Quote:
Originally Posted by SLO
Still mystifying on the sustained boom Austin has had for what 20 years!?
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Well, the 90s were pretty boring for high rise development in Austin. I was starting to wonder if I'd ever be able to see one under construction that I would have a good memory of. I was too young to care when most of the ones in the 80s were built. The first office "tower" to come along was the 23-story 300 West Sixth in 2002. Then 2 years later the Frost Bank Tower was built, along with the 31-story Hilton Convention Center Hotel. There were a few smaller residential buildings in the 10 floor range that were built back then, but nothing too major. Some sizable ones were also proposed but didn't happen. It wasn't until 2008 that several new buildings finished construction, including 360 Condos, which was a new tallest for Austin. Still, we've had 4 new tallest buildings in Austin since 2004, including The Independent that's under construction now. You would have to go back to 1974 to be able to count the previous 4 new tallest which came in '74, '75, '84, and '87. We'll be having another new tallest in a few years with the 608 Guadalupe Tower. We spent 1987 to 2004 with just two building in Austin that were taller than 400 feet. Now we have 18 buildings over 400 feet, and 16 of those didn't exist before 2004.