AUSTIN - Block 21/W Austin Hotel & Residences Update

[GoldenBoot]

FYI: A "city initiated" zoning hearing regarding Block 21 (The W Austin Hotel & W Residences) will go before council this Thursday. The request is to change the site from CBD to CBD-CURE-CO zoning and modifying the FAR allowance from 8:1 to 11:1 (setting a limit for a 450' structure). The recommended "CO" (conditional overlay) shall restrict the daily vehicle trips to less than 5,129 trips per day.

Item #: 57
Case #: C14-06-0190


The following was a report in today's In Fact Daily...



Architect presents Block 21 concept drawings
By Kimberly Reeves

Architect Arthur Andersson presented the conceptual drawings for Block 21 to the Design Commission last night, outlining plans that include the city’s W boutique hotel, as well as new digs for the Austin Children’s Museum, KLRU and Austin City Limits.

The Design Commission, which typically confines itself to the broader design issues of projects, focused on some of the key points: the east-west orientation and massing of the building; sufficient parking spaces for both the hotel and condos; and the placement of parking and valet parking along the side of the W Hotel.

Shorter buildings will be placed to the front of the property. The condo-hotel tower will be at the back, or north end, of the property. Andersson said the placement of the buildings is intended to take advantage of the southeasterly winds off Town Lake. Materials will be local Leuders limestone, cast-in-place concrete and, for accents of areas around the KLRU studios, a milled-finish aluminum.

“We want materials that are going to improve, to have a patina with weather and age,” Andersson said after the presentation. “It’s very hard to do that until you’ve experimented some with the various materials you want to use.”

The numbers on the tower – how many hotel rooms and how many condominium units – are still somewhat fluid, expected to settle somewhere around 250 for each. Massing currently puts retail at somewhere around 24,000 square feet. The Austin Children’s Museum will be about 30,000 square feet, with about 10,000 square feet for Austin City Limits and another 10,000 square feet for ancillary space for KLRU. One of the key features of the property will be a JumboTron of the Austin City Limits performance over the plaza, which will provide real-time music performances during show tapings. At this point, about 600 parking spaces have been set aside for the project.

Commissioners had questions about the orientation of the building – east to west instead of north to south – and the fact it did not fill an entire block. Commissioners also questioned where, and how, valet parking will take place. Some questioned whether the on-site parking would be sufficient to handle the full range of the project. They also raised questions about two other aspects of the project – the protection and possible relocation of existing trees and the walking experience along all edges of the block.

Last week, the Planning Commission voted to recommend CBD-CURE zoning for the project with a conditional overlay. The City Council is scheduled to take up the matter on Thursday.

Andersson said groundbreaking is expected in May or June of next year with the building to be open sometime in 2008.

[KevinFromTexas]

I sent an email to the architects about 2 to 3 months ago and they told me it would be 432 feet tall with 35 floors. I'll still have to get the height of it just before they breakground since it may still change.

[GoldenBoot]

Willie's movin' on up

ACL studio theater, partly owned by singing legend Nelson, becomes neighbors with swank W hotel, Children's Museum in Stratus development at Block 21

By Michael Corcoran, Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, December 03, 2006


He played the "Austin City Limits" pilot in 1974, and when the venerable KLRU music program unveils its new downtown home on Second Street in 2010, Willie Nelson is a safe bet to christen that stage as well.

After all, he'll co-own the joint.

Nelson and nephew Freddy Fletcher will be partners in the studio/nightclub project with majority owner Austin-based Stratus Properties Inc. Stratus will build the space as part of a $225 million mixed-use project that will include a 35-story tower (up from previous plans for a 32-story project) with 200 luxury condominiums atop a 250-room W Hotel, a new home for the Austin Children's Museum, shops and restaurants.

Unofficially dubbed Austin City Limits Studio Theater, the $15 million, 2,000-capacity venue will serve as a soundstage approximately 40 nights a year when "ACL" tapes and transform into a musically diverse House of Blues-style club the rest of the time. The capacity doubled from earlier plans when a balcony was added and the space was reconfigured.

The new venue is expected to raise the show's profile and provide locals and tourists a destination entertainment attraction in a venue that will hold more than five times the audience the show can accommodate in its existing cramped quarters on the University of Texas campus.

West Hollywood-based architectural firm Rios Clementi Hale Studios, whose credits include a child care center for Warner Brothers and a dining terrace for the upscale Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles, has been tapped to create the interior design.

"What I liked about Rios Clementi is that they're interested in being respectful to the long history of 'Austin City Limits,' " said Beau Armstrong, chief executive of Stratus, which last year won a bid to purchase the vacant property, known as Block 21, from the City of Austin. Plans call for a photo gallery of past shows of television's longest running live music program and a store to sell ACL souvenirs and memorabilia.

The licensing arrangements with "Austin City Limits," a brand that has gotten stronger with the success of the music festival that bears its name, are still being worked out, Armstrong said, although the show is expected to share in the proceeds.

"Plus they get a new studio," Fletcher added.

Groundbreaking for the mixed-use development is scheduled this summer in the block between Lavaca and Guadalupe streets across from Austin City Hall.

"It's very exciting to be in on something from the ground up," Fletcher said. "When I brought the idea to Willie a few years ago, he loved it."

The flexibility of the upcoming facility's floor plan is key, Fletcher said.

"Shows can be seated or not seated. We can move the stage to the center of the room. We can produce live TV shows. We've even been talking to theater consultants about doing off-Broadway musicals."

Fletcher said the facility echoes the multiuse venue Nelson envisioned in the Austin Opera House, which the singer owned in South Austin from 1974 to 1989. With a recording studio next door wired to the stage, the Opera House on Academy Drive hosted historic live recording sessions by Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Waylon Jennings and others.

Armstrong said his development team, which has scouted similar-sized venues, such as the Joint in Las Vegas and the Nokia Theater in New York, has been advised by concert giant Live Nation, which recently acquired House of Blues for $350 million. Armstrong said he is close to reaching an agreement with a major concert promoter to operate the venue, but he declined to name it.

Fletcher said W Hotels was "over the top excited" to be neighbors with Willie, a national folk hero whose appeal cuts a wide swath.

"Our quest for the perfect address in Austin has been rewarded with this unique location at the center of Austin's highly successful Second Street District," Ross Klein, president of W Hotels Worldwide, said in a statement. The swanky hotel will officially announce plans for its maiden Austin location today. "This neighborhood is now the hub of Austin's downtown and continues to attract new restaurants, retail, office and residential projects. We're thrilled to do our part to attract folks downtown, whether to live, visit, work or play."

The hotel will include a restaurant, a theme bar, two swimming pools, a fitness center, a 7,000-square-foot spa and extensive indoor and outdoor meeting and banquet space. Two additional restaurants, plus a club overlooking a plaza, will be part of 28,000 square feet of retail in the project.

Operators have not yet been chosen, although Armstrong hopes to attract local veterans for a sushi restaurant and a steakhouse.

Prices for the condos will range from just under $400,000 for a small one-bedroom to several million for the larger penthouses. Condo residents will have access to the hotel's 24-hour concierge service, which, according to W Hotels, can provide guests whatever they want, "from a pair of running shoes at 2 a.m. to private jet service." mcorcoran@statesman.com; 445-3652

snovak@statesman.com; 445-3856

[Mopacs]

Wow, the ACL/W-Hotel is really coming together. This is VERY exciting news.

[mars-man]

Who knew that all this time W stands for Willie? ;-)

[KevinFromTexas]

More 2nd Street delights.

I'm really looking forward to this store opening. There's no telling what kind of cool Austin stuff they'll have. They had better have some new Austin postcards with the Frost Bank Tower, (I have yet to see any).

From KXAN.com
http://kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=5767766

Austin City Store Opening Next Week

Dec 4, 2006 05:15 PM

You'll see a new addition to the Second Street district downtown.

The shelves are empty now, but beginning next week, a new store will feature products made right in Austin.

The Austin City Store is inside city hall, but has a convenient entrance on Second Street. City officials hope the store is a hit with tourists.

"They want opportunities to take things home so they can remember their positive experience with Austin so we want to give them that opportunity as well as in the future have another revenue source for the city," Jan Stephens with the City of Austin said.

The new store is expected to open next week and will be open Monday through Saturday.

[GoldenBoot]

W HOTELS TO HEADLINE MUSIC, RETAIL, RESIDENTIAL
DEVELOPMENT IN LONE STAR CAPITAL


W Austin Hotel & Residences to Feature New Music Venue for 'Austin City Limits'


New York, NY, December 04, 2006 – W Hotels Worldwide, the world's fastest-growing luxury hotel brand, today announced its plans to open W Austin Hotel & Residences in the Live Music Capital of the World, a project featuring approximately 250 guestrooms and 200 residential condominiums that will serve as an anchor for the City of Austin's vibrant Second Street District.

The unique mixed-use development will be located on Block 21, an entire city block at the heart of the Second Street District and will star the new home of the world-famous "Austin City Limits" public television music show in a 2,000-seat live music and event venue. Also planned for Block 21 is the new location of Austin Children's Museum as well as approximately 25,000 square feet of retail and restaurant uses and extensive outdoor space.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT), the parent company of W Hotels, has entered into a management agreement with Austin-based Stratus Properties Inc. (NASDAQ:STRS) to manage the hotel, which is expected to open in early 2010 along with the residences.

"Austin, with its exceptional music scene, thriving creative and high tech community and the energy and vitality of the University of Texas, has long been on W's short list of sites," said Ross Klein, President of W Hotels Worldwide. "Our quest for the perfect address in Austin has been rewarded with this unique location at the center of Austin's highly successful Second Street District. This neighborhood is now the hub of Austin's downtown and continues to attract new restaurants, retail, office and residential projects; we’re thrilled to do our part to attract folks downtown, whether to live, visit, work or play."

"We are extremely pleased to have the W Hotel anchor Block 21," said Beau Armstrong, president of Stratus Properties Inc. "The collaboration between W Hotels, Austin PBS station KLRU-TV, the Austin Children's Museum, and the City has been remarkable and will make for a wonderful project to complement the new City Hall, the planned $90 million central library, and existing and planned uses within the Second Street District. Block 21 will set a new standard for green building. Sustainable design, construction and operations will be the hallmark of our project. We will push the envelope to create a healthy environment for our residents and guests and for our community."

"We are very excited to be a part of Block 21," said Bill Stotesbery, CEO and general manager of KLRU-TV, producer of "Austin City Limits" throughout its 32 seasons on the air. "The Stratus vision for Block 21 is to create an anchor destination for downtown Austin, one that reflects the cultural spirit and diverse interests of Austinites of all ages. The Austin City Limits Studio Theater is ideally suited for this vision, and we could not hope for a better team to make this a reality than Stratus, Austin Children's Museum, and especially the W Hotel, whose brand stands for quality, just like ACL."

Austin Children's Museum plans a 30,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility. "The Austin Children's Museum location in Block 21 will provide a great place for Austin families in the heart of downtown," said Mike Nellis, executive director of the museum. "We are so pleased to be part of this forward-looking project with our new neighbors, the W Hotel and 'Austin City Limits'."

W Austin Hotel & Residences will feature all of the brand's celebrated comforts including its signature Living Room experience and Whatever/Whenever®, the hotel's 24-hour concierge service that can provide whatever guests want (from a pair of running shoes at 2 a.m. to private jet service) whenever they want it. Other highlights of the property will be several innovative restaurants and clubs, a street-level plaza, an outdoor elevated garden incorporating a swimming pool, a full-service Sweat fitness facility, a 7,000 square foot Bliss® Spa, and extensive indoor and outdoor meeting and banquet space.

Owners of W Austin Residences will have full use of all the hotel's facilities as well as access to 24-hour room service, daily housekeeping service and concierge services. A sales center including a model residential unit is expected to open in late summer 2007.

About W® Hotels
Since its debut in 1998, W Hotels has been a favorite of guests and developers alike and today is a global lifestyle brand with 21 properties in the most vibrant cities around the world. . Inspiring and indulging its guests with thoughtful, refreshing and stylish experiences, signature restaurants, bars and destination spas, W has become the fastest growing luxury hotel brand in the world. Each hotel offers a unique mix of innovative design, comfort and cultural influences from fashion to music to art and everything in between. The latest openings include W Dallas in June of 2006, W's first property in Asia, W Seoul - Walkerhill, which opened in August of 2004 and its first property in Canada, W Montreal, in October of 2004. Residence properties, offering the W lifestyle at home, have been announced for Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Scottsdale and Hoboken. In addition, there are more than a dozen W Hotels in the development pipeline in city and resort destinations. For more information, visit www.whotels.com.


About Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with approximately 850 properties in more than 95 countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood® Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels and resorts with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, Sheraton®, Westin®, Four Points® by Sheraton, W®, Le Méridien and the recently announced AloftSM and ElementSM. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.


Article Publish Date : 12/04/2006

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

More 2nd Street delights.

[SNIP]

The Austin City Store is inside city hall, but has a convenient entrance on Second Street. City officials hope the store is a hit with tourists.

If you turn on Cabe Channel 6 right now, they've got camera's set up in front of the store and are fixing to hold a news conference.

Edited to add:

The press conference/ribbon cutting is over. For those who didn't get to see it, the mayor mentioned that City Hall had gotten an award from LEEDS last night at the City Council Meeting.

The new store is 1,400 square feet. Not many city halls have retail and he was very happy that Austin's did.

He mentioned Austin Java would soon be opening at the other corner (called it Ruta Maya's twice before being corrected) - also Lambert's Barbeque is open.

Wynn said as proud as they were of City Hall, they wanted some retail in that block on the city hall side since it was in the middle of the 2nd St. District.

Toby Futrell spoke and mentioned Three Forks opening and urged everyone to shop Austin.

Mayor cut ribbon - doors (which had been open) then closed - Mayor joked it was a door closing ceremony.

Then it showed the inside of the store. I saw cowboy hats, Keep Austin Weird & Austin City Limits T-shirts, pillows, books, wind chimes, children's toys (and a table and chairs for the kiddies to sit at) what looked to be a poster of the Zilker Christmas Tree on the wall, and some snow globes with Frost Tower, the UT Tower & the Capital & other smaller buildings in them. (In addition to the snow in the snow globes, there were also some little black bats swirling around.)

And that was pretty much it for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

[JAM]

Block 21 Plans Getting Around
BY KIMBERLY REEVES

Sorry for the old news but I'm really looking forward to this project getting off the ground!

Formerly a parking lot for city employees, Block 21 (which could look something like this rendering) will now contain W Hotel & Residences, the new Austin Children's Museum, and a new home for Austin City Limits.
View a larger imageThe high-profile plans for Block 21 are making the rounds of city commissions, highlighting a combination of hotel, museum, and music venues for Downtown.

Block 21, just north of the Austin City Hall, didn't look like much when it was simply a parking lot for the City Hall extension just seven years ago. Today it's a plum parcel for development that will be home to an upscale W Hotel & Residences, the new Austin Children's Museum, and a combination of public television station KLRU and Austin City Limits. Stratus Properties was the winner of a competitive bid process for the development, beating out Zydeco Development and Endeavor Real Estate Group just more than a year ago.

Architect Arthur Andersson of Andersson Wise, known for both church and museum construction, recently presented updated plans to the Design Commission. He noted that the placement of the buildings is intended to take advantage of the southeasterly winds off Town Lake. The shorter buildings will be placed to the front of the property to catch the breeze. The condo-hotel tower will be at the back, or north end of the property. Materials will be local Lueders Limestone, cast-in-place concrete, and, for certain touches such as the accents on the KLRU studios, a milled-finish aluminum. "We want materials that are going to improve, to have a patina with weather and age," said Andersson after the presentation. "It's very hard to do that until you've experimented some with the various materials you want to use."

The W Hotel, Sheraton's boutique line of hotels, will compete head-to-head with the new Austin Hilton; a W Hotel anchors the new Victory development in Dallas. The numbers for the tower – how many hotel rooms and how many condominium units – are still somewhat fluid, expected to settle somewhere around 250 of each. Massing currently puts first-floor retail at somewhere around 24,000 square feet. The Austin Children's Museum will be about 30,000 square feet, Austin City Limits and KLRU about 10,000 square feet each.

One of the key design features of the property will be a JumboTron of Austin City Limits performances over the plaza, which will provide real-time music performances during show tapings. The Design Commission, which typically confines itself to the broader design issues, focused on some of the key points: the east-west orientation and massing of the building, sufficient parking spaces for both the hotel and condos, and the placement of parking and valet parking along the side of the hotel. Andersson said the expectation is to break ground in May or June, and to be open at some point in 2008.




http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrob...oid=oid:435195

[Jdawgboy]

Shouldn't we start seeing dirt fly on this project within the next month?

[GoldenBoot]

The following images may be new renderings of the 36-story, W Austin Hotel & Residences!?!






Block 21 (including the W) is expected to turn dirt in June 2007...

[greenbelt]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

The following images may be new renderings of the 36-story, W Austin Hotel & Residences!?!Block 21 (including the W) is expected to turn dirt in June 2007...

Wow, it looks even taller than some of the previous posts. It's growing on me.

[Strayone]

It's got a point tower look to it, I never thought this when I saw other renditions. It's something our fair city has been missing. Was it always planned to be 36 floors? It does look taller in this rendition.

Anyone ever notice that alot of these condos top floor balcony does'nt have some sort of cover, or ceiling like structure. I noticed the same on other buildings like Austin Lofts, 360, Altavida. Is this customary. Most balcony's offer an elemant of cover to the balcony below it, seems like a good thing to have for say protection from the elements and such. But the top floor balcony is totally open. Just wondering.

[JAM]

Originally Posted by Strayone

It's got a point tower look to it, I never thought this when I saw other renditions. It's something our fair city has been missing. Was it always planned to be 36 floors? It does look taller in this rendition.

Anyone ever notice that alot of these condos top floor balcony does'nt have some sort of cover, or ceiling like structure. I noticed the same on other buildings like Austin Lofts, 360, Altavida. Is this customary. Most balcony's offer an elemant of cover to the balcony below it, seems like a good thing to have for say protection from the elements and such. But the top floor balcony is totally open. Just wondering.

Interesting observation. I invite you over to this thread to offer any opinions or experience you may have concerning awnings on condos.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...27#post2823127

[Strayone]

Jam thanks for the link, I plan to follow that thread. It's always something that I look for in these new condo towers.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by Strayone

Was it always planned to be 36 floors? It does look taller in this rendition.

It's grown since since the initial announcement.

I went back and looked at the thread for this project over at the austin forum (Link)

First, the Austin American Statesman reported on March 23, 2006 that the building would be 32 floors. The article didn't give a building height, but it did mention the project would have 3 levels of underground parking.

Then there was a news brief with a rendering back in July 2006 from the McGraw Hill website (Link) that said it was going to be 29 stories. and made no mention of the underground parking. The news brief also made no mention of the building's height.

Since one source said 32 stories and one source said 29, I asked on the Austin forum back in September which was correct, and at the time KevinFromTexas said he understood the building would be 402 feet tal and 32 stories.

When this thread began, started by GoldenBoot in December 2005, it was being reported as being 35 stories up from 32 stories. Per KevinFromTexas, the developer gave a new height of 432 feet.

Now, the City of Austin website says 36 floors, which would still make it at or below 450 feet.

Old rendering from the McGraw Hill website



Current rendering from the City of Austin website



Comparing the two, it looks like the additional floors are in the upper part of the tower where the condominiums will be.

[Mopacs]

Now Legendary 'baller Magic Johnson is part of the ever intriguing Block 21 project...

http://www.statesman.com/business/co.../9johnson.html

REAL ESTATE

Block 21 'adds a little Magic'

Downtown development gets an assist from NBA legend Earvin Johnson.

By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, May 09, 2007

First it was Willie Nelson.

Now stepping to the line: basketball legend Magic Johnson.

The NBA superstar turned businessman is the latest high-profile figure to lend his name, money and expertise to Block 21. By early 2010, the project may transform a vacant downtown block into a flashy complex with live music, a W hotel, luxury condominiums, and shops and restaurants.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson and his private equity fund, Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, will invest $50 million in the $260 million project that Austin-based Stratus Properties Inc. plans to start building in September on a lot north of City Hall.

Johnson said the redevelopment is a good fit for some of the nearly $1 billion the fund has committed to help foster $3 billion worth of urban revitalization and mixed-use projects in cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago and Brooklyn, N.Y.
"We just want to do business in a great city," said Johnson, who likes Austin and has friends here, including many University of Texas athletes. "Every guy that plays here, they don't want to leave. What is it that makes Austin magical like that?"

Johnson and K. Robert Turner, Canyon-Johnson's managing partner, said Austin fits the profile of cities where the fund likes to invest, from growing areas such as Central Texas to ethnically diverse neighborhoods in densely populated metro areas.

The Block 21 project is expected to create thousands of construction jobs and hundreds more jobs when the project opens, Turner and Johnson said.
"We are committed to creating opportunities for the people in Austin, and I feel blessed and fortunate to be able to bring our expertise and our money to the City of Austin," said Johnson, who led the Los Angeles Lakers to five NBA championships and became one of the NBA's most popular players ever.

Since announcing that he had HIV in 1991, he has crusaded for AIDS prevention and made socially conscious investments and donations.
Block 21 is the fund's first investment in Austin.

Canyon-Johnson Director Neville Rhone first targeted Austin for investment two years ago. Executives later paid visits to Mayor Will Wynn and other city officials who steered them to the Block 21 deal, Turner said.
The partnership resulted from a "two-punch knockout," with Wynn selling Canyon-Johnson officials on his long-range vision of Austin and Beau Armstrong, Stratus' chairman and CEO, selling them on "the uniqueness" of Block 21.

Stratus' plans for Block 21 include an upscale 250-room W hotel and 200 luxury condominiums in a 35-story tower, plus new homes for the Austin Children's Museum and KLRU's acclaimed "Austin City Limits" music program.

The condos are expected to be priced from about $400,000 to more than $3 million, Armstrong said.

In addition to the television studios, Live Nation will operate a 2,200-seat live music/performance space venue when "ACL" isn't taping. Willie Nelson and nephew Freddy Fletcher will be partners with Stratus in the "ACL" venue, lending financial and technical support.

The venue is expected to raise the show's profile and provide locals and tourists with a destination entertainment attraction, with five times the capacity of the existing quarters on the University of Texas campus.
Armstrong said the music component resonated with Canyon-Johnson, particularly Rhone and Turner, who are big fans of "Austin City Limits" and its public television sponsor.

"They thought that was really great to have that energize the development," Armstrong said.

Turner added that the goal of getting the highest level of green building certification for the project was a selling point.
Armstrong said Canyon-Johnson has been interested in the project from the outset, with a phone call from Rhone coming soon after the city chose Stratus to purchase and redevelop the site after a competitive process.
"They liked the concept," Armstrong said, but at that preliminary stage, discussions didn't go much further.

Rhone "kept calling back," Armstrong said. "And as we continued to make progress, I kept them informed and kind of struck up a good relationship."
Stratus chose Canyon-Johnson over a number of other "very qualified" prospective partners, Armstrong said, adding that the fund's Block 21 investment could yield double-digit returns."

Johnson said he's looking forward to attending Block 21's ribbon-cutting. "I'll be there for sure," he said. "We don't just write a check. We also get involved with the city."


Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds

Headquarters: Beverly Hills, Calif.
Key executives: K. Robert "Bobby" Turner, managing partner; Earvin "Magic" Johnson, managing director
Funds: Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund (2001): $300 million; Canyon Johnson-Urban Fund II (2005): $600 million

Recent deals:

• Committed $121 million to a mixed-use project in the Little Havana district of Miami.
• Acquired the Marq-E Entertainment Center in Houston for $50 million.
• Announced plans for a $159 million mixed-use development in midtown Atlanta.
• Acquired the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, the tallest building in Brooklyn, N.Y., with plans to convert it to condos.

Magic Johnson on . . .

• University of Texas athletics: 'They dominate in so many different sports. It's amazing they can have a track record like that. Whatever sport, the university has done a wonderful job.'
• Kevin Durant, the ex-Texas Longhorns star who is headed for the NBA: 'He's the best freshman I've seen in my life. To have those skills at 18 years old, I don't think I've seen that before. Matter of fact, I haven't. And also to have good attitude. He also has done a wonderful job for the whole state of college basketball, with that smile, the way he played, and now he will be a great player in the NBA. This man is already beyond his years.'
• The San Antonio Spurs' success against the Phoenix Suns: 'It's because of Tim Duncan. You have to realize when you have a great, dominant low-post player, it allows everybody else to play better. . . . When Tim is going well, then so are the San Antonio Spurs.'
• For the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft: Durant or Ohio State's Greg Oden? 'Depends on what you need. Durant has more skills and is the most talented of the two, but a team may need a center, and then you have to pick Oden. He's going to hold down that position for a long time.'
• Who will win the NBA championship? 'I think the winner of the Spurs and Phoenix (series) will win it.'
• On life after basketball: 'I love what I do now. Basketball couldn't be forever. Effecting change in a city and community is forever. And I think that when I got into business with Canyon-Johnson and Bobby (Turner, the fund's managing partner), we are effecting change, and people's lives, for the better. We have affected so many communities across America.'
• On his investment in an Austin project: ' I hope that it will trigger others to come back, too, Vince (Young, former UT quarterback), Kevin (Durant). They're the superstars now. They will make a lot of money, and I want them to be great athletes . . . but I also want them to be great people and great businesspeople.'

[HiRyzr]

Today's Statesman has an article that states Block 21 will be 35 stories and Stratus hopes to break ground in September. For some reason the ground breaking date keeps getting pushed back (even with Magic Johnsons $$$).The City intended to include a provision in the agreement with the developer to commence building by a certain date. Does anyone know if that provision was included in the agreement with Stratus? If so, when is the deadline?

[Complex01]

Well hopefully they start sooner then later. I just hope they make the base look really good. I hope they dont use that brown facade, but more of "colorful glass" one. The location is great to, it will stand out there...

[sakyle04]

It's got a point tower look to it

What is a "point tower"?

And why can't San Antonio have about 6 of them?