• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

TOWERS

Austin city life since 2007.

  • News
    • Condo Projects
    • Neighborhoods
  • Listings
    • Austin Condo Guide
  • Newsletter
Search
You are here: Home / News / The Most Controversial Project: Version 3.0
Search suggestions: condos for sale • rainey street

The Most Controversial Project: Version 3.0

towers staff January 13, 2008 Comment

The Congress Avenue Marriott — a 1,000 room hotel complex on 2nd and Congress avenue — is the most controversial, and one of the least popular downtown projects. The project is best known for displacing Las Manitas and other local businesses. While the full details of the current plan are not known, the last two versions of the project were criticized for bland institutional architecture and a lack of ground-floor retail on a key block connecting the convention center area to the second street district.

New Downtown Austin Marriott on Congress Avenue
The Congress Avenue Marriott, V. 1.0

The original plan for the project included 1,000 rooms across 3 separate Marriott-branded hotels in one convoluted multi-facted building. The second version of the project included two hotels in one building. Version 3.0, announced today, includes just one Marriott hotel with 1,000 rooms. With the changes and increases in downtown construction costs, the project budget has supposedly climbed from $185 million to more than $250 million.

The ironic thing is that the hotel is actually a good thing for Austin. A 1,000 room hotel will allow the city to book larger conferences and events — bringing valuable tourism dollars and jobs to Austin. Their is a shortage of rooms downtown and a crazy large 1,000 room hotel can make a big difference. The problem is all in the developer’s and Marriott’s execution of the project: they seem to have no respect for downtown Austin and no interest in making it better place. If they hired an architect and surrounded the building with ground-floor retail, this would be a much more palatable.

Here is a summary from the Austin Business Journal:

Plans for a downtown hotel project at Second Street and Congress Avenue have changed yet again and will now feature a single, 1,000-room Marriott convention center hotel.White Lodging Services Corp. had originally planned to build three different hotels at the northeast corner of the intersection where Las Manitas café and other businesses currently stand. The proposed hotels included a 650-room Marriott convention center hotel, 200-room Renaissance Hotel and 150-room Springhill Suites hotel.Last summer the company switched course on the project saying it would build an 800-room convention center Marriott and 200-room upscale J.W. Marriott. The move was said to be due in part to greater demand for rooms dedicated to convention-goers and the growing market for upscale lodging downtown.This week White Lodging confirmed it will now build a single 1,000-room Marriott, but a spokesperson could not comment on why the group is altering course a third time. The most recent pricetag on the project puts the cost at about $250 million, though it’s unclear if the new plan would alter that in any way.

We’ll post new renderings as soon as they become available.

Related

Filed Under: News

About towers staff

Real estate, architecture, and city planning. Email: austin@towers.net

48 East Avenue #2901
Austin, TX
Photo of 48  East Avenue #2901, Austin, TX 78707 (MLS # 7310385)
$1,800,000
30
  • Lot Size
    17,904 sqft

  • Home Size
    1,121 sqft

  • Beds
    2 Beds

  • Baths
    2 Baths

Previous Post: « The Austin Parking Enterprise has Arrived
Next Post: Balancing Music & Growth: Austin’s Unique Downtown Challenge »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  •  Schedule a showing

Featured Buildings

  • 360 Condos
  • Austin City Lofts
  • The Independent
  • The Shore Condos
  • 70 Rainey

FEATURED Listings

625 Tillery Street #A
Austin, TX
Photo of 625  Tillery Street #A, Austin, TX 78702 (MLS # 4007841)
$1,095,000
15
  • Lot Size
    4,052 sqft

  • Home Size
    1,792 sqft

  • Beds
    3 Beds

  • Baths
    3 Baths

1009 E Riverside Drive #B
Austin, TX
Photo of 1009 E Riverside Drive #B, Austin, TX 78704 (MLS # 9235307)
$1,285,000
34
  • Lot Size
    7,101 sqft

  • Home Size
    2,364 sqft

  • Beds
    3 Beds

  • Baths
    3 Baths

501 West Avenue #2101
Austin, TX
Photo of 501  West Avenue #2101, Austin, TX 78701 (MLS # 2853366)
$2,885,000
40
  • Lot Size
    157 sqft

  • Home Size
    2,517 sqft

  • Beds
    3 Beds

  • Baths
    3 Baths

View Virtual Tour
710 Colorado Street #4A
Austin, TX
Photo of 710  Colorado Street #4A, Austin, TX 78701 (MLS # 4097692)
$525,000
18
  • Lot Size
    105 sqft

  • Home Size
    849 sqft

  • Beds
    1 Bed

  • Baths
    1 Bath

301 West Avenue #4606
Austin, TX
Photo of 301  West Avenue #4606, Austin, TX 78701 (MLS # 6322936)
$945,000
15
  • Lot Size

  • Home Size
    794 sqft

  • Beds
    1 Bed

  • Baths
    1 Bath

View Virtual Tour
313 W 17th Street #1107
Austin, TX
Photo of 313 W 17th Street #1107, Austin, TX 78701 (MLS # 3466328)
$1,600,000
9
  • Lot Size

  • Home Size
    1,930 sqft

  • Beds
    4 Beds

  • Baths
    3 Baths

austin condo report

Footer

LEGAL NOTICE

TREC Information About Brokerage Services (pdf)

Texas Real Estate Commission Consumer Protection Notice


TOWERS realty

Austin Condos For Sale

Agents

Downtown Buildings

Luxury Towers

  • Four Seasons Residences
  • W Hotel & Residences
  • The Austonian
  • 5 Fifty Five at Hilton

Most Popular

  • The Shore
  • 360 Condos
  • Seaholm Condos
  • Spring Condos
  • Milago Condos

New Construction

  • The Independent
  • 70 Rainey
  • Austin Proper
  • Fifth & West

Loft Style

  • Austin City Lofts
  • Brazos Place
  • The Sabine
  • Plaza Lofts
  • Avenue Lofts
  • Brazos Lofts
  • Brown Building

Resources

  • Austin Condo Guide
  • Condos For Sale
  • Condo Buyer FAQ
  • Property Search

Featured

Archives

Newsletter · About · Contact Us · DMCA · Privacy Policy · SLAPP · Copyright © 2007-2022 TOWERS.net · All Rights Reserved