UP|Austin

New Tallest Under Construction: The Austonian

erdogs — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:52:29 +0000

The Austonian makes a stark contrast in the distance to the skyline. Driving towards downtown from the south now looks like many of the other big city skylines I've had the pleasure of seeing. This is also a green building, something that is pushed for here in Austin.

Old mall in Temple

mediawerx — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:03:37 +0000

TenPoundHammer, on Mar 8 2009, 06:11 PM, said:

Looking online, I found that before Temple Mall opened, there was another mall on I-35 near exit 299 (Dodgen Loop). From what I can tell, it's called Outdoor America Mall now, and it has RoomStore and a now closed RV dealer. I can't find a shred of information about it online, though, and would like to know its history. What anchor stores did it have, first of all? They almost look like maybe Woolco and a supermarket.

I can probably answer some questions about Outdoor America Mall. My question is simple..Why the interest from someone in MI?

btw...Aaron Tippin fan myself You can write me directly at david@tembell.com if neccessary

New Tallest Under Construction: The Austonian

Texas Hill Country — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:10:23 +0000

The Austonion is officially topping out today. Work is finishing on the 59th floor. The top three floors are for mechanical systems, so it's officially a 56-story building.

New Federal Courthouse

eastsider — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:59:26 +0000

Groundbreaking was held today for the new Federal Courthouse in Austin. The eight story building is expected to cost $116 million and take three years to complete.

Biggest Single Downtown Austin Development Ever

Texas Hill Country — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:01:47 +0000

Demolition of the plant has started and some earthmoving is going on. No updates on how the economy has affected the developer's plans.

Central Texas Commuter Rail

Texas Hill Country — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:12:20 +0000

The start of the commuter rail line has been postponed indefinitely due to federal safety violations and technical difficulties.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news...21capmetro.html

CAPITAL METRO
Rail opening on indefinite hold
Further rule violations, system glitches cause delay. Agency accused of making 'scapegoat' of contractor

By Ben Wear
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, March 21, 2009

Capital Metro said Friday that it is indefinitely delaying the opening of its Leander-to-downtown-Austin rail service in the wake of further allegations of federal safety violations and because of continued technical problems.

In addition, the transit agency called on Veolia Transportation, its rail operations contractor, to fire its local safety director. Capital Metro is bringing in rail officials from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which has a dozen commuter rail lines in the greater Boston area, "to assist with startup operations and safety implementation."

Festivities to celebrate the opening that were scheduled for next weekend at all nine rail stations have been canceled. They were to include short demonstration rides for the public.

The opening, which has been pushed back several times, now has no target day.

"By May 15, Capital Metro will report back to the community with the status of the project and an action plan," an agency news release said.

A week ago, the Federal Railroad Administration began an investigation into a February incident in which two Veolia train engineers drove their MetroRail trains into a section of track without getting proper clearance. According to Capital Metro rail operations director Bill Le Jeune, they realized their error after a third of a mile, stopped, got proper clearance and then moved on. The violations could result in federal and state fines for Veolia.

Capital Metro then decided to delay the March 30 rail opening by as much as a month but said opening events set for March 27 and March 28 would proceed. But on Thursday, according to Le Jeune, the railroad administration accused Veolia of seven violations, alleging irregularities related to"efficiency testing" and poor documentation of hearing and vision tests on workers. On Friday, Capital Metro, which is still trying to fix a problem with signal crossing gates that in some cases don't come down quickly enough, applied the brakes to the project.

Those efficiency tests, Le Jeune said, involve testing workers on rules and procedures. Veolia, he said, had not done all required testing.

Veolia officials noted that the company is the majority owner of the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co., the passenger rail operator for the Boston transit agency that Capital Metro is bringing in to help.

"That's ironic because we run that system," said Ron Hartman, executive vice president for rail with Veolia. Veolia's five-year contract there was recently extended three years.

Hartman said Veolia disputes the allegation that its efficiency testing was inadequate and will make that case to federal regulators. He said that the hearing and vision tests had been done and that documents supporting that will be filed immediately.

Hartman also said that the replacement of the safety director was already under way and that Capital Metro was told that about two weeks ago.

Old mall in Temple

TenPoundHammer — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 23:11:25 +0000

Biggest Single Downtown Austin Development Ever

Texas Hill Country — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:05:14 +0000

The city has taken the next step in this development. They have officially decommissioned the water treatment plant. But I suspect it may be a long time before the developers can get any financing, even in the relatively healthy Austin economy,

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/...15/daily34.html

Green Water plant decommissioned

The Thomas Green Water Treatment Plant was decommissioned on Dec. 16 at a ceremony attended by city officials and former plant workers. After speaking about the 83-year old plant�s history and future, officials turned the clear well valve to the off position, paving the way for the plant�s redevelopment.

City officials earlier this year tapped Trammell Crow Company in a partnership with Constructive Ventures to redevelop the six acre, five city block plant�s site. The plant is part of the Seaholm District in the southwestern portion of downtown, which will be redeveloped into hotels, apartments and condos, and retail, office and commercial space. The Austin City Council is expected to review a master development agreement for the Green redevelopment in June 2009.

The intake pump at Green, which began pulling water from Lady Bird Lake in 1925 and is the city�s oldest water treatment plant, was turned off in September. The capacity of existing water plants are considered sufficient to replace Green.

The City Council is expected to award the plant�s deconstruction contract in January 2009. Deconstruction is expected to begin in March 2009 and is expected to take a year, said Cynthia Jordan, a project manager in the city�s Public Works department. Development of the site is expected to begin shortly after deconstruction is complete, said Fred Evins, redevelopment project manager at the city�s Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services office.

Central Texas Commuter Rail

eastsider — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:18:34 +0000

Due to delays with a couple stations and the signaling system, a revised opening date for MetroRail service is March 30.

Austin Business Journal: MetroRail now set to launch March 30

Northland

The Voice of Reason — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:36:57 +0000

fltnpatx, on Sep 1 2008, 07:19 AM, said:

Thanks for the info. You should check out Sky Scraper Page for more Austin info. For some reason Austin doesn't have many postings on UO. I don't know why and I hope to change that soon with a city page.

I contribute here because I like UP.

SSP is crap-ola, and the way I see it, the more I add to Austin here the more likely people will contribute here.

there is not much content here from texas, but if people continue to post things the layout here and the more informed poster here will eventually built a base.

people at SSP only care about the tallest thing in a city, nothing more. it kind of irritates me because often times, the smallest projects make the biggest differences on a cities feel.

Northland

fltnpatx — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:19:07 +0000

New Tallest Under Construction: The Austonian

The Voice of Reason — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:23:37 +0000

erdogs, on Aug 25 2008, 07:25 PM, said:

Here is another update of the Austonian, they are already on the 14th floor. This thing is going up fast!

http://www.theaustonian.com/pics/2008-08-2...20Report_46.pdf

If this building were in Hartford I would be all over it.

Seems like its right in the heart of downtown, and the area should get pretty interesting with the other building going up across the street.

New Tallest Under Construction: The Austonian

erdogs — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:25:57 +0000

Here is another update of the Austonian, they are already on the 14th floor. This thing is going up fast!

http://www.theaustonian.com/pics/2008-08-2...20Report_46.pdf

Northland

The Voice of Reason — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:35:55 +0000

Just thought I would post this here.

Lary G. is the patron Saint of Hartford, and you guys are now squarely on his game plan.

not sure if he will do anything other than just own apartments down there, but he surely does own a bunch of apartments

http://www.northland.com/news/release_single.php?id=71

He built Hartfords first highrise in 20 years, and is vocal about building a new arena and bringing a pro hockey or basketball team here.

We like him quite a bit in the Hartford, and CT section, so I just thought I would let you know a little about this deal.

Cedar Park Entertainment Center

SeaToby — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:14:27 +0000

Texas Hill Country, on May 3 2008, 07:55 AM, said:

This is done deal and Austin will now have two minor league hockey teams. What the hell is up with that? It's so damn hot here. People here have no use for ice except to put it in ice tea and margaritas.

No, the Ice Bats shut down, not wishing to compete with an AHL team with the new arena in Cedar Park. One might say Global Entertainment underpriced their arena. The Dallas Stars on the other hand didn't, and offered $12 million in cash to help build the arena, along with any cost overruns. Deal done. While I like the CHL, they missed on this one, paving the way for the AHL to enter. The way I see it, San Antonio and Houston will provide better rivarlies anyway.

Arenas aren't just for ice hockey either. They are great for arena football, indoor soccer, basketball, gymnastics, indoor lacrosse; along with rodeos, horse shows, dog shows, circuses; not to mention most imporantly, music concerts of all types, from classical to rock to country. A high school could use an arena for graduation ceremonies and with their annual dance. Much more going on here besides ice hockey.

As for the indoor arena team, they are thinking about moving into this new arena, even though its smaller than the UT basketball arena. Why, suites of course. Whatever revenue in attendance which may be missed will be more than made up with the fact the suites provide guaranteed revenue.

The Shore | Kimpton Hotel

Texas Hill Country — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:51:10 +0000

The Voice of Reason, on Aug 14 2008, 07:21 PM, said:

so, what is actually being buit?

In the new rending I understand that is the Hotel, but it will be paired with the shorter building from the earlier rendering?

so the tall building is now replaced by this new shorter hotel correct?

any images of what they will look like together?

The hotel will still be connected to the completed condo tower. There is a hideous cement wall on the side of the condo tower where the hotel will attach (see post 33 above). If the hotel were not built it would be quite an eyesore. Basically, the only change to this project is that the 15 floors of condos on top of the hotel won't be built. There is still a healthy demand for highrise condos downtown which is why a lot of the projects are still moving forward. But the developers of this hotel could only secure financing for the hotel portion. There is an even bigger demand for hotels downtown and financing for hotels seems easier to get these days.

The Shore | Kimpton Hotel

The Voice of Reason — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:21:56 +0000

Austin Downtown Development

The Voice of Reason — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:17:59 +0000

Texas Hill Country, on Jul 19 2008, 12:05 AM, said:

Here's a pdf poster form the City of Austin's downtown development web site. It was released on 07/16/08. It lists most of the current large developments either proposed or under construction, and it has several pictures.

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/downtown/downlo...ster_july08.pdf

I ment to thank you for this one.

and thanks for todays stuff too.
It is incredible what is going on down there in Austin. it really is.

Austin Downtown Development

Texas Hill Country — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:01:09 +0000

Here's the latest downtown construction listing put out by the City of Austin. It's dated July 31st:

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/downtown/downlo...p_data_0708.pdf

And here's a map of where the where the downtown will be:

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/downtown/downlo...ep_map_0708.pdf

The Shore | Kimpton Hotel

Texas Hill Country — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:05:25 +0000

The developer announced today that they could only secure financing for the Hotel portion of the project. So it was redesigned as a 16 story hotel instead of the 31 story hotel with condos on the top floors. Here's the new rendering:

Here's the link to the article in the Austin Business Journal:
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/...7422&page=1