AUSTIN | Shoal Creek Walk | 219 FEET | 15 FLOORS | COMPLETE
 

Construction cam:

http://shoalcreekwalk.com/construction/

http://downtownaustinblog.org/2009/1...-walk-concept/

I believe this was a project description presented to the City of Austin by the developer.

http://downtownaustinblog.org/2009/1...-walk-concept/

Because the property has a Capitol View Corridor (CVC) slicing through it, it will require the tower to be set at an angle to miss that corridor (view of the Capitol dome).

Renderings of the conceptual design that were presented to the City of Austin.

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/1...alk350feet.jpg

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/9...alkrender2.jpg

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6...alkrender3.jpg

Diagram showing the CVC and how if affects the the property.
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/2...alkrender4.jpg

Whole Foods plans major downtown office expansion
By Brian Gaar
Austin American-Statesman
1/18/12

Definitely an exciting part of town for development! I had no idea that Whole Foods had this type of expansion in mind. Wow!

Well that sucks that they have shortened the tower to only 20 from 28 floors, a 28 floor tower would have been more impressive for that end of Downtown.

Exciting that Whole Foods will be expanding though.

How much space is WF going to occupy? Surely not the whole building?

This project has gone through some changes. It was originally being called "Shoal Creek Walk" and was proposed as a 350 foot office tower with 28 floors.

Whole Foods later expressed interest in expanding their headquarters (their main building is across the street). The project now looks like it'll be 20 floors with a 4 or 5-story retail building nearby.

A Capitol View Corridor runs through the southern portion of the lot, so that is limiting the height of what can go there. The north end has no height restriction.

So this will probably be shorter than the 350 foot height we heard about at first, but it'll probably still be around 300 feet tall.

And with the size change, I'm sure the design is changing also. So I would expect something different than what those images above show.

The map in the link below shows the site. It's number 5 in the map (west side of downtown).
http://paulsellstx.com/wp-content/up...r_oct_2011.pdf

http://www.statesman.com/business/ev...inglePage=true

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I think this project may have shrunk even more. There's a recent cover letter from Longaro & Clarke Consulting Engineers recently posted on the city's website. It says Building 1 will be 15 floors (180 feet) and Building 2 will be 5 stories and 75 feet tall at it's maximum.

I counted 18 floors in the rendering. I would estimate it'll be around 225 feet basing it off the old plan. The reddish building in the rendering to the right is Whole Foods' existing headquarters and flagship grocery store.

http://www.sdcaustin.com/ShoalCreekWalk.html
http://i.imgur.com/FPU7e.jpg
http://www.sdcaustin.com/ShoalCreekWalk.html

By pushing the office space square footage back to ~430,000 sq ft it looks like this building may be 28 stories after all. This will make a huge impact on the skyline in this area of downtown.

Did y'all really not see on the Projects & Construction page where I posted a site plan for Shoal Creek Walk? I don't know why these reporters are talking about a tall building. It's going to look nothing like that rendering. It's going to look like this:

That layout was taken from the original 2006 site plan. It has nothing to do with what may actually be developed on the site today. It could be the same, or it could look completely different as long as it adheres to what has been approved by council.

Actually, it's looking like what will be developed will have a similar layout as that. See my post on the Update Thread.

This article's from last month:

Proposed office tower near Whole Foods back on track
Robert Grattan
Staff Writer- Austin Business Journal
April 12, 2013

It says the building was originally intended to house new offices for Whole Foods, but a Whole Foods spokesperson says the company is at an impasse in negotiations for the space.

It also said that in a 2010 agreement that Schlosser was required to participate in the Great Streets Program and to keep at least 30,000 square feet of the property as green or open space.

Schlosser now wants the requirement for open space reduced to 20,000 square feet because:

I say Schlosser can go to you know where. Clearly they are trying to build a short stubby building if they want to reduce the amount of open space but you know what, the council should say no, they can build a taller, slender tower but instead they want to be cheap and build the least expensive way. If you are going to invest in our city, invest the right way and build up, not out.

is this dead?

Not sure it has ever really been alive. Lots of talk over the past few years, but not much else. Something will get built there sooner or later, but it might not be this project.

No, actually I think this project is perfectly alive. It's just moving really slow. They were drilling for core samples a few months ago.

Those owners will never give up that lot, IMO.

welp, I work at Whole Foods Lamar and have heard stories....most recently: My good friend in corporate told me the city is giving them trouble because it's in the flood plain. He said it was a no-go....although that was about 6 months ago. I don't see why on earth they can't fix it and build.

Guess it's time for the Shoal Creek Tunnel Project. :D