Austin | Block 185/Google Tower #2 | 594 Feet | 35 Floors | Complete

[The ATX]

Moving this beyond tree talk. I hope this is the current design. It could be that rumored ~70-story tower. This shows up in a Gensler architect's portfolio:



http://archdesign.utk.edu/ut-archite...highest-honor/

[wwmiv]

I hope this is real. This is THE signature design that we've all been waiting for. Easily ~900' of what looks like a full mix of office/meeting space, a hotel, and residences.

[KevinFromTexas]

In the comments to the Austin American-Statesman article on the Independent, I saw someone say something to the effect of the Independent not being a new tallest for long because there would be a new 64-story tower just a few blocks away. I replied to him to ask for some info, but he hasn't replied yet. The guy works for some construction tool company.

[wwmiv]

This is about triple the height of 500 W. 2nd (assuming it is to scale, which may not be the case), which is 400'. 900' might actually be underselling the height of this design.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

In the comments to the Austin American-Statesman article on the Independent, I saw someone say something to the effect of the Independent only being a new tallest for long because there would be a new 64-story tower just a few blocks away. I replied to him to ask for some info, but he hasn't replied yet. The guy works for some construction tool company.

To be fair, they could have also been referencing the released massings for the TravisCo courthouse block. A rough count of the floors of this design show 68 floors, 2 of which are probably mechanical (the two lit levels at the top) and 2 in the pedestal. The tower portion itself is likely 64 occupied floors, so who knows?

I'm absolutely living for the off-red glass on the one side. I hope that's not just an artifact of the rendering.

[The ATX]

We've moved beyond that 450' plateau - at least in renderings. Now we need to see the money. There is a slow down in financing, and we haven't had a major project break ground since the trio of 70 Rainey, Third + Shoal and Austin Proper broke ground last year. But I have more hope for this project getting done than I do the Travis County block as currently rendered simply because this is a Trammell-Crow project. Like White Lodging, they have a good track record in getting their stuff built.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

This is about triple the height of 500 W. 2nd (assuming it is to scale, which may not be the case), which is 400'. 900' might actually be underselling the height of this design.

It appears to be office, so that height might not be too far off.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by The ATX

There is a slow down in financing

This may be the case nationally, but I've yet to see a compelling argument that it applies to any of the "boom" cities (of which Austin is at the top of the list). After all, we're in the planning stages of how many significant downtown developments? Even if only half of them end up funded, that's still a continuation of our impressive boom:

White Lodging Marriott
UT Block 71
Green Water Block 185
TravisCo
Brackenridge*
Brandywine 405 Colorado
Episcopal Archives
The Avenue
48 East
IBC 6th & Nueces
Town Lake Lofts
3rd and Colorado (Sullivan's)
------------------------
Magellan 5th & Brazos
Sutton's Waller Park Place 1
Waller Park Place 2
Waller Park Place 3
Sutton's Villas project

I listed these in order of how I view their likelihoods of success, with those above the dashed line being the projects I think will end up happening, and bolded those that will include towers with heights above the visual "plateau".

*multiple towers possible, plus multiple adjacent towers which are currently working the entitlement and permitting process that I won't bother listing individually because their details are nebulous at this point.

That's 20+ skyscrapers over 300' currently working their way through the byzantine Austin development process and, realistically, we're likely to get another 5-10 proposal announcements in the meantime.

Edit:

If a good number of these make it thru the development hunger games, Austin will easily harbor one of the most impressive core skylines of American cities:

NYC, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Seattle, Philadelphia, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, and Vegas.

Austin, Nashville, and Charlotte are the cities with the development intensity and potential height of buildings to play catch up and get themselves on that list.

[Geckos_Rule]

The ATX, be honest. How on earth did you even find this rendering?

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by Geckos_Rule

The ATX, be honest. How on earth did you even find this rendering?

This one was easy because it comes up with a Google "Austin Block 185" image search. But it didn't come up with the same search last week. So this is a new web posting apparently.

Quite often the personal portfolios of architects have more renderings and info than the website of the firm they work for. I have found renderings in the past by searching for info about architects rather than where they work.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by The ATX

This one was easy because it comes up with a Google "Austin Block 185" image search. But it didn't come up with the same search last week. So this is a new web posting apparently.

Quite often the personal portfolios of architects have more renderings and info than the website of the firm they work for. I have found renderings in the past by searching for info about architects rather than where they work.

I do random searches as well just to see if new things pop up. I've been regularly searching for "brandywine master plan" & "broadmoor master plan" every few weeks for a year because that's the potential project I'm most excited about city wide.

[Geckos_Rule]

Originally Posted by The ATX

This one was easy because it comes up with a Google "Austin Block 185" image search. But it didn't come up with the same search last week. So this is a new web posting apparently.

Quite often the personal portfolios of architects have more renderings and info than the website of the firm they work for. I have found renderings in the past by searching for info about architects rather than where they work.

Huh. That page actually includes another rendering of the "Greenwater master plan" which seems to be a design for what Northshore/500 W. 2nd, etc., could have been.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

I do random searches as well just to see if new things pop up. I've been regularly searching for "brandywine master plan" & "broadmoor master plan" every few weeks for a year because that's the potential project I'm most excited about city wide.

I'm really looking forward to that one too. Since you're actively searching for it, I'll leave that scoop for you.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by The ATX

I'm really looking forward to that one too. Since you're actively searching for it, I'll leave that scoop for you.

Nah, you always beat me to the punch & I prefer it that way. I'd rather get the info ASAP because someone else found it than get credit for finding the info myself. So keep on searching on.

P.S. you really should be made a moderator for the amount of effort you put in here. No offense meant to Kevin, our dear leader.

[ahealy]

omfg. Austin NEEDS a tower like this. Especially block 185. 500 and Northshore look so weird all clustered together at the same height

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Nah, you always beat me to the punch & I prefer it that way. I'd rather get the info ASAP because someone else found it than get credit for finding the info myself. So keep on searching on.

P.S. you really should be made a moderator for the amount of effort you put in here. No offense meant to Kevin, our dear leader.

I am a Mod. The list of Mods for the Austin subforum can be seen in the lower right corner of the main Austin subforum page.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by The ATX

I am a Mod. The list of Mods for the Austin subforum can be seen in the lower right corner of the main Austin subforum page.

Oh snap! I had no idea.

[The ATX]

I really, really hope this is the current proposal and not a vision. If it is office as the rendering seems to indicate, it will be right around 900'. That's based on a 13' per floor allowance and some extra height added for what is shown in the podium levels. Parking must be underground.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by The ATX

I really, really hope this is the current proposal and not a vision. If it is office as the rendering seems to indicate, it will be right around 900'. That's based on a 13' per floor allowance and some extra height added for what is shown in the podium levels. Parking must be underground.

It seems to be that this building is more likely mixed use than just office. No Austin CBD development has ever been able to support a solely office tower of this size and, frankly, it likely wouldn't be able to get funding as such.

The upper floors seem to me to likely be residences (probably condos, rather than apartments), not office, given the easy marketability of the views (which will NEVER be obstructed) while the lower section oriented E-W is probably a hotel. Then there's what looks to be meeting space in the podium that indicates that there's an office component, which is likely the N-S oriented lower half. Note that there is what looks to be either an amenities floor or a mechanical floor between the two N-S oriented sections which indicates an architectural separation between two distinct uses. There's also what seems to be multiple distinct and separated entrances in the podium, which further suggests multiple uses. Note that in the podium, the red interior walls only extend so far to the right, where it is then replaced by concrete. That concrete section is likely the separate elevator shafts for the residences in the upper floors & the design lends itself to additional office elevator shafts placed closest to Cesar Chavez (the first floor entrance on Cesar Chavez seems to be an elevator lobby). On top of the podium there also seems to be a swimming pool in the midst of the trees. That design element wouldn't be present unless there's a hotel or residences.

We've talked prior about Virgin and Ritz-Carlton as having eyes on Austin. Being paired with office, residences, and meeting space in the same development is typical of these brands.

This also isn't that far from the convention center, so a relatively disconnected semi-convention oriented upscale hotel paired with flex meeting space available to both conventions and an office component would be ideal to lure funding.

Of course, all of this is speculative and we won't know more details until a site plan is released. That tree being moved and this rendering now being publicly available does suggest we'll see something soon. After all, construction on this will probably start when the Proper and 3rd + Shoal (which are using this as a staging area, right?) are finished in about 2 years. That's enough time to work through the permitting process.

[the Genral]

I stuck my neck out a while back reporting what my friend told me about a 70 story building and Virgin's plans for Austin. I am taking a reserved sigh of relief. Some of you might remember I posted that the Fairmont was a go when everyone said it wouldn't get built. I have reliable sources, somehow I end up meeting them. Since they do go from project to project, they seem to get insider information way before the press because the developers need to line up their workers during the bidding process. There seems to be a fair amount of recruiting going on constantly due to the large amount of projects current and planned, and maybe only so much talent to go around. BTW, I got a somewhat angry email from an engineer associated with 5th and West who was shown my post about my connection who WAS associated with the same, and pretty much told me they didn't know my connection and asked me to pretty much stop posting about him and his connection to 5th and West and to be careful what I post. I talked with him and he moved on to another project. Man these engineers are sensitive...