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  #1  
Old Posted Jun 23, 2011, 7:07 AM
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AUSTIN | The Bowie | 423 FT | 37 FLOORS | T.O.

http://www.statesman.com/business/de...d-1556414.html
Quote:
Developers seeking zoning change for potential downtown mixed-use tower

By Shonda Novak

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 11:35 p.m. Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Published: 9:34 p.m. Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Developers are seeking a zoning change for a potential office project or an apartment tower that could rise up to 400 feet near the southeast corner of West Fifth and Bowie streets in downtown Austin.

It also is near the 42-story Spring condominiums and 29-story Monarch apartment highrise.

The Austin City Council is scheduled to vote today on the zoning request by developer Perry Lorenz, with Bowie Street Partners Ltd., which owns the property. Lorenz also is one of the developers of the Spring project at Third and Bowie.

The project would include an easement across the site that would allow the city Parks and Recreation Department to close a gap in the hike-and-bike trail along Shoal Creek south of Fifth Street.
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  #2  
Old Posted Jun 23, 2011, 7:08 AM
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http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...ise_in_wo.html
Quote:
New residential highrise in works for downtown

By Shonda Novak | Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 03:54 PM

UPDATE: Jamil Alam, a principal with Endeavor Real Estate Group, confirmed the Austin-based firm intends to buy the land, and while the company hasn’t determined exactly what it may build there, preliminary plans are for either an office tower, or an apartment high-rise with some office space.

The site, near the southeast corner of Fifth and Bowie, encompasses three small buildings at 309, 311 and 315 Bowie, including an equipment rental business and Francois Photography.

There was no word on when any project might start.
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  #3  
Old Posted Jun 23, 2011, 12:53 PM
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So is this project blocked by the CVC?
     
     
  #4  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2011, 1:23 PM
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Council approved it yesterday. Of course Morrison voted no.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...ng_change.html
Quote:
Council approves zoning change for proposed downtown highrise

By American-Statesman staff | Friday, June 24, 2011, 07:26 AM

The Austin City Council, meeting late Thursday night, approved a zoning change that will allow Endeavor Real Estate Group to build a highrise tower on West Bowie between Third and Fifth Streets, on downtown’s eastern edge.

The council voted 6-1, with Laura Morrison voting no, to approve the zoning. The new zoning allows Endeavor to build as high as 400 feet in an area where standard zoning caps heights at 120 feet.

The only speaker in opposition was Heather Way, an affordable housing advocate, who said the city should have considered the project under a density-bonus ordinance that would have required Endeavor to contribute to an affordable housing fund in exchange for the new zoning.
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  #5  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2011, 5:59 PM
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[QUOTE=KevinFromTexas;5327129]Council approved it yesterday. Of course Morrison voted no.

I hate her. If she - and now Tovo - want to live around lowrise suburban style development they should move to Phlugerville.
     
     
  #6  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2011, 6:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Hill Country View Post
I hate her. If she - and now Tovo - want to live around lowrise suburban style development they should move to Phlugerville.
What's with Morrison being against tall buildings? I don't get it. I mean, I thought it was strange enough that people actually love tall buildings but now I'm even more baffled at how someone can be so strongly against it. Can someone enlighten me here?
     
     
  #7  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2011, 6:19 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by migol24 View Post
What's with Morrison being against tall buildings? I don't get it. I mean, I thought it was strange enough that people actually love tall buildings but now I'm even more baffled at how someone can be so strongly against it. Can someone enlighten me here?
They are symbols of "evil" corporate America in the case of office towers or homes for those awful Republican rich people.
     
     
  #8  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2011, 6:40 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hill Country View Post
They are symbols of "evil" corporate America in the case of office towers or homes for those awful Republican rich people.
Don't democrats live in them too?

Anyway, how many buildings are now being planned for this area? This area is going to be super dense.
     
     
  #9  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2011, 5:42 AM
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Originally Posted by Hill Country View Post
They are symbols of "evil" corporate America in the case of office towers or homes for those awful Republican rich people.
I don't think it has to do with Democrats, Republicans, or "evil" corporations. Remember, much of the "down with the towers" crowd are very wealthy. I think what it really boils down to is that many view the towers as a symbol of losing the old Austin. They want to keep things exactly the same in Austin (funny because many of these people consider themselves "progressives"), and every tower is a huge statement that things in Austin have changed from what they used to be comfortable with. Really that is what much of the battle is in Austin politics: "Old Austin" vs. "New Austin." Right or wrong, the lines seem to be drawn, with one crowd fighting to take Austin back to the 60s, and the other group (which I think most of us fall into) realizing that Austin's greatness has led to growth that must be embraced and carefully planned and managed. This is why one group is continually fighting against any development, whether it be light rail, tax subsidies to outside companies (or even local companies that become large like Dell), or soaring towers downtown. To them, every new Austinite is one more nail in "Old Austin's" coffin, and any new development hastens that process. Sad really...
     
     
  #10  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2011, 10:00 PM
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Even my friend that got a masters degree in biology agreed that it makes sense to him that we should be pushing for more urban development within the city. My argument was that if it's not in downtown then it'll be in West Austin screwing up the environment and destroying the scenery.
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  #11  
Old Posted Jun 24, 2011, 11:10 PM
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Exactly. Let's try to save the Hill Country from over development. The best way to do this is to encourage development in the much less developed and less environmentally sensitive areas (ie. ugly South Texas scrubland) like SE Travis County WHERE THE F1 TRACK IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION! This should be the main argument for F1. Keep the hills pristine and build to the East.
     
     
  #12  
Old Posted Jun 25, 2011, 5:50 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hill Country View Post
Exactly. Let's try to save the Hill Country from over development. The best way to do this is to encourage development in the much less developed and less environmentally sensitive areas (ie. ugly South Texas scrubland) like SE Travis County WHERE THE F1 TRACK IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION! This should be the main argument for F1. Keep the hills pristine and build to the East.
Oooh that is sooo very true. I used to live in that area... I graduated from Del Valle High School. yuck!
     
     
  #13  
Old Posted Jun 25, 2011, 7:15 PM
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BTW, is everything moving ahead on the new library ?
     
     
  #14  
Old Posted Jul 30, 2011, 8:28 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hill Country View Post
Exactly. Let's try to save the Hill Country from over development. The best way to do this is to encourage development in the much less developed and less environmentally sensitive areas (ie. ugly South Texas scrubland) like SE Travis County WHERE THE F1 TRACK IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION! This should be the main argument for F1. Keep the hills pristine and build to the East.
As any ecologist can tell you, the S. Texas "scrubland" is just as rich and important as anything in the hill country. Perhaps it doesn't meet some folks' aesthetic criteria, but it nonetheless will be affected negatively by over- development. The Gulf Coastal Plain as a wilderness is all but gone thanks to agricultural and suburban encroachment.
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  #15  
Old Posted Jul 30, 2011, 7:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Boquillas View Post
As any ecologist can tell you, the S. Texas "scrubland" is just as rich and important as anything in the hill country. Perhaps it doesn't meet some folks' aesthetic criteria, but it nonetheless will be affected negatively by over- development. The Gulf Coastal Plain as a wilderness is all but gone thanks to agricultural and suburban encroachment.
Well said.
     
     
  #16  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2011, 1:10 AM
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I found a render for this tower. Not sure if I like the massing, but the facade treatment looks interesting and different.

Image source: http://www.donotdestroy.com/blog/200...david-bowie-3/

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  #17  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2011, 1:17 AM
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Not that Bowie, it's referring to the Texan with the big (Bowie) knife. Think "That's not a knife, this is a knife" - but with a Texan accent instead. James Bowie was at the Alamo battle.
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  #18  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2011, 2:33 AM
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I have a good friend who's a direct descendent of Bowie. Jim, not David.
     
     
  #19  
Old Posted Jun 27, 2011, 2:57 PM
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Well, they need to get over it, and as long as UT is downtown, which it always will be, there will always be that weird Austin vibe no matter how many towers come downtown or light rail lines.
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  #20  
Old Posted Jul 30, 2011, 3:19 AM
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If you look on Google Maps the tree is right smack dab in the middle of the site.

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/...e-1671894.html
Quote:
For a greener Austin, 57-foot pecan tree faces the chop
Developer says tree must go for high-rise.

By Asher Price

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 7:28 p.m. Friday, July 29, 2011

In a case that tests Austin's commitment to its environmental goal of a dense urban core, a city board is faced with giving its blessing to the cutting down of a 57-foot-tall pecan tree on prime downtown real estate to make way for the construction of a 400-foot office or residential tower .

The proposed building, near the southeast corner of West Fifth and Bowie streets, is the sort of project that environmentalists typically favor as they try to foster a sustainable downtown: a tall building within walking distance of businesses and apartments. Officials with Cerco Development , which wants to build the project, say the building will meet green building standards.

But standing in the way is the pecan tree, which has a 32-inch-diameter trunk too thick for an adult to circle with both arms. A city arborist rated the tree's condition as "good" — not as good as very good or excellent, but better than fair, poor, critical or dead.
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