Minimum parking requirements are bad for cities. Once upon a time you’d risk getting run out of town for saying this in public, but we’ve seen an increasing awareness over the last decade of these and other invisible rules shaping how places like Austin grow, and the results aren’t always great — ask yourself, why does every new tower downtown have a…
walkability
Designing Streets for Everyone in Downtown Austin Starts With You
The Austin Transportation Department’s ongoing study of mobility options and street infrastructure in downtown, known as the Austin Core Transportation (ACT) Plan, has entered its second phase of community engagement — and before you completely glaze over, we’d like to make a case for why you ought to care. With the future public transit improvements of Project Connect seemingly in the lurch at the…
Austin, It’s Time To Take Back Your Streets for Good
We’ll get right to the point — you’ve got until October 23, or this coming Sunday, to complete the latest community survey for the ATX Walk Bike Roll program, providing input on future transportation policy including the placement of bike paths, urban trails, and other pedestrian-friendly infrastructure to the city’s Public Works and Transportation Departments. But there’s one specific topic…
The New Adventures of Old Red River, Austin’s Next Great Pedestrian Space
There’s a real laundry list of development currently taking place in downtown Austin’s so-called “Innovation District” east of the Capitol. You’ve got Central Health’s massive reimagining of the former Brackenridge Hospital site, with the “Innovation Tower” itself now up for lease at the center of the action overlooking the new Waterloo Park, and right across the intersection of East 12th and Red River Streets the Symphony Square office…
It’s Time for a Montage on South Lamar
A South Austin condo project by local developers Pearlstone Partners will bring 175 new residences to a vacant former used car lot at 2323 South Lamar Boulevard near Bluebonnet Lane, planned as part of the company’s growing portfolio of multifamily housing communities designed to be “attainable” to middle-income buyers recently priced out of Austin’s central neighborhoods. The start…
The Republic Tower Is Here
More than four years and one pandemic after its first appearance, a tower project set to become one of downtown Austin’s most prominent additions to the skyline is finally moving forward. Today, national developers Lincoln Property Company and the Dallas-based Phoenix Property Company announced a partnership with California investment firm DivcoWest to develop The Republic, a 48-floor, 833,000-square-foot office…