Never say never about a 1000 footer. Some rich middle easterner from Dubai attending F1 might fancy Austin and decide to invest a billion in a building.

Lol im game for drinks though I am also picky and putting a bag over anything will not do for this gay dude..

I'm straight, but the same way. Never understood the paper bag joke. Gotta have a pretty face.

rendering
 

Not sure if this has been posted, but I found this rendering...

http://bizj.us/q59v5/i/2

I like the way you're dreaming. But, that is all it is...a dream.

Where else in the planet has a development group from the Middle East been the primary/lead financier of a 1000'-tall tower? I cannot think of any place/project at the moment. Furthermore, those which whom financed the six-year-long massive building boom in Dubai are now (since 2009) dealing with hundreds of billions in debt...which they cannot pay down and the debt continues to be rolled over.

A decent 1000' tower will run a developer in the neighborhood of $700 million - $1+ billion to construct (e.g., the 844' Devon Energy Tower in OKC cost more than $750 million to build)! Sadly, I do not see that happening in Austin for some time; especially when Austin is not home to a major energy corporation.

If a foreign investor were to assist in financing a 1000' tower in Austin, it would more likely come from China. Our new Mother Country...since they already own the bulk of US debt.

What kind of tenant could Austin attract to justify an 800 ft office tower?

Smith & Wesson? :D

Seriously, though, it'd probably have to be a bank relocating.

You know, the Devon Tower in OKC is totally out of place, and it's ugly. IMO.

I love the height. I love the glass. But it is about as boring as can be imagined, and it looks so odd among all the much much smaller buildings downtown. I don't know what to think of that.

It's like if Austin suddenly had a 1500 foot tower.

Agree on this, I am conflicted about the tower as well. I like some things about it, but it looks so out of place. Sort of the same feeling I get with some of the Chinese supertalls that have nothing or the equivalent of business parks then BAM 1500 foot building.

Could this be an exception?

http://taipei-101.info/taipei-101.jpg
http://taipei-101.info/taipei-101.jpg

Sauron?

^Taipei 101 is actually a very interesting supertall. Another is the Tuntex Sky Tower in Kaohsiung. I like that those two have interesting facades. My biggest beef with really tall buildings is they mostly have boring facades and have to rely on an interesting shape to have any kind of distinctive quality. As for the really tall stand alone look, I don't mind it. I'm more critical of their design than their height.

I like some examples such as Taipei 101. It has to fit with the surrounding city scape and appear to be a part of it.

By the way, Taipei's 2nd tallest is 826 feet tall. So they do have some other tall buildings. You can see it in that photo off to the left.

The Burj Khalifa is also another supertall that looks out of place even though there are other tall skyscrapers surrounding it. (Really the entire skyline looks out of place lol) But that still doesn't change the way a super tall appeals to me. I agree with you that a super tall will have to have an interesting facade for it be anything appealing. That one Tower in Oklahoma City is actually quite beautiful... I don't mind it at all.

Houston also has the Williams Tower that seems out of place. I also don't mind that one.

Anyone know if this building has been started?

No. You can see where it would be built in the JW Marriott webcam. It's the parking lot at center-left of the view.

http://oxblue.com/open/tournee/jwmarriottaustin

I wouldn't get your hopes up, it is looking more and more likely this won't happen. They are having trouble getting pre-leases and it makes sense why if you look at the vacancy for Class A space. There really isn't enough demand to build something this large it seems.

M Y you are probably correct in your statement...As I've said before, the Fairmount is the most important building in this current wave of contruction and speculation of contruction..If it is built Austin's hi-rise activity will continue..If all it is is banter then batten down the hatches because nothing over 15 stories will be built for a long while..Local and outside developers are really eyeing the Fairmount's progress.In some strange way I see the Fairmount as Austin's gesture to the international traveler. These people like unique properties not chain properties regardless of the quality of that chain property.