Though we saw plenty of construction progress on existing projects, no major downtown Austin tower plans have broken ground since the coronavirus kicked off in earnest last year. That cautious approach from local developers isn’t unique to Austin, but what might be unique is the speed of our rebound — as we and the rest of our colleagues have pointed out quite a…
design
At Brazos Place, Downtown Austin Condos Preserve a ‘Hotel of Distinction’
True condo conversions of older buildings are surprisingly hard to find in downtown Austin, with standout examples including the Brown Building and Avenue Lofts — both originally office structures adapted much later for residential use. But a more underrated transformation holds down the corner at East Eighth and Brazos Streets, the 14-floor, 72-unit condo community now known as Brazos…
Downtown Austin’s Defunct Tower 5C Was Too Weird for This World
With the official announcement earlier this week that Texan private equity firm Stonelake Capital Partners recently purchased the half-acre assembly at the southeast corner of West Fifth and Colorado Streets and has taken over the task of developing a tower at the site from Ryan Companies, we are forced to acknowledge the untimely passing of the office project…
Celebrating 85 Years of New Deal Style at Austin’s Former U.S. Courthouse
The legacy of Charles Henry Page is perhaps the longest in the history of Austin architecture — the practice he founded here in 1898 now employs hundreds worldwide and still bears his family name 123 years later, with its local design portfolio ranging from groundbreaking Depression-era public works projects to several of the city’s latest skyline-transforming towers. But one of our favorite Page buildings is lesser-known in…
Celebrated Architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Headed for the Rainey District
A 64-story mixed-use tower project designed by world-famous architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill will bring condos, apartments, and a 250-room hotel to the shores of Lady Bird Lake by the end of 2025, according to a new press release from M2 Development Partners, an entity associated with Washington, D.C.-based developer Timothy Morris. According to…
Party Like It’s 1989 With These Vintage Local TV Clips From Austin’s KTBC
First broadcast out of the Driskill Hotel in 1952, Austin’s longtime local television channel KTBC was the city’s first TV station, holding down channel number seven and owned for many years by none other than Texas royalty Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson. The station, primarily a CBS affiliate until its switch to Fox in 1995, is an essential background element of the…