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 few times in ...
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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 its developers, ...
A Bigger H-E-B Won’t Fix Hancock Center, but It’s Not a Bad Start
We usually have a good time ragging on the outdated urban planning principles of the later 20th century -- urban renewal, highways everywhere, other weirdness -- so it's a little embarrassing to admit that Hancock Center, the 34-acre strip mall you know and love(?) at East 41st and Red River Streets, was a more pleasantly-designed environment for human beings between its ...
This Downtown Austin Office Plan Has an Art Gallery – But What Is Art, Anyway?
Let's say you're building an office building on top of a parking garage in a pedestrian-heavy area of downtown. Though some projects manage to get away with not doing it for various tricky reasons, for a building of this variety Austin's land development code typically requires parking garages to be screened from the street by a "pedestrian-oriented use." Here's what the code ...
Congress Avenue’s Smallest Art Deco Building Scores Historic Zoning
Though you'll find examples here and there, there's not a ton of Art Deco architecture in Austin, and if you're searching for this style on Congress Avenue you'll most likely stick to the Scarbrough Building at 522 Congress Avenue -- not just the city's first modern tower, but also overflowing with Deco's classic geometric ornamentations at its grand entrances, ...
Downtown Austin’s First ‘Supertall’ Tower Plan Arrives at Waller Creek Site
After 20 years of unrealized development plans for the approximately 3.3-acre property at the southwest corner of Cesar Chavez and Red River Streets near the Rainey Street District of downtown Austin, the latest contender for a tower at the site would be the first in the city to qualify as a "supertall" skyscraper -- the tallest in Austin by a country mile, but possibly also ...