Austin | The Republic | 710 Feet | 47 Floors | U/C

[_Matt]

Austin's downtown real estate market can't seem to afford any (much?) panache. Better to have sustainable height over unsustainable style. One thing that height does bring is density. With density we have a better chance of bringing/affording style in the future.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by _Matt

Austin's downtown real estate market can't seem to afford any (much?) panache. Better to have sustainable height over unsustainable style. One thing that height does bring is density. With density we have a better chance of bringing/affording style in the future.

I just don't know if that will help out in the future. We already have two not so flamboyant tallest towers......that may have unfortunately started a trend.

[urbancore]

bump....any news? Man I hope this one doesn't get pushed back.

[Jdawgboy]

I have a bad feeling everything is about to come to a screeching halt in terms of construction and development this coming up year.

[Azul]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

I have a bad feeling everything is about to come to a screeching halt in terms of construction and development this coming up year.

Everything announced at this point should be green lighted and be practically ready to go as far as development. If anything were to be cut in the Austin area I'd imagine it'd be this project or the Travis though I'd think they'd secured financing by now and be well into the design/engineering phases right now.

I wouldn't expect any new major developments until 2020-21 as everything I'm hearing on the development end is leading me to believe interest rates will continue to go up and signal a national decline in high to mid risk projects. Austin is still a good investment and won't suffer, most likely, but I can't imagine we see much anything over 500'+ in the next 2 years unless things change. Maybe I'm wrong though.

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by Azul

Everything announced at this point should be green lighted and be practically ready to go as far as development. If anything were to be cut in the Austin area I'd imagine it'd be this project or the Travis though I'd think they'd secured financing by now and be well into the design/engineering phases right now.

I wouldn't expect any new major developments until 2020-21 as everything I'm hearing on the development end is leading me to believe interest rates will continue to go up and signal a national decline in high to mid risk projects. Austin is still a good investment and won't suffer, most likely, but I can't imagine we see much anything over 500'+ in the next 2 years unless things change. Maybe I'm wrong though.

I would tend to agree with you a bit. We are entering a new cycle right now. However, any new tower will not be restricted by height. Should a development company receive enough pre-leasing or sales contracts he/she could build a 1000'+ tower. Additionally, if company has a good development background, financing may be more challenging to obtain, but, not difficult enough to push back a project by 1-2 years.

We are not in a recession yet...but, one is coming. How deep and who it will affect is not 100% clear at this point.



**If I may suggest - should we want to continue this conversation regarding a potential recession (or difficulties in obtaining financing in general), we open up a new thread and not bog this one down.**

[StoOgE]

This, 600x and the Travis (along with Block 185) are likely going to be the last of a wave of big projects to get off the ground in the next 12 months. You'll see the credit markets become more cautious this year so I expect a couple of them to not make it, but that's just a guess.

[Azul]

Originally Posted by StoOgE

This, 600x and the Travis (along with Block 185) are likely going to be the last of a wave of big projects to get off the ground in the next 12 months. You'll see the credit markets become more cautious this year so I expect a couple of them to not make it, but that's just a guess.

I wholey agree with you though Block 185 is going up, you can take that to the bank. I'm confident on 600x and Travis I - though Travis II and this project I have much less confidence on.

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by Azul

I wholey agree with you though Block 185 is going up, you can take that to the bank. I'm confident on 600x and Travis I - though Travis II and this project I have much less confidence on.

In addition to the current & short-term lack of confidence in the markets, this one may be in trouble without a major tenant & the fact that the same developer may brake ground a few blocks north (600xGuad).

I also wonder why they increased the size of this project in the last year. Do they have a major tenant? Or, was it simply bullish thinking?

[StoOgE]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

In addition to the current & short-term lack of confidence in the markets, this one may be in trouble without a major tenant & the fact that the same developer may brake ground a few blocks north (600xGuad).

I also wonder why they increased the size of this project in the last year. Do they have a major tenant? Or, was it simply bullish thinking?

There was a major player poking around downtown 6 months ago. This upsizing happened at a time when there was a lot of noise around lots of downtown projects shifting scale and scope.

I don't know a ton, but my feeling is they stopped poking around.

[KevinFromTexas]

The utilities and streetscape plan was posted to the AULCC page. It also includes the elevations. The elevations are on page 51. As far as I can tell there's no change to the overall height, but I did notice the mechanical penthouse roof height is a bit higher. The number I had listed from the previous elevations was 652 feet, and this is saying 665 feet 6 inches. The mechanical screen height still tops out at 707 feet 6 inches. The number of floors hasn't changed either, it's still 46, and the first office floor is still level 17.

ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/ATD_AULCC/...pe_PLAN_03.pdf

[We vs us]

Glad to see that this thing is still getting filings. I was afraid someone had hit the big red STOP button sometime before Xmas.

[ILUVSAT]

I love the height of this tower. But, the angle of the crown does not match the steepness of all the other angles of the building. It looks off... The crown's angle needs to be steeper.

Yes...it makes the building taller, but, it's more consistent with the overall design.

[NYC2ATX]

Originally Posted by ILUVSAT

I love the height of this tower. But, the angle of the crown does not match the steepness of all the other angles of the building. It looks off... The crown's angle needs to be steeper.

Yes...it makes the building taller, but, it's more consistent with the overall design.

Yes. Yes, THIS. You put to words what has been nagging me about this design. That and the hollow mechanical space...like I understand there's going to be machinery in there, but you can't cover that with a grating of a sort? So the crystal shape has a closed roof that's not the roof of the last office floor?

[gabetx]

Of everything proposed right now, I want this to happen more than anything, including 6X. This tower is beautiful and unique!

I would love to see this thing kick off this year sometime.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by gabetx

Of everything proposed right now, I want this to happen more than anything, including 6X. This tower is beautiful and unique!

I would love to see this thing kick off this year sometime.

Seconded. This one could end up being in my top 3 favorites in Austin. Also, a lot of our new buildings lately have been pretty underwhelming when it comes to their lighting. This one will no doubt be spectacularly lit, not to mention the very centralized location and position in the skyline. I hate sounding like a booster, but this is one I'm really most excited about.

[427MM]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Seconded. This one could end up being in my top 3 favorites in Austin. Also, a lot of our new buildings lately have been pretty underwhelming when it comes to their lighting. This one will no doubt be spectacularly lit, not to mention the very centralized location and position in the skyline. I hate sounding like a booster, but this is one I'm really most excited about.

Yes! This tower in this location--such a significant presence. Really hope to see it or something similar go here. Pretty much all of the blocks from Guadalupe to San Antonio are under developed which looks odd on the skyline. Hope this is the year we change that!!

[Sigaven]

Originally Posted by ILUVSAT

I love the height of this tower. But, the angle of the crown does not match the steepness of all the other angles of the building. It looks off... The crown's angle needs to be steeper.

Yes...it makes the building taller, but, it's more consistent with the overall design.

I can't really tell what you are talking about...looking at the most recent renderings and the elevations, they look like the same steepness and look consistent. What are you referring to?

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by Sigaven

I can't really tell what you are talking about...looking at the most recent renderings and the elevations, they look like the same steepness and look consistent. What are you referring to?

( didn't look that way to me either.... Its an optical illusion due to the top being white in the rendering.... I threw it into photoshop and dropped a line on it to be sure.... All the angles carry thru each plane. )

[The ATX]

Big blatant bump. You know there is a lot going on in Austin when the thread for what is arguably the best project drops to half way down the second page. There was an update to the site plan to clear the comments for approval about a week and a half ago. This may actually get approved before Lincoln's other project - 6 X Guadalupe - gets approved. The site plan for 6 X G has been inactive since December.