[ATXboom]

Green Mixed-Use Project with Musical Component Breaks Ground in Austin
Published: October 15, 2007



By Kelly Sheehan, Online News Editor

Austin, Texas—Stratus Properties and the Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund recently celebrated the groundbreaking of its Block 21, a 35-story, $260-million mixed-use development in downtown Austin’s 2nd Street District. The complex is being built to the platinum standards of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program.

The community will feature the W Hotel & Residences, which will consist of 196 luxury condominiums and 250 hotel units. Block 21 will also include a state-of-the-art spa, a signature restaurant, 47,000 square feet of retail space, and a 2,200-seat theater to be managed by Live Nation. The music venue will be home to KLRU-TV’s famous televised concert series Austin City Limits. Block 21 should be completed in 2010.

The groundbreaking was timed to coincide with the KLRU-TV Block Party fundraising gala, which benefits the station that produces Austin City Limits. Stratus Properties hosted pre- and post-party cocktail and dessert events in the W Austin Hotel & Residences sales center, also recently opened.

Block 21 has been designed by Austin-based Andersson Wise Architects; interiors consultant Holden & Dupuy, based in New Orleans; Seattle’s Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen, public space and interiors designer; venue designer Rios Clementi Hale Studios of Los Angeles; Dallas-based BOKA Powell, project coordinator and production planning; and Austin-based landscape architecture firm Gardens.

One-, two- and three-bedroom condos at Block 21 will range in size from 643 to 3,183 square feet. They will feature limestone, marble and European wide-plank wood floors; floor-to-ceiling windows; Bulthaup cabinetry; Miele appliances; Vola and Grohe faucets; Philippe Starck-designed Duravit bathtubs; and black honed slate, honed granite or Carrera marble countertops.

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by Austin Mayor Will Wynn; basketball star and Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund partner Earvin “Magic” Johnson; University of Texas football coach Darrell Royal; lead design architect, Athur W. Andersson of Andersson Wise Architects; Canyon-Johnson Fund Managing Partner Bobby Turner; Ross Klein, president of Starwood’s Luxury Brands Group; Bob Roux, president of Live Nation’s south division; KLRU-TV CEO and General Manager Bill Stotesbery; Austin City Limits Producer Terry Lickona; and Freddy Fletcher, Pedernales Records partner.