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Austin | Google Tower #2 (Block 185) | 594' | 35-Stories | Complete


The ATX

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This project is the fourth and final tower to be built in Trammell-Crow's Greenwater development.  It's scheduled to get underway in 2017.  But the use and height information came from a 2012 Greenwater project overview.  So of course, the use(s) and height may change.

The first Greenwater tower was the 424', 38-story Northshore apartment tower that was completed earlier this year.  The second tower is the U/C 400', 28-story 500 W. 2nd St. (Google) office tower.  The third tower is the soon to break ground 397', 33-story Austin Proper Hotel & Residences.

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This may be the first rendering other than a placeholder massing of the Greenwater Residential #2 tower.  The rendering on the right is this tower, but it's not nearly as tall as initial plans indicated.  So we'll see if this is accurate.  It's from a promo video for the 500 W. 2nd St. office tower which is the blue tower on the left.

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Vimeo video  

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  • 5 months later...

This project has always been planned to be the last tower in the Greenwater development.  The site has been used as a construction staging area for the past few years during the construction of the surrounding towers.  But some news may be coming soon because a permit was filed yesterday to move the only tree on the site which is a large Live Oak.  Trees are a big deal around here, and a single tree can kill or at least alter the plans for large projects.  Here's the tree on the site as seen on Streetview this past January:  

drLtiCr.png

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  • 2 months later...

A rendering has shown up in a Gensler architect's portfolio.  I hope this is the real thing.  It's pushing 70-stories.  I edited the thread title with a new floor count and height and changed the name to "Block 185" from "Greenwater Residential #2" because this updated version appears to be offices. 

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I posted this AusTxDevelopment photo in the 308 Guadalupe project thread.  But I'll post it here to show where both of the new tallests are proposed.

1. Current tallest 683' Austonian is left of center

2. Next new tallest U/C 690' Independent is right of center

3. Potential future new tallest at 700' to 725'  (Travis County Block) is the surface lot near the center

4. Potential tallest of them all at ~900'  (Trammell-Crow's Block 185 Greenwater Project) is the site near the river to the right of the orange tower crane

Of course the Travis County Block and and Block 185 projects are early in the process, so plans could and probably will change.  But these two projects will be fun to watch as plans progress. 

Construction4_zpsd3xyulvi.jpg

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I hope we get more info on this soon.  The tree removal is technically site prep, but there has not been a formal announcement from Trammell-Crow.  Depending on the uses and crown, this could actually be just tall enough to reach supertall status as is.  That would be 300 meters (984').

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The Gensler architect who posted the above rendering on his Instagram account can't reveal which project the rendering is for, but he confirmed that it was not the Block 185 tower.  But it now appears to be the updated version of the Block 87 project which is also being designed by Gensler.  There's a thread dedicated to the Block 87 tower.

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No news on this project.  But the Gensler architect who posted the rendering two posts up on his Instagram account now says that it's not the proposed Block 87 tower either.  I have several guesses as to what it could be now, but what's the point?  I'll just wait until we have some real info.   

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  • 1 month later...

Being the last tower to start in the Greenwater development means the architects have had way too much time to play around with different proposals.  I still like the 900' proposal, but damn this one is just plain awesome.  Whichever one ends up being built will probably start construction in 2019 when the current U/C towers are finished.

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Gensler

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  • 2 months later...

The site plan for this much anticipated project has been filed.  Details should be coming soon.  Something similar to previously planned 900' version would be awesome of course.  But it could still end up being another one of those way to common 400' residential towers.  This is all we know from the site plan at this point:  

Quote

The applicant is proposing a mixed use development with associated retail, commercial, parking, residential and other associated improvements.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

More info was added to the site plan.  It will be all office with 711,370 sq. ft. of office space.  A specific floor count wasn't given.  But given the setback requirements on two sides of the site and that much office space, it may end up looking  similar to this earlier Gensler rendering.  The square footage in this version is not known, but it was probably significantly more than the 711K sq. ft. in the current project.  I suspect the new version will be around 700' tall while this rendering is over 900'.  But this rendering shows how the setbacks will require a stepped up tower on that one corner of the site.  

H6H2HxK.png&key=2898656ed060165b6c34c17b 

 

 

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This was taken from the Third+Shoal construction webcam just now which is currently my favorite construction webcam.  But I don't think it will be live much longer.  Anyway, the Block 185 site is the dirt lot on the right.  We'll be lucky if Block 185 reaches 500', and now I think it will be closer to the 400' height of the other buildings in the area.  But at least 360 Condos (581') and the Independent Condos (690') poke above the 400' plateau in that area.

dNI8i95.png

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A site plan update this morning has the new height.  It's 35-stories, 463' to the roof and the building is 592' tall.  It apparently has a substantial crown and/or spire.  It has around 711K sq. ft. of office space and a little over 8K sq. ft. of ground floor retail.  We now have nine towers that are proposed or U/C that are 500' to 850' tall.  That 400' plateau is finally falling by the wayside.

Only the ground floor of the site plan is available.

klIwCsQ.png 

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4 hours ago, Dale said:

^ I'm intrigued!

While not the tallest tower, it will definitely have a unique design because of severe setback requirements on two sides and such a large crown.  It will also be in a prominent location along the river and can't be covered up by future towers.

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  • 3 weeks later...

A second site plan for the excavation was filed this week.  The first site plan was for the tower.  This will speed up construction because site plans for Demo/excavation/site prep get approved relatively quickly compared to site plans for buildings.  This means excavation can get underway while the tower site plan is under review.  Block 71 is being built this way and it shortens the construction window by several months.  There is a huge demand for downtown office space, so developers want to speed up construction. 

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We don't have a rendering yet, but Chiveman at SSP photoshopped an elevation of Block 185 into this photo that also features a rendering of the Republic tower.  Rumors on SSP which often turn out true is that Facebook and/or Google are considering office space in Block 185.  The downtown operations for both of those companies are near Block 185. 

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