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  #641  
Old Posted Feb 21, 2012, 6:54 PM
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And the Hotel boom in Downtown can't come soon enough. I just hope we can get a good chunk of new rooms by 2013.
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  #642  
Old Posted Feb 21, 2012, 10:33 PM
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  #643  
Old Posted Mar 4, 2012, 7:41 AM
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What else could go wrong?

F1 promoter sues other race investors
Tavo Hellmund, once the face of the project, and his company, Full Throttle Productions, have filed a lawsuit against track investors Bobby Epstein and Red McCombs and various companies and managers involved in the $300 million project under construction in Travis County.

http://www.statesman.com/sports/form...s-2215199.html
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  #644  
Old Posted Mar 4, 2012, 8:27 AM
migol24 migol24 is offline
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Originally Posted by Hill Country View Post
What else could go wrong?

F1 promoter sues other race investors
Tavo Hellmund, once the face of the project, and his company, Full Throttle Productions, have filed a lawsuit against track investors Bobby Epstein and Red McCombs and various companies and managers involved in the $300 million project under construction in Travis County.

http://www.statesman.com/sports/form...s-2215199.html
you know... as much as i'd like something awesome for austin, this whole f1 track deal hasn't been all too smoothly and i feel as though it's probably not even worth it. there seems to be too much greed involved to even bring in this event and it makes me wonder how much of that will spill over austin in the long run and influence the culture. austin's not a city for rich and greedy and bringing this type of environment, i feel might ruin austin's genuine appeal. i hope i'm wrong... because i really am a fan of this race as i also feel that it can bring positives. but i'm just not sure anymore if it's even worth it. there's too much bad vibes. there's a spanish saying that says, "lo que mal comienza, mal acaba." which means, "what starts wrong, finishes wrong."
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  #645  
Old Posted Mar 4, 2012, 9:03 AM
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you know... as much as i'd like something awesome for austin, this whole f1 track deal hasn't been all too smoothly and i feel as though it's probably not even worth it. there seems to be too much greed involved to even bring in this event and it makes me wonder how much of that will spill over austin in the long run and influence the culture. austin's not a city for rich and greedy and bringing this type of environment, i feel might ruin austin's genuine appeal. i hope i'm wrong... because i really am a fan of this race as i also feel that it can bring positives. but i'm just not sure anymore if it's even worth it. there's too much bad vibes. there's a spanish saying that says, "lo que mal comienza, mal acaba." which means, "what starts wrong, finishes wrong."
I hadn't heard of that saying before, but it is so often true. Just think how many projects whether personal or work related, start off bad and you get that feeling that it's not going to end well. I'm a big supporter of the F1 track, but I'm getting that feeling now.
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  #646  
Old Posted Mar 4, 2012, 8:08 PM
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Be careful of the local media, mainly the American Hatesman, inflating every hiccup in this project...As for Austin's genuine appeal, I grew sick of the hipster culture back in the 70's...Build more Domains and less funky music venues..Let money lead the way..
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  #647  
Old Posted Mar 4, 2012, 8:50 PM
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Be careful of the local media, mainly the American Hatesman, inflating every hiccup in this project...As for Austin's genuine appeal, I grew sick of the hipster culture back in the 70's...Build more Domains and less funky music venues..Let money lead the way..
more domains? do you realize how crappy austin would be if that happens? austin wouldn't be austin. it just be like some crappy section of here in san francisco where there's nothing but rich snobby people with no style, or culture. just consumers with nothing much to give back to this world. no thanks, but austin's counter culture vibe will always be there. so long as UT is still around. let culture lead the way, not money.
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  #648  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2012, 1:53 AM
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While I am looking forward to F1 racing here, it is just one week out of the year and mostly just a weekend event. It will come, create some buzz, and be over. It will never define Austin but may very well be defined by Austin. We have a unique vibe here that visitors pick up on. If this was a one trick pony track I'd be concerned about its future, but as far as the bad start bad finish banter, I predict a multi used, successful venue for years to come. SXSW had a rough start and look at it now.
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  #649  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2012, 2:14 AM
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Originally Posted by the Genral View Post
While I am looking forward to F1 racing here, it is just one week out of the year and mostly just a weekend event. It will come, create some buzz, and be over. It will never define Austin but may very well be defined by Austin. We have a unique vibe here that visitors pick up on. If this was a one trick pony track I'd be concerned about its future, but as far as the bad start bad finish banter, I predict a multi used, successful venue for years to come. SXSW had a rough start and look at it now.
i generally see it like you do, but what if the race brings in some unwanted rich folks with lots of money who decides.... "hmmmm, i kinda like austin." then moves there, makes some major investment and brings in some huge corporation and starts making big money. then more investors see the successes and decide to move there... and by the time you know it, austin now actually becomes the pretentious city that everyone mistakingly portrays it as of now.

maybe that's not how its gonna work and i'm probably speaking in hyperboles but situations like this one just sounds bad, very bad. i don't know the history of sxsw, but i doubt it involved lots of money like this with lawsuits flying everywhere. money is intrinsically involved here. sxsw was more influenced by the arts and culture and probably had very humble beginnings as opposed to this mighty greedy infested event like f1 tracks. it was probably a far cry from the bad vibes that f1 is bringing.

now i know, i might sound like a NIMBY here, but its something that i feel worth considering. by all means if something this awesome that will most certainly put austin on the map for good comes to austin, i'm all for it. but so long as things are done in a good fashion. it just seems like a mess right now. i sure hope it works out though.
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  #650  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2012, 4:10 AM
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Migol24, sounds like you "left your heart in Austin" ( borrowing from an old Frank Sinatra tune).
Point on SXSW being not everything that starts bad ends bad. I think the possibility of your scenario is not very likely though I agree that once people visit, some may like it enough to want to move here, or invest here. I don't see a major shift in a cultural sense by this happening. We can probably agree that Austin is still basically the same Austin when its population went from 400K to 800K. A desired byproduct of an influx of wealthy new residents and businesses could be a taller, denser DT with new office, and residential highrises needed to house them. I don't think anyone here would object to that. Besides after a week in Austin, I imagine even hardcore rich and snobby F1 fans will leave with a little humility and barbacue sauce under their fingernails.
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  #651  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2012, 5:14 AM
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Originally Posted by the Genral View Post
Migol24, sounds like you "left your heart in Austin" ( borrowing from an old Frank Sinatra tune).
Point on SXSW being not everything that starts bad ends bad. I think the possibility of your scenario is not very likely though I agree that once people visit, some may like it enough to want to move here, or invest here. I don't see a major shift in a cultural sense by this happening. We can probably agree that Austin is still basically the same Austin when its population went from 400K to 800K. A desired byproduct of an influx of wealthy new residents and businesses could be a taller, denser DT with new office, and residential highrises needed to house them. I don't think anyone here would object to that. Besides after a week in Austin, I imagine even hardcore rich and snobby F1 fans will leave with a little humility and barbacue sauce under their fingernails.
well we'll just wait and see. its hard to say, but at least sxsw had the beginning of something good and genuine just like whole foods and alamo drafthouse. and i think that's what the phrase is about... you start "wrong" meaning if you start with the wrong intentions or whatnot, then nothing will most likely ever go right. f1 track is something entirely different and very unlike the modest beginnings that anything austin ever produced. i watched Senna sometime ago in the theaters just to get familiarized with the f1 culture and the documentary portrays it as bad as any corrupt corporation. i highly recommend any f1 track fans to watch it. epstein, mccombs, etc... and now even tavo, all seem to be on that same wave length... very, very different from the originators of sxsw, or alamo drafthouse. but we'll see what happens.
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  #652  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2012, 5:50 AM
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bbq sauce in Austin? Only on the side.
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  #653  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2012, 3:38 PM
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Things like SXSW and Whole Foods started really small; so they wouldn't even be around if bad things happened. They are successful growth stories, building up over decades of existence.

F1 is inherently different, I think. It's not starting small, it's already huge. The money, the egos, the challenges, etc are larger than life from day 1. It's more like the Olympics than SXSW or WF, and like the Olympics it often comes with huge problems. I just hope that the investors realize this, and don't get thrown off when the headaches happen. This wasn't the first and won't be the last roadblock to the November race. Far from it. But pulling it off puts you in a very exclusive group forever.
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  #654  
Old Posted Apr 2, 2012, 7:22 PM
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The AAS was moaning today about the lack of commercial development in the Elroy area..What can one expect? This area is very rough..I feel certain that commercial growth will occur but how will these businesses survive when there is no event scheduled at COTA...SE Travis county isn't a hotbed for dining and shopping...Financial sustainablity appears to be goal #1..My fear is that the F1 crowd will be so dismayed by the COTA area that the race will be badmouthed worldwide. Sao Paulo is dangerous but not rural and destitute as Elroy.
The first driver who can find all four of his tires will win the race!! He can look at the 1/2 dozen used tire stores on Hi. 812. You know, the ones next to the junk yards.
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  #655  
Old Posted Apr 2, 2012, 7:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Spaceman View Post
The AAS was moaning today about the lack of commercial development in the Elroy area..What can one expect? This area is very rough..I feel certain that commercial growth will occur but how will these businesses survive when there is no event scheduled at COTA...SE Travis county isn't a hotbed for dining and shopping...Financial sustainablity appears to be goal #1..My fear is that the F1 crowd will be so dismayed by the COTA area that the race will be badmouthed worldwide. Sao Paulo is dangerous but not rural and destitute as Elroy.
The first driver who can find all four of his tires will win the race!! He can look at the 1/2 dozen used tire stores on Hi. 812. You know, the ones next to the junk yards.
Yep, that area is one of the ugliest in Travis County.

And I say that as an owner of farming acreage within arrow-shot of the COTA.

The 3rd world trash heap around there is quite unsightly, but any offers of $3/sq.ft. and up are heartily welcome.

Seriously though, you should've seen the Northwest Hills area up until 1964. Very similar.
Trash can be bulldozed almost overnight.
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  #656  
Old Posted Apr 2, 2012, 8:30 PM
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The Statesman article is pandering to the haters. Because of the soap opera history of the F1 track no wise investor is going to build a large hotel or anything else until they see a successful race. if the first one goes off smoothly and is well received, there will be a lot of development in 2013. If the race isn't successful a hotel in that area would be useless.

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/...k-2276556.html
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  #657  
Old Posted Apr 3, 2012, 8:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Hill Country View Post
The Statesman article is pandering to the haters. Because of the soap opera history of the F1 track no wise investor is going to build a large hotel or anything else until they see a successful race. if the first one goes off smoothly and is well received, there will be a lot of development in 2013. If the race isn't successful a hotel in that area would be useless.

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/...k-2276556.html
I wouldnt say that if the F1 race is not successful developing a hotel would be useless. While F1 is the main reason why the track is being built in the first place, its still being built which means we will have a race track and a Grade A international track at that, the only one in the U.S. mind you. To think everything is just gonna die away out there is not the case. We will have races on that track either way because you don't spend that kind of money to have it sit there and do nothing if one F1 race does not pan out the way they think. Im thinking we will see a good turnout for F1 but even if we don't there are other races in the works or are already signed. Australia super cars for one. Even though its not official yet, it does look likely we will see MOTO GP in 2013. I think in the end our region needs to make this race track successful wether or not F1 stays here and therefore I do believe we will see increased development over the next several years around the track including a hotel or two.
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  #658  
Old Posted Apr 9, 2012, 5:23 PM
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Slightly off topic but if anyone wants to learn about the very best and very worst the sport of F1 has to offer you should check out the documentary entitled, "Senna." Its even great for people who aren't racing fans.
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  #659  
Old Posted Apr 9, 2012, 9:33 PM
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Slightly off topic but if anyone wants to learn about the very best and very worst the sport of F1 has to offer you should check out the documentary entitled, "Senna." Its even great for people who aren't racing fans.
i mentioned it on here on one of the posts above. it's a great movie. and gives you a good idea at how many assholes there actually are in the F1 racing. and given the amount of rich european douchebags i've encountered here in SF, i will not be surprised one bit that austin will have its fair share of them. those europeans are nothing like the cool europeans that SXSW brings.

but Senna, the racer, is awesome because he was all about fighting those odds and put him against these money mongers as his antagonists. i found the movie particularly awesome for the fact that they used nothing but actual raw footage and made it work like a real movie. a character who has to face obstacles that leads up to a fateful climax. the movie was one of the best i'd seen all year last year.... so definitely anyone reading this should check it out, whether its relatable to this thread or not. it's a great movie.
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  #660  
Old Posted Apr 12, 2012, 8:45 PM
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milestone reached at the F1 track

"Investors, supporters, construction workers, several elected officials and others were at a “topping out” ceremony this morning at Circuit of the Americas, a racetrack under construction in southeastern Travis County.

Crews have installed of the highest support beams in the highest part of the pit building, which will house team garages, hospitality and seating for up to 5,000 people, circuit officials have said."





http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...als_celeb.html
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