The world didn’t discover Austin yesterday, even if it might feel that way sometimes. Our local tourism industry, booming roughly as long as the city itself, saw 7.5 million visitors in 1989, though three decades later we’re looking at a yearly count closer to 30 million. With a lineup of new towers downtown, the ongoing success of…
design
Let’s Not Call This the P.F. Chang’s Tower, But Here’s a Sneak Peek Anyway
Last week’s breaking news item regarding a potential tower project on the doorstep of the Austin Convention Center was an interesting read, to say the least. Imagined by local developers Manifold Real Estate — the group, if you recall, behind the mysterious tower concept floated for the former Frank & Angies site on West Avenue — the . . . Become…
Take a Fresh Look at Natiivo, the Rainey Street District’s ‘Home Sharing’ Tower
Natiivo, the Airbnb-powered “home sharing” concept currently under construction at 48 East Avenue in the Rainey Street District of downtown Austin, received a lot of attention both local and national regarding its unique ownership model after the project’s announcement earlier this year — and at the time of the tower’s groundbreaking ceremony
Downtown Austin’s Marriott Hotel Tower Celebrates Its ‘Topping Out’
It sounds a little strange to call a 31-story tower project “under the radar,” but for all its prominence, the new Marriott hotel tower rising at the northwest corner of Cesar Chavez and Trinity Streets just across from the Austin Convention Center hasn’t received all that much attention in the news lately. Still, its 613 guest rooms and…
South Austin’s MESA Condos Will Soon Rise Again After Recent Fire
After a fire at its South Austin construction site last month brought the MESA condos nearly back to square one, the project’s dusting itself off and getting back on track. A message issued earlier this week to buyers at the 45-unit, three-story condo development at 4004 Banister Lane by IMPACT Developers states that despite the considerable damage,…
Waller Creek Looked Pretty Bad in 1977
Though we’ve still got a ways to go before the completion of the Waterloo Greenway, the stretch of Waller Creek running through downtown Austin has already come pretty far — the photo above shows the condition of the creek (full of garbage, mostly) in 1977, looking south between East Fifth and East Sixth Streets. Here’s a current…