As the Texas Department of Transportation’s Capital Express project widening I-35 though Austin slowly chugs to life, the possibility of a decade of construction crossing the central city has many presumably traumatized locals putting a lot of faith into the plan’s roughly $900 million silver lining — so-called caps and stitches, large and small decks covering the highway and reclaiming up to…
residential
Redevelopment Concept Now in Review for Shady Grove Site on Barton Springs
After the widely-mourned closure of longtime Barton Springs Road restaurant and live music venue Shady Grove in 2020 not long after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the possibilities of the site’s redevelopment didn’t go undiscussed in local circles. But despite its current tax appraisal value of more than $7 million, not to mention a location in the heart of…
Austin’s Record-Setting Waterline ‘Supertall’ Is Halfway Done Downtown
Waterline, the 74-story “supertall” tower project poised to break the state’s height record upon its expected completion in late 2026, is approximately halfway through its construction schedule, with the building now rising past the 35-floor mark and increasingly visible on the downtown Austin skyline. The mixed-use building by development partners Lincoln Property Company and Kairoi Residential is set…
Demolition Pending at Far West Bank Site as Northwest Hills Ponders Density
A permit application is now pending with the City of Austin for the demolition of the 13,000-square-foot former Frost Bank at 3525 Far West Boulevard, a roughly four-acre tract located at the southeast corner of Far West Boulevard and Wood Hollow Drive. The removal of the existing vacant building at the property will prepare the…
In 1971, the Most Important Drink in Austin’s History Crossed the Bar
Historically speaking, the most important cocktail ever poured in Austin isn’t the Mexican Martini, the Ranch Water, or even the Mad Dog Margarita. By some overly peevish definitions, it wasn’t even a cocktail at all. But when Woody Elder bellied up to the bar at Christie’s Seafood Restaurant on Barton Springs Road shortly after noon on Tuesday, June 1, 1971, 53 years ago this month,…
Austin’s Fannie Davis Town Lake Gazebo Could Seek Historic Landmark Zoning
Constructed on parkland along the south shoreline of downtown’s central waterfront in 1969, the Fannie Davis Town Lake Gazebo is one of Austin’s most important and recognizable works of small-scale architecture. As the first structure built to beautify the shores of the new lake crossing the heart of the city after the completion of the…