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  #21  
Old Posted Feb 20, 2015, 7:40 AM
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The only thing keeping that spot from handling an arena/stadium is the traffic. Entrance and exit would all be right on Congress. It'd be a bit of a nightmare. They'd have to build that bridge to connect Trinity to the east side of the lot.
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  #22  
Old Posted Feb 20, 2015, 9:18 AM
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Traffic can be pretty bad on Congress already, particularly heading south in the afternoon. That could pose some problems for downtown-bound traffic. The bridge across the river would pretty much be a must to help out.
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  #23  
Old Posted Feb 20, 2015, 9:10 PM
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It wouldn't be a bad idea to have one more road crossing the river Like Trinity. For a city as large as Austin is there's only 5 crossings through the central core. That's counting 35 and MoPac. That leaves just 3 street crossings Congress, South 1st and Lamar. Lamar is a congested mess since the city will not widen it so that leaves South 1st and Congress, both of which are fast becoming heavy congested crossings even after peak traffic.

We do need a rail crossing there's no doubt about that but it may be in the interest of the city to consider one more road bridge especially if an arena is built on the American Statesman site and even if one is not built, a bridge would still be needed.

This post has touched on transportation moreso than the arena specifically though I mention it because while I love the idea of an arena OR an MLS stadium where the Statesman is now, I do agree about the logistics of traffic hence why I feel that another road bridge is inevitable in any event.
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  #24  
Old Posted Feb 21, 2015, 4:29 AM
Tech House Tech House is offline
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Originally Posted by dphogan View Post
The Statesman plot is the perfect spot for an arena and MLS type venue. It needs to be a join effort between the City of Austin, Travis County, and UT.

Both venues could be used for concerts/trade shows/conventions and would be a great move for Rodeo Austin in my opinion.
If a "D.P. Hogan" ever runs for city council I will not vote for him/her! It would be a tragic waste of an incredible location with epic views if that spot were paved over with parking and a massive sports venue. And this isn't NIMBY-speak, I live north of 183. There is so much potential for that land, I just can't see putting anything monolithic on it. Of course if you're a sports enthusiast then the concept is appealing but the majority of people don't care about UT basketball, soccer, or rodeos. OMG, rodeo in downtown Austin, what a nightmare! I think you're confusing Austin with Fort Worth.
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  #25  
Old Posted Feb 21, 2015, 5:10 AM
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Ok...


Quote:
In addition to the standard competitive events, the Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo has pig races, a youth art show and a barbecue cook-off. Education is a key part of the rodeo's overall mission. The organization has provided more than $5 million in scholarships since 1981. In keeping with its community-minded focus, the rodeo started "going green" in 2010. About 120,000 pounds of livestock waste was recycled into an all-natural fertilizer. Musical acts range from Clay Walker to Rick Springfield.
http://gotexas.about.com/od/stocksho...xas-Rodeos.htm

Quote:
Rodeo Austin hosts over 130 live music performances during the fifteen-day Fair and Rodeo, and is proud to bring a concert series to the Live Music Capital of the World that truly has something for everybody. From Texas country to punk rock, Rodeo Austin boasts a tremendous lineup featuring a variety of world class concerts that every fairgoer and rodeo fan can enjoy!

Award-winning recording artists take the stage each night following the ProRodeo performance in the Luedecke Arena. Past musical performances include Willie Nelson, Blake Shelton, Maroon 5, Lady Antebellum, and Nelly.
http://www.rodeoaustin.com/events/live-music/


And this year they include the Beach Boys, Boyz II Men, Panic! At The Disco, and Sublime With Rome. It's not just kickers and country, although that's obviously the majority.
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  #26  
Old Posted Feb 21, 2015, 4:01 PM
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Read on twitter that building the arena on the statesman site is "a done deal" but not yet confirmed by other sources.

https://twitter.com/michaelcorcoran/...21502785396737

https://twitter.com/evanasmith/statu...54474507444225
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  #27  
Old Posted Feb 21, 2015, 4:38 PM
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I really hope the statesman is not the site of a stupid f'in arena. It would ruin this area of town more than the statesman does. As the closest neighbor to the statesman i for one will fight tooth and nail so it doesn't get built here. The only reason anybody would want a stadium built here is so they can go visit dt after the game. if you need the arena to be dt for that then i hope its not built dt because you dont belong dt with your kids who only wanna eat at some chain food joint anyways. What this neghborhood needs is a mixed use neighborhood with real character. What this city needs is the same exact thing. Build the stadium at the holly st power plant site. Better yet build it right where all the stadiums already are. Build it on ut campus, or where burger center is, or connect it to barton creek mall and then you have a mall and a stadium.
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  #28  
Old Posted Feb 21, 2015, 5:55 PM
Tech House Tech House is offline
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Originally Posted by austin242 View Post
I really hope the statesman is not the site of a stupid f'in arena. It would ruin this area of town more than the statesman does. As the closest neighbor to the statesman i for one will fight tooth and nail so it doesn't get built here. The only reason anybody would want a stadium built here is so they can go visit dt after the game. if you need the arena to be dt for that then i hope its not built dt because you dont belong dt with your kids who only wanna eat at some chain food joint anyways. What this neghborhood needs is a mixed use neighborhood with real character. What this city needs is the same exact thing. Build the stadium at the holly st power plant site. Better yet build it right where all the stadiums already are. Build it on ut campus, or where burger center is, or connect it to barton creek mall and then you have a mall and a stadium.
i agree, but not with Holly or Barton Creek Mall. A large public facility like this needs to be kept out of neighborhoods, which is one of many reasons I oppose the Statesman location. Most of the time it will be nothing but a hulking, hideous dead space. It's an all-or-nothing proposition, where the area is flooded with activity when there's an event, and dead when there isn't. We might as well add another convention center, except arenas are even worse. Does anyone really get anything out of the existence of the Erwin Center when they aren't attending an event there? No, it's just a waste of space. I endorse putting it right around the I-35/45 interchange in beautiful West Creeedmore, or at Loop 1 and 45 in the no-man's land of Southwest Round Rock.
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  #29  
Old Posted Feb 21, 2015, 7:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tech House View Post
i agree, but not with Holly or Barton Creek Mall. A large public facility like this needs to be kept out of neighborhoods, which is one of many reasons I oppose the Statesman location. Most of the time it will be nothing but a hulking, hideous dead space. It's an all-or-nothing proposition, where the area is flooded with activity when there's an event, and dead when there isn't. We might as well add another convention center, except arenas are even worse. Does anyone really get anything out of the existence of the Erwin Center when they aren't attending an event there? No, it's just a waste of space. I endorse putting it right around the I-35/45 interchange in beautiful West Creeedmore, or at Loop 1 and 45 in the no-man's land of Southwest Round Rock.
Understand where you're coming from - there are a lot of poorly designed arenas that are dead most of the time just like you say (Erwin Center is a great example). But with the right approach, an arena certainly does not have to be as dead as you describe. Finding a way to integrate some mixed uses, offices, retail, residential at the street edges would make for a much better project. A new arena needs to be very public transit accessible, too, unless creating more auto traffic is the goal. Putting something like this anywhere but downtown or downtown/adjacent would be a mistake.
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  #30  
Old Posted Feb 21, 2015, 8:58 PM
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My biggest worry would be the traffic since Austin is so well known for not planning for effective transportation infrastructure. Other than that, I would worry about it being too suburban in character. I'd like to see it wrapped with retail, and something more than just sports jerseys and hats. I think the transportation infrastructure would have to come first for me to be ok with it, otherwise it would be a deal breaker.
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  #31  
Old Posted Feb 22, 2015, 1:21 AM
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For Austin to be a true big city, there needs to be an arena not just for sporting events but concerts and other events as well. The problem is there's not a lot of places near DT that can fit an arena. Building it away from DT is not desirable for a host of reasons and yes people who go to the arena should be able to get into DT easily if they choose what is so wrong with that?

The biggest problem as Kevin mentioned would be traffic and transportation. I'm sure there will be people against it. There's always people against everything that is proposed in this city. I also agree that the arena could be built with complementing uses so that it would be visited and used daily becoming an vibrant part of the surrounding area.

On a side note the Rodeo is one of Austin's largest events in terms of attendance up there with SXSW and ACL. I would definitely go if it was at a new arena since the Travis County Expo Center is kinda far and a hassle to get to. Heck an arena on the southside of the river would be awesome IMO.
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  #32  
Old Posted Feb 22, 2015, 1:32 AM
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I won't really have an opinion on this other than the traffic issues already mentioned until I see more detailed information. However, I'd like to see examples of stadiums that have incorporated retail or office space in the design.

Also, UT is denying they are buying the Statesman site: https://twitter.com/ralphhaurwitz/st...28999756394496
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  #33  
Old Posted Feb 22, 2015, 7:03 AM
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Report: Texas will purchase Austin-American statesman site for basketball venue

B

Last edited by Austin1971; Jan 25, 2020 at 7:05 PM.
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  #34  
Old Posted Feb 22, 2015, 9:05 AM
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Originally Posted by Tech House View Post
A large public facility like this needs to be kept out of neighborhoods, which is one of many reasons I oppose the Statesman location.
I agree. I oppose it being built there for three reasons.

1. Traffic. It would be a nightmare.

2. It flies in the face of what the City is trying to do with the South Shore Central Vision. At 19 acres, it's about 20% of the 97-acre South Shore Central District. I've seen conceptual plans for the area and it always showed the American-Statesman site as kind of broken up with pedestrian passageways and paseos leading to and opening up to the lake.





They're trying to provide more direct access to the lake and to make that whole 97-acre South Shore Central District more pedestrian friendly. Putting a big arena/parking lot at the AAS site is not going to achieve that.

3. It's prime real estate. I'd much rather see the area developed as hotels, condos, apartments, affordable housing, retail and parkland because those things (except for public parkland) would generate all kinds of property tax revenues for the City. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if UT buys the land and builds an arena, the City won't get any property tax revenue since the UT System is exempt from paying property taxes.

I just think it's a horrible choice of location.
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  #35  
Old Posted Feb 22, 2015, 6:24 PM
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  #36  
Old Posted Feb 22, 2015, 6:45 PM
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From the Burnt Orange Nation article:

"However, the Statesman site would be expensive, which could explain why Patterson quoted a figure of $500 million when asked about the cost of a new arena. Patterson also wants city funding and the new mayor is at least amenable to having that discussion."

Taxpayer-funded sports arenas almost always end up being a net economic drain for cities. Where they have been most successful is in those places where they're used as a catalyst for redevelopment, and this only works if there is enough momentum and potential for redevelopment to accelerate, AND the facility is designed intelligently such that it is well integrated with its context.

South Shore will redevelop in a very attractive and economically beneficial way without needing any public funds to spur it on. It's an exceptional location that should feature the view of downtown and provide many uses for as many people as possible.

It sounds like some people would like to see it become a theme park, and that's a direction it could go, but it would change the character of the city in a fairly significant way. But I can see where it could have an arena, small amphitheater, rodeo, and even theme park type features such as a ferris wheel. If you're someone who supports moving the Travis County Fair to South Shore then why not just go all the way and install the rides and a hipster version of Big Tex holding a mug of local craft IPA?
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  #37  
Old Posted Feb 22, 2015, 7:24 PM
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The Brackenridge Hospital site is 14 acres. Isn't it going to be torn down when the new medical center is finished? Put the arena/concert venue there. It'd be close IH-35 and it's not that much further from UT as the Erwin Center is now.

And yes, I know the city has plans to turn that area into an "Innovation District." Let 'em find someplace else for people to "innovate."
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  #38  
Old Posted Feb 22, 2015, 9:52 PM
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Do you really think traffic will be that much worse for an arena, than if it is developed as South Shore?.....seems to me, no matter what is developed in this spot, it will bring significant traffic with it.

I say, bring it on......just do it well.
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  #39  
Old Posted Feb 22, 2015, 10:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Dcbrickley View Post
Do you really think traffic will be that much worse for an arena, than if it is developed as South Shore?.....seems to me, no matter what is developed in this spot, it will bring significant traffic with it.

I say, bring it on......just do it well.
Yes, because right now in all of downtown, the residential population is only about 10,000 or so. Any new arena would have seating somewhere on the order of 20,000 to 25,000 people. 10,000 people living downtown come and go at all hours of the day, but an arena would be a one two punch of 20,000 to 25,000 arriving and leaving at once.

I'm rarely around the DKR Stadium to know what the traffic is like there, let alone when games are happening, but the stadium has the added benefit of not really being in a neighborhood. It also has I-35 pretty close by to help with the traffic flow and "escape routes". South Congress on the other hand is nothing like I-35. Even with a bridge across the river, you'd still be funneling traffic onto Cesar Chavez and then onto I-35.

I also cringe a little about sports venues since they're expensive and become quickly outdated and never seem to be planned very well. They're almost always built on a bet that you'll see any sort of return on them. They really are a "build it and they will come" type of development. Plus, sports franchises hold cities hostage for a ransom on funding their next stadium or upgrade to their existing one. I suppose they're a necessary evil, but I've never been a fan (literally).
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  #40  
Old Posted Feb 22, 2015, 10:15 PM
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I'm against putting the arena on the Statesman site because the South Shore Vision will make that area more vibrant than an arena/special events center. But I think arenas in general belong Downtown. With that said there are not a lot of sites left Downtown for large projects.
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