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Stacy makes first move to clear the way for Congress Avenue project

Bank branch to move; Stacy says long-delayed venture closer to reality

By Shonda Novak
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
May 18, 2007

Austin developer Tom Stacy says he is clearing the way for his ambitious mixed-use project at Congress Avenue and Fifth Street, which is to replace a modest four-story bank building with a dramatic 47-story skyscraper.

Step one has been to relocate the tenants from the smaller building to the 26-story office tower next door, which Stacy also owns.

The biggest tenant, Bank of America, will move its downtown branch and other operations into the office tower in December. Most of the other tenants in the smaller building also will relocate to 515 Congress.

When Stacy announced the plans in December 2004, he said his goal was to break ground in early to mid-2006, with a late 2008 opening.

But Stacy said it has taken longer than expected to relocate the bank and other tenants.

"It's taken us a couple of years just trying to get all the ducks in a row to keep things moving," he said.

The new Bank of America lease, which took two years to negotiate, was particularly complex, mainly because its existing site is a regional banking center that houses multiple operations, Stacy said.

The announcement of the project was front-page news. At the time, it was the biggest and most ambitious project proposed for downtown, with stores, offices, a 10-story hotel and uas many as 350 apartments and condominiums. Last year, Stacy unveiled a dramatic design by the renowned Pelli Clarke Pelli architectural firm.

Stacy has since simplified the project, eliminating the hotel and apartments and focusing on two levels of retail, 200 condominiums and 330,000 square feet of office space.

Stacy said he has no projected timetable for starting the project with financial partner Walton Street Capital. He said he will continue watching the market, particularly demand for office space, to determine a start date.

He said mixed-use projects like his are complex because there has to be a market for all the components at the same time.

"Even if the condo market stayed hot forever, we still have to have the office market strong enough to support a new building," Stacy said.

Although downtown's office market continues to strengthen and rents are rising, "rents are still not at a point to support high-rise construction," he said.

The condominium market also has become more competitive, with a wave of projects either planned or under way. Work is expected to start this year on the 55-story Austonian luxury condominiums on Congress at Second Street, and on the 30-story Four Seasons Residences on Town Lake, among other projects.

Stacy's plans include a 13-story, 1,200-space parking garage in the block behind his proposed project. It will include a new Bank of America drive-in branch on the ground floor, a high-end restaurant and shops on the Fifth Street side.

Kenny Wilson, president of Bank of America's South and Central Texas operations, said the bank's new facilities will have state-of-the-art amenities such as conference rooms that can serve a variety of functions.

In addition to his planned high-rise, Stacy recently added to his downtown holdings.

He has purchased most of the land beneath Littlefield Mall, an apartment, retail and parking garage structure at Sixth and Brazos. Through a ground lease, he will receive rent from the owners of the Littlefield Mall.

"It's just a good position to try to buy everything in that block," Stacy said.

And for the second time, Stacy is about to become part-owner of Austin Centre at Eighth and Brazos. He will join Walton Street Capital in the purchase, which includes a 354,000-square-foot office tower and the Omni Hotel.

The sale is expected to close next week, Stacy said. The owner, Crescent Real Estate Equities, is selling all of its Austin properties.

snovak@statesman.com; 445-3856

Finally some news on this project... I wonder if the design may be changed and if he eliminated the hotel and apartments as well as removed a floor of retail, would that not make the building shorter or is he replacing that with office space?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy (Post 2843831)

The hotel and apartment components are gone, at least for the time being. He seems to have reallocated those parts of the building to office space - greatly expanding the total office SF in the tower (330,000 SF).

I believe Tom is contemplating the total number of condo units as well as the possibility of even more office space.

As for the height of the building, I would be surprised if it shortened. Remember, the average floor-to-floor ratio is usually larger in office buildings than in hotel/apartment/condo buildings. Thus, if he keeps the tower at 47 stories and apportions more space to offices, then we may be looking at an even taller building than the one currently being proposed.

He should just go ahead and push the floors over 50 like the Austonian...

830 feet with 70 floors?

Uh, yeah. All of the Austin forumers are excited this morning at the announcement of Tom Stacy's revised plans for this project. Some had feared this project was dead since it's been a few years since it was announced and we hadn't heard much about it over the last year.

In 2005 the project was announced as a 680 foot building with 41 floors. Then the height was pushed to "at least" 705 feet with 47 floors. Cesar Pelli also came on board as the design architect. However, Tom Stacy changed plans a few times taking out a the hotel portion of the project. Then last year, news came about that his management company that owns the Bank of America Center and surrounding properties was waiting for lease contracts to run out so that the tenants could be vacated so demo could begin. Plans included renovating the 33 year old Bank of America Center and building the new 47-story tower nextdoor. But the last year had been quiet.

Today however several news sources are saying that Tom Stacy has acquired a portion of a neighboring block and is planning a towering 830 foot building with 70 floors. That tower would rise at the corner of 5th & Brazos and would contain a 300 room hotel and 200 condos. At the corner of 5th & Congress where he had previously planned the original 47-story tower, he will build a 30-story, 500,000 square foot office tower that will be "slightly taller than Bank of America Center." This will make that tower at least 328 feet tall. Plans also call for building a 1,200 space parking garage above 8,300 square feet of retail. The first phase of the $500 million project will start in June when the parking garage is built. That will allow for the demolition of an existing parking garage where the 30-story office tower will rise. The article mentions that the taller tower would break ground later. The office tower would probably be completed in either 2011, or 2012.

http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin...25/story1.html

Quote:

$500M investment may yield two new downtown towers

Austin Business Journal - by A.J. Mistretta ABJ Staff

More than three years after Austin developer Tom Stacy and a Chicago partner company purchased the building at 501 Congress Ave. and unveiled plans for a dramatic multiuse tower on the site, the deal has grown much larger, incorporating one-and-a-half city blocks, two soaring towers and an estimated $500 million investment.

Stacy's company, T. Stacy & Associates Inc., and Walton Street Capital now plan a 500,000-square-foot office and retail tower at 501 Congress that would be slightly taller than the 26-story Bank of America Center building the partnership owns at 515 Congress next door. The group is also plotting a hotel and condo tower at the corner of Brazos and Fifth streets that would rise more than 800 feet, making it by far the tallest building in Austin and the sixth-tallest in Texas.

Frost Bank is going to look squat and cute in a few years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dale (Post 3372103)

Frost Bank is going to look squat and cute in a few years.

You mean it doesn't already? :haha:

http://www.austintowers.net/Austin_Downtown/index.html

Quote:

New 70-story Condo Tower Planned for Brazos Street
February 22, 2008 09:05 Filed in: Development Watch
T. Stacy & Associates, the developer of the bold 501 Congress multi-use project, announced a even bigger plan for the prime 5th and Congress site and a new lot that he now controls on Brazos and 5th.

The new project -- which will cover 1.5 prime downtown blocks - will include an 800 foot hotel and condo tower that will likely be 70 stories tall. By far the tallest building in Austin, the building would rise more than 120 feet taller than the 56-story Austonian, currently the tallest planned downtown building. As part of the project, a smaller office building will be built at 501 Congress. The proposed office tower would likely rise 30-stories above Congress avenue.

We'll publish renderings and additional details as they become available.

Looks like it will be a very nice project. It's interesting, I sorta feel bad that the Frost Bank Tower, which was designed to crown the skyline, has already been topped, and all these other, more cookie-cutter designs are taking over. Austin sorta reminds of Brisbane, is Australia, the way it looks along the river, and the way it's getting so many new tall buildings at once.

At 830 feet with 70 floors, it would be the 6th tallest building in Texas.

Taller buildings would be:

Houston - JPMorgan Chase Tower - 1,002 feet - 75 floors - 1982
Houston - Wells Fargo Plaza - 992 feet - 70 floors - 1983
Dallas - Bank of America Plaza - 921 feet - 72 floors - 1985
Houston - Williams Tower - 901 feet - 64 floors - 1983
Dallas - Renaissance Tower - 886 feet - 56 floors - 1974 (176 foot spire added in 1987).
Austin - T. Stacy Tower - 830 feet - 70 floors - ????

It would also only be the 4th building in Texas to have 70 or more floors. Williams Tower has 64, and the Renaissance Tower has 56. Comerica Bank Center in Dallas has 60, while Fountain Place, also in Dallas, has 62.

If it is indeed built, Texas will be the first state to have at least three cities with buildings of at least 800 feet tall.

Only two other states have two cities with buildings 800 feet or more. They are:

California with Los Angeles (1,018 feet) and San Francisco (853 feet).
Pennsylvania with Philadelphia (975 feet) and Pittsburgh (841 feet).

At the moment, there are only 25 buildings in the US that have 70 or more floors, including 8 that are under construction in New York, Chicago and Miami.

Damn. This is huge for Austin if it goes up. You'd pass our current tallest by some 115 feet. :(

It's shape actually somewhat reminds me of the once proposed Trango Tower in Denver, only yours looks bunches better. :haha:
http://www.denverskyscrapers.com/ima...osketch_01.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrancoRey (Post 3372648)

It's shape actually somewhat reminds me of the once proposed Trango Tower in

That's actually the old design. It's at least a year and half old. That was the design for the 705 foot proposal. All in all a different plan. The tower will actually sit on a different part of the block now, and an additional 30-story office tower was added. The new plan may not even be by the same architect.

A few more details on Austin's new tallest. The article notes the office tower would be 32 to 33 floors and about 420 feet tall. The main tower would be 66 floors and 820 feet.

http://www.statesman.com/business/co...0226stacy.html

Quote:

Stacy plans 2 towers downtown
New project revised after purchase of land

By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Austin developer Tom Stacy has revised plans for his mixed-use project at Congress Avenue and Fifth Street downtown, with the latest incarnation featuring two towers, including a 66-story hotel/condominium that would be the skyline's tallest.

Stacy doesn't have a time frame for starting the hotel/condo tower or a 32- to 33-story office/retail tower.

But Stacy says the office tower would probably come first, with construction possibly starting in late 2009 and the building opening in late 2011 or early 2012.

I want to see a rendering. All in all very awesome news...

:wizard:

I forgot there was a thread for this one, anyway with all the new projects coming into fruitation including the wastewater treatment redevelopment, I wonder what we'll be hearing of this in the near future. Either way, it is by a long shot one of the projects out there I am the most excited about!

I believe Green is for drinking water, not wastewater.

KevinfromTexas is right, if this tower is built, Texas will be the only state with three cities with towers above 800ft.

But Texas isn't the only state trying out for this ranking. Currently, in California, Sacramento has a proposal for a 70+ tower (Capitol Grand Tower) and so does Oakland (future UC Regents headquarters). If it weren't for strict FAA rules, San Diego would be in the running as well. As of right now, SF is trying to push for a 1200ft. tower.

I'm assuming if market conditions are right, then hopefully these buildings can be built. This goes for both Cali and Texas.

Does anyone have updated information on the status of the Stacy Towers? I hope it gets built because it will add a nice peak to the skyline.

^ Nothing new since these articles were released.

Damn, I'm jealous of all the construction in Austin. Looks great! SLC take notice!