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Austin | Sixth & Guadalupe | 874' | 65-Stories | Topped Out


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Even as Austin's next new tallest (the 58-story, 690' Independent condo tower) is U/C and only 28-stories up, multiple proposals for the next new tallest after the Independent have surfaced.  This particular project has some corroborating "insider" info posted on SSP.  But I'll leave that info at SSP which is the site of choice for discussion about Austin projects.  I try to stick to facts and general info in my UP posts.

Last October a Capitol View Corridor (CVC) determination request was filed for 600 Guadalupe.  That's quite often the first permit filed for a future project because about half of Downtown Austin has height restrictions due to the CVCs.  That is why there are gaps in the skyline and why a lot of towers are triangular-ish or built at weird angles to the street grid.

This project is apparently taking up an entire block that is currently occupied by a 4-story Extended Stay America Hotel that was built in 2000 which was before Downtown started to go vertical.  Here's the site on Streetview at the corner of 6th St. and Guadalupe:  

EBRVoK5.png  

 

  According to the CVC determination, the half of the block occupied by the hotel has no height restrictions:  

ZeDlVo6.png

 

In a very good sign that a major project is in the works, a second "development related" permit was filed in December for a tree assessment on the block.  The city of Austin quite often favors trees over development - even Downtown.  This site plan is from the tree assessment.

ynj1UGM.png

  

The best evidence for a new tallest comes from this very recently posted 360 drone pano for an unnamed project at 600 Guadalupe by a company called Panowings specializing in commercial drone videos.  The drone shots feature views from the very specific heights of 419' and 773'.

gbrY8lE.png   

 

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According to the elevation this will be office and residential.  Lincoln Property is apparently the developer behind this project.  It changed hands since the first permits were filed.  Lincoln Property is also one of the two developers behind another potential new tallest just three blocks down the street known as "308 Guadalupe", a.k.a. "The Travis County Block".

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This project was formally announced today as 62-stories and 850'.  It's actually 873' to the top of the mechanical screen/crown in the elevation previously posted.  The developer said the height may increase to the "mid 70s" in the number of floors. That would push it over well over 1000' and make it the tallest building in Texas.  Ground breaking is planned for 9-12 months.  Here are some new renderings with a link to a Statesman article below them.

newsEngin.19484036_2towers.jpg 

Statesman

 

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22 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

How many floors of office space how many floors of apartments? Looks nice 

The only elevation we have so far shows offices from floor #12 to floor #30 and residential from floor #32 through floor #62.  The developer didn't specify what uses the possible dozen or so additional floors would be.

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This is a photo taken earlier this evening from the construction webcam for the next new tallest (690', 58-stories) Independent condo tower that is now 30 floors up.  This 6th & Guadalupe potential future new tallest is proposed for a site behind the 13-story building below the blue arrow. 

XjPCDov.png

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The Statesman has an updated article with more information.  One of the developers stated that the office portion would open in two years while construction on the residential portion would continue for another two years beyond that.  

There has been a rumor that Facebook was going to occupy space in a supertall in this area of Downtown, and this project would be a supertall if the developers add the additional floors that were mentioned in the project's announcement.  Most of Facebook's Austin operations are located directly across the street from this proposal in the office tower at right-center in the photo in my previous post.  It briefly looked like the Block 185 project would be a supertall, but that project doesn't currently appear to be a supertall.  

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Here are a couple excellent renderings by hequals2henry at SSP.  He photoshopped a drone photo taken by Riverranchdrone, also posted at SSP.

This first one shows the 62-story, ~873' height.

36336919051_28ad2f6f3b_h.jpg

 

This second one shows the ~1040' supertall height if the developers add the additional floors that are a possibility at this point.

35666368303_2073a2a2e7_h.jpg

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Looks great Austin. I do know in Nashville if there was a historic building at the site, the developer would go in and tear it down without a permit and suffer no pentalty except a triple fee for tearing it down without a permit.

Kudos to your city for saving it. They took down a pre civil war mansion  here for a 14 story Virgin hotel. Planning on another one coming down for a hotel residential project a block away. Pitty! Save your buildings of note.

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On 8/16/2017 at 5:04 PM, smeagolsfree said:

Looks great Austin. I do know in Nashville if there was a historic building at the site, the developer would go in and tear it down without a permit and suffer no pentalty except a triple fee for tearing it down without a permit.

Kudos to your city for saving it. They took down a pre civil war mansion  here for a 14 story Virgin hotel. Planning on another one coming down for a hotel residential project a block away. Pitty! Save your buildings of note.

In this case the developer couldn't have torn it down because that house is one of 11 in a small area that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Most of the homes were built in the 1800s.  But in general believe or not, the City of Austin is not enamored with tall buildings.  There is a lot push back on developers who want to demo old buildings or any building with a popular local business.

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One of the Gensler architects working on this project confirmed on his Instagram account that this could go taller:  

"Tallest building in Austin in 4 years.  850'.  And counting."

 The 873' height is from the only elevation we have that has a slanted roof.  The 850' height is based on the level top shown in the renderings. 

y2MobB7.png

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The site of this project has a little history.  It was the site of the old Alamo Hotel that was the center of a minor local uproar in the mid-1980s when it was demolished to make way for a round 30-story HQ for Lamar Savings & Loan.  But the the tower was never built.  The Savings & Loan crash in the 1980s was Texas' version of the Great Recession, and the Savings & Loan industry went belly up taking Lamar S & L with it.  Supposedly Texas enacted banking regulations after that fiasco which helped Texas to remain largely unaffected by the 2008 banking crises.  But I'm no banking expert.

Here's the hotel in its prime when W. 6th St. was considered to be west of downtown.

Ux8ft3g.png

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Here's the Alamo Hotel  as seen in the Clash's Rock the Casbah video:  

EtgxkvD.png

Link

 

Here's the hotel as seen in the 1977 movie Outlaw Blues.  This footage was also used in a local band's music video.

S1cKHKQ.png

Link

 

And finally, the hotel including the inside was prominently feature in the Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard video Pancho & Lefty.

 

 

Link

 

I don't have a link for this, but this is the never built Lamar S& L HQ.  The site sat empty following the Demo for this project until the Extended Stay hotel was built in 2000.

DYzK3ID.png

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Things are happening more quickly with this project than most large projects.  There were FAA filings for this project this week, and those aren't typically made this soon after a project is announced.  I adjusted the height in the thread title to 847' from 873' based on the filing.  But around 10 more floors could be added per the developer.  The FAA filing also lists the construction period as August 2018 to December 2021.

  

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  • 1 month later...

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