year of construction and roughly five years of planning efforts, the first phase of improvements to this longtime downtown public space at 409 East Fifth Street are substantially complete. Although you can go check it out…