The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (ESB-MACC) at 600 River Street is the gem of downtown Austin’s Rainey Street neighborhood, a stunning work of Mesoamerican-inspired modernism designed by the late Mexican architect Teodoro González de León working alongside Hispanic-owned local studio CasaBella Architects. It’s reflective of the neighborhood’s rapidly-fading history as a working-class Mexican American enclave, and as such will always represent much more than a…
historic preservation
Demolition Applications Could Signal Two New Towers in Downtown Austin
A list of demolition applications under review for consideration at the upcoming January 24 meeting of the city’s Historic Landmark Commission tells the story of two possible new tower developments headed for downtown Austin, if you look closely — actually, the clues are incredibly obvious. Let’s take a peek for ourselves: 307 – 311 East…
Unfortunately, This New Downtown Tower Is Not Called “The Extraordinary”
With a general real estate bonfire and more specific downtown Austin condo and apartment tower boom well underway in Austin, there’s never been a better time to obsess over the names of new buildings. It might seem trivial to you, but the branding of these projects is something a lot of people think about —…
After Years of Disrepair, East Austin’s Historic Givens Pool Finds Its Future
The City of Austin’s historical neglect of park facilities east of I-35 compared with the central crown jewels of its system shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone familiar with the historical neglect of nearly everything east of I-35. What’s more obvious lately is the city’s own institutional awareness of that inequality, now cast in a harsher light than ever and…
One Real Estate Company Now Owns More Than 30 Properties on East Sixth
As part of our longstanding beef with the mismanagement of Austin’s numerous historic properties on East Sixth Street, we’ve often complained that one of the reasons this entertainment district’s conga line of seedy shot bars remain so similar to one another in character is that they’re mostly owned by the same handful of people, who for years have had a…
Rainey Street’s Future Skyline Looks Like a Second Downtown Austin
Earlier this summer, we were pretty darn proud to bring our readers the first-ever look at 80 Rainey Street, a 644-unit apartment and retail tower planned by local developers Lincoln Ventures for an assembly of properties between 78 to 84 Rainey Street currently occupied by a food truck park. We find this plan remarkable not only for its…