• 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 / Whoops, We Accidentally Named This Tower on Rainey Street
Search suggestions: condos for sale • rainey street

Whoops, We Accidentally Named This Tower on Rainey Street

James Rambin March 8, 2023 Comment

A groundbreaking ceremony held for the Paseo tower last week featured the ol’ golden shovels. Image: LV Collective

Maybe you’ve heard that the 48-story downtown Austin apartment tower now under construction at 80 Rainey Street is going by the name Paseo. What you didn’t hear, since we weren’t sure how to talk about it without sounding insanely full of ourselves, is that we came up with that name. No, really! Here’s the word straight from the tower’s developers at LV Collective:

The name Paseo was inspired by local real estate writer James Rambin who thought the meaning of the word captured the essential character of the Rainey Street District. “When I learned about the project, the word Paseo immediately came to mind” said Rambin. “In Spanish, a Paseo is a public boulevard or promenade. The name perfectly fits this building since its design enhances the Rainey Street District’s walkable environment and electric atmosphere.” 

— LV Collective 

That’s all true, but human beings obviously don’t talk in such delightfully concise press release copy. Best we can figure it, LV Collective CEO David Kanne saw our endless discussion of tower names on this very site, and decided maybe someone so willing to publicly blast their goofball opinions about Austin buildings all over the internet every week would have some thoughts on the 80 Rainey tower. Did we ever!

Image: LV Collective / Pappageorge Haymes Partners / TBG Partners

What I told David, and what I’m telling you now, is that the Rainey Street District could use a tower with a name that establishes its own sense of place. Paseo is a Spanish word for a leisurely stroll, but it’s also widely used in architecture to denote a public outdoor pedestrian promenade, which is a feature this tower’s design includes very visibly on its ground level facing Rainey Street — with something like nine retail spaces, it might be the most pedestrian-friendly building planned in the district so far. The tower’s architects Pappageorge Haymes Partners and the local landscape design geniuses at TBG Partners really cooked here, is what I’m trying to say.

A view of the Paseo tower’s retail spaces near the ground facing Rainey Street. Image: LV Collective / Pappageorge Haymes Partners / TBG Partners

A closer view of the Paseo tower’s ground-level features at its southeast corner, including the new tower’s retail spaces and the preserved bungalows on the site linked by, yes, a paseo. Image: LV Collective / Pappageorge Haymes Partners / TBG Partners

Naming the entire tower after what I consider to be its most prominent public-facing feature means the human-scaled sensibility of the paseo as an architectural element now applies to the design philosophy of the entire building — “a leisurely walk or stroll, especially one taken in the evening in which people may socialize with each other.” With a name like that, you can’t even talk about the building and its approximately 557 new apartments without also mentioning what it’s doing for the social environment at street level, and it’s especially appropriate for a tower plan taking more pains than usual to preserve the original historic bungalows on its site. What I didn’t expect when I dashed off an email containing the ideas above is that the developers would actually take them seriously, but here we are. Paseo. Not bad, huh?

Related

Filed Under: News Tagged With: 78701, apartments, architecture, city life, design, rainey street district, residential

About James Rambin

James is an Austin native and fifth-generation Texan, but tries not to brag about it. Email him anything at james@towers.net.

301 West Avenue #1806
Austin, TX
Photo of 301  West Avenue #1806, Austin, TX 78701 (MLS # 2246992)
$1,695,000
34
  • Lot Size

  • Home Size
    1,490 sqft

  • Beds
    2 Beds

  • Baths
    2 Baths

Previous Post: « Meet Austin’s Top 3 Shopping Centers Begging for the Brodie Oaks Treatment
Next Post: Hotel Rezoning Could Bring New Height to Austin’s South Central Waterfront »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

Primary Sidebar

  •  Schedule a showing

FEATURED Listings

2305 Coronado Street #E
Austin, TX
Photo of 2305  Coronado Street #E, Austin, TX 78702 (MLS # 7596312)
$550,000
18
  • Lot Size
    1,394 sqft

  • Home Size
    1,252 sqft

  • Beds
    1 Bed

  • Baths
    2 Baths

608 Brentwood Street #A
Austin, TX
Photo of 608  Brentwood Street #A, Austin, TX 78752 (MLS # 3202099)
$989,608
33
  • Lot Size
    4,356 sqft

  • Home Size
    1,959 sqft

  • Beds
    3 Beds

  • Baths
    3 Baths

44 EAST Avenue #2310
Austin, TX
Photo of 44  EAST Avenue #2310, Austin, TX 78701 (MLS # 9418770)
$1,425,000
40
  • Lot Size

  • Home Size
    1,260 sqft

  • Beds
    2 Beds

  • Baths
    2 Baths

View Virtual Tour
360 Nueces Street #2710
Austin, TX
Photo of 360  Nueces Street #2710, Austin, TX 78701 (MLS # 8186211)
$619,900
39
  • Lot Size

  • Home Size
    770 sqft

  • Beds
    1 Bed

  • Baths
    1 Bath

View Virtual Tour
70 Rainey Street #1403
Austin, TX
Photo of 70  Rainey Street #1403, Austin, TX 78701 (MLS # 2486918)
$580,000
25
  • Lot Size

  • Home Size
    663 sqft

  • Beds
    1 Bed

  • Baths
    1 Bath

austin condo report

Featured Buildings

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

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
 

Loading Comments...