Austin Rises to the Occasion
Seeing the Light
Condo Concerns
Building Excitement

Austin Rises to the Occasion

More Than $1.5 Billion in High-Rise Projects Bringing New Energy Downtown

by Rob Patterson

Downtown Austin is reaching for the sky with 18 high-rise projects announced to break ground in the next year or so, and more to follow. The building boom represents at least $1.5 billion in planned construction projects.

It also reflects a sharp upsurge in downtown tower construction, a market that had been dormant in the capital city since the mid-1980s until the completion of the 33-story Frost Bank Tower in 2003, built by Dallas-based Constructors & Associates Inc.

Then in 2004 the 31-story Hilton hotel was completed by Austin-based Faulkner USA and, most recently, Faulkner finished the 14-story Austin City Lofts project, which was designed by local architect firm PageSoutherlandPage.

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While the 1980s high-rises were primarily office towers, the current spate of projects are mixed use with a strong emphasis on residential.

The 18 projects will add 21 towers to the downtown Austin skyline along with at least 3,000 residential units and some 2,000 hotel rooms to the center city.

"I live downtown and walk out on my balcony where I can watch the tower cranes being erected," said Austin Mayor Will Wynn, who is an Austin City Lofts resident. Wynn said that the downtown construction boom was abetted by the efforts of the city and the Downtown Austin Alliance, which provides services to and advocates for central-city property owners. Wynn helped found the alliance, and has served as its chairman.

"We were all collectively talking about changing the fundamental dynamics in downtown and having a far more mixed-use, dense and vibrant 24/7 downtown," he said.

Although some locals fear a repeat of the economic downturn in the mid-1980s that left many of the newly constructed office towers largely empty for a number of years, developer and former city councilman Robert Barnstone - a partner in the 41-story planned project, Spring - said such worries are unfounded.

"It's nothing but good news and major good news," Barnstone said of the residential tower boom. "I cheer every time another building is announced and I don't see it as competition. It increases the magnet effect of downtown."

Downtown Austin Alliance executive director Charlie Betts said downtown development was not stifled by a slight economic slump in Austin at the turn of the decade.

"I think our city political leaders created a momentum that sustained us through a modest downturn a few years ago," he added. "The residential development survived that downturn and is coming on stronger than ever."

Barnstone pointed to the example of Vancouver (where he also has a residence) - a city with almost the same population as Austin, which is nearly 1.5 million including the entire metro area. He said that Vancouver has added 150 towers and 15 million sq. ft. in its downtown over the last 10 years.

But while the outlook remains bullish, the current construction boom in downtown Austin faces possible impediments. Contractors have noted the increased competition for skilled labor across the state and in Austin in particular. Hanover Co. of Houston development partner Ed Hamilton cited a current national shortage of available tower cranes. And a national economic downturn could also affect construction progress in downtown Austin, although most observers believe the city's growth would remain largely unaffected.

Wynn has advocated adding enough residential units in Austin's center city over the next decade to house 25,000 people. Betts estimated that 5,700 residents live downtown and that the population should double in the next two to three years.

"I tell people 'You haven't seen anything yet,'" Wynn said.

Tunnel, Visions Betts said the northeast quadrant of the city's hub has yet to experience a high-rise construction boom. One factor that has stymied development in that area is that it includes the 100-year floodplain for Waller Creek.

In 1998, Austin voters approved $28 million in bonds toward the construction of a tunnel to reroute floodwaters. But the project, most recently budgeted at $57 million, has been delayed by negotiations between the city and Travis County regarding its financing.

Betts said those issues are close to being resolved. And some developers and local leaders hope that the tunnel would allow Austin's Waller Creek to be redeveloped in a fashion similar to San Antonio's River Walk.

But another roadblock to high-rise development in the northeast downtown quadrant as well as the rest of the center city is the Capitol View Corridor - a city zoning ordinance that specifies 35 corridors radiating from the Texas Capitol building that restricts building heights along those corridors.

Betts said that it has resulted in uneven development. "The most restrictions are on the northeast part of downtown," he added. "And little is going on there."

"The Capitol View Corridor has to be rethought," Barnstone said.

Still, there remains much available space in downtown Austin for further high-rise development well beyond the current boom. One such locality is the recently rezoned Rainey Street neighborhood, where four projects - Milagro, Shore, Hotel Van Zandt and Legacy - are under way. Otherwise, the area remains largely undeveloped.
"In San Diego, Seattle and Vancouver, the more that is built, the more the demand," Barnstone said. "There is a lifestyle transformation in our society towards urban living."

Going Up At least five residential high-rise projects have broken ground in Austin's center city since the beginning of the year. They include AMLI II Block 22, the Altavida, The Monarch, The 360 and The Shore. More such projects are have been proposed or approved.

A rendering shows the 18-story structure, known as AMLI II Block 22. The downtown Austin project, designed by PageSoutherlandPage, will be 219 ft. tall. AMLI Residential broke ground in May.

AMLI Block 22 Tower AMLI Residential Development of Chicago began >> construction in May on a $44 million, 414,364-sq.-ft. apartment tower with 47,000 sq. ft. of first- and second-story retail space on West Third Street between Guadalupe and San Antonio streets. The 18-story structure, known as AMLI II Block 22, will be 219 ft. tall. AMLI has completed four levels of the concrete-frame structure, which was designed by PageSoutherlandPage of Austin.

One challenge the project has faced will likely be shared by many of the other planned projects downtown. "Essentially there's no lay-down area," said Jay Darwish, project manager for AMLI. "All of our material and equipment deliveries have to be on time. Scheduling is critical. We have to schedule, literally, by the hour." Concrete pours happen between 12:30 a.m. and 7 a.m.

The building, like a number of nearby center-city projects, will also tie in with the city's chilled-water system to support its HVAC needs and promote energy
efficiency.

The Hanover Co. broke ground in August on the 36-story, $90 million residential high-rise, Altavida.

Altavida Nearby, at the intersection of Colorado and Cesar Chavez streets, the in-house construction arm of developer The Hanover Co. began work in August on an approximately $90 million, 445,711-sq.-ft. tower. Developed in partnership with MetLife, the 36-story structure, The Altavida, will house 258 rental units and six street-level live/work townhouse-style units fronting Cesar Chavez along with 716 sq. ft. of ground-floor retail.

The structure includes a five-story, below-grade parking garage that will serve MetLife's adjacent office tower at 100 Congress and five above-ground levels of parking for residents.

Monarch Lyda Swinerton Builders of San Antonio broke ground in June on The Monarch. Located on West Fifth Street, the apartment tower is being developed by Zom Residential of Orlando, Fla. The firm declined to reveal the project cost. The 29-story, 300-ft.-plus-tall concrete-frame tower designed by RTKL Associates Inc. of Dallas will house 305 rental units and 9,000 sq. ft. of ground-floor commercial space integrated into its five-level parking garage.

360 Condominiums In May, the southwest division of JE Dunn Construction Group, headquartered in Kansas City, Kan., started work at Third and Nueces streets on The 360, a 520,000-sq.-ft., 44-level condo tower with an approximate project cost of $85 million.
The 432-unit, 580-ft.-tall concrete frame high-rise will house 432 units and 13,500 sq. ft. of retail on the ground floor. The tower is being developed under a partnership between Novare Group Holdings of Atlanta and Austin-based Andrews Urban. It was designed by The Preston Partnership of Atlanta.

The Shore In September, the Austin office of Houston-based Harvey-Cleary Builders (the firm is known in Houston as D.E. Harvey Builders) broke ground on The Shore, a $45 million, 275,000-sq.-ft. condo project on Red River and Davis streets in the southeast quadrant of downtown. WDG Architecture of Dallas designed the 22-story tower for owners Hill Street Residential, a division of Trammell Crow. It will house 192 units atop a five-level garage and will connect with the future Hotel Van Zandt by a sixth-floor deck.

The five projects follow last month's completion of 13-story Milagro. a 13-story, 250-unit condominium project constructed by Fairfield Residential LLC of Grand Prairie. All condos were sold out well before the building's completion.

Coming Attractions Hotel Van Zandt JMI Realty of San Diego is developing the $100 million 388,000-sq.-ft. Hotel Van Zandt, which will be managed by the Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group of San Francisco. The 29-story high-rise will be 340-ft. tall and feature 290 rooms and 55 condominiums. It was designed by Hornberger + Worstel of San Francisco in association with WDG Architecture of Washington, D.C.
Harvey-Cleary has been performing pre-construction services on the project, which is expected to begin construction by the end of this year.

A rendering shows the 41-story residential tower Spring at night. The project was designed by Rafii Architects Inc. of Vancouver and Hensel Phelps Construction Co. will break ground on it early next year.

Spring The Southwest Division of Hensel Phelps Construction Co., based in Greeley, Colo., expects to break ground early next year on Spring, a $60 million, 250,000-sq.-ft. condominium tower on the western edge of downtown. Spring will be 41 stories tall.
Spring has 650 reservations for its 256 condo units.
The concrete-frame building developed by Spring Austin Partners Ltd. and designed by Rafii Architects Inc. of Vancouver will feature no interior columns and in-slab HVAC ducts and rise to a height of about 400 ft. A six-story garage with two underground levels and four above ground will be co-owned by Spring and Schlosser Development of Austin.

Legacy at Town Lake Work is expected to begin in March at Rainey and Cummings streets on the Legacy at Town Lake, a 207,000-sq.-ft., 31-story apartment tower that will feature 184 rental units. The developer is Legacy Partners of Foster City, Calif., who declined to share the cost of the 340-ft.-tall structure.

Andres Construction Services of Dallas will be the general contractor in association with Legacy's construction division. The tower was designed by EDI Architecture of Houston.

Block 21 Tower Also slated to break ground in early 2007 is the Block 21 mixed-use project next to Austin's City Hall on a long-empty tract between Second and Third streets and Guadalupe and Lavaca. Developed by Austin's Stratus Properties, the 780,000-sq.-ft. building will cost more than $200 million.
The 32-story high-rise will include a 225-room W Hotel and 125 condominiums as well as a 30,000 sq. ft. space for the Austin Children's Museum and a new 10,000-sq.-ft. studio for the Austin City Limits TV show. The 300-ft.-tall tower will be built by Austin Commercial and was designed by Andersson-Wise Architects of Austin. It is expected to be the first commercial multifamily/hospitality building in Austin to qualify for LEED certification.

AquaTerra An early 2007 groundbreaking is also expected for AquaTerra, a $50 million condominium project on Barton Springs Road just across Town Lake from downtown and adjacent to the Hyatt Regency hotel. The 20-story structure will house 174 units. It will be built by Yates Construction headquartered in Philadelphia, Miss., and is designed by Rhode:Hurt Architects of Austin.

Seaholm Plaza Hotel Centro Partners of Austin anticipates the start of construction next summer for the tentatively named Seaholm Plaza Hotel on the grounds of the city's retired Seaholm Power Plant. The approximately 400,000-sq.-ft. project is expected to cost more than $100 million and house 163 hotel rooms and 62 condos in a 22-story tower.

Four Seasons Residences Slated to break ground in the summer is a 400,000-sq.-ft. apartment and condominium tower on San Jacinto Street adjacent to the Four Seasons Hotel at an estimated cost of about $75 million. The structure is planned at 36 or so stories and will include some 250 rental units and 75 condos. It is being developed by Austin's Ardent Residential in partnership with Post Properties of Atlanta and is being designed by Michael Graves & Associates of New York.

Marriott Complex White Lodging Services of Merrillville, Ind. - which owns 15 hotel properties in Austin - is finalizing plans for a $180 million Marriott hotel complex on the east side of Congress Avenue and Second Street that will include three towers: a 26-story, 650-room Marriott; a 15-story, 150-room Springhill Suites; and an 11-story, 200-room Renaissance Hotel. Start date for the project is yet to be set, but White expects to open the complex by summer 2009.

501 Congress Avenue Austin's T. Stacy & Associates recently announced a 925,000-sq.-ft., 47-story, mixed-use tower project that it will build at Congress and Fifth Street designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects of New Haven, Conn. The planned project is known as 501 Congress Avenue, and will contain condos, offices and retail space, and at about 700 ft. in height is expected to be the tallest building in downtown Austin.

200 Congress Benchmark Land Development of Austin may match that height with a 750,000-sq.-ft. condominium tower with 200 units to be built on the west side of Congress at Second Street. The tower will feature a unique elliptical floor plate and is being designed by Ziegler Cooper Architects of Houston.

More to Come, a Courthouse to Boot Austin's Gables Residential hopes to begin construction in the next two years on a condominium complex at Cesar Chavez and Lamar streets that is anticipated to include 18- and 14- story towers alongside two low-rise buildings.

Australia's Constellation Property Group, which is based in San Diego in the United States, is developing two towers of approximately 30 stories each for a mixed-use project at Red River and Cesar Chavez streets that will include a hotel, condos, offices and ground-floor retail. It is expected to break ground in 2008.

And Hixon Properties of San Antonio is finalizing plans for a luxury hotel tower at Third and Colorado streets.

T. Stacy & Associates is negotiating with the Austin Museum of Art to develop a new museum building with a condominium tower, also to be designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, on what is now a parking lot bordered by Guadalupe and San Antonio streets between Second and Third streets.

And in August, the U.S. Postal Service called for development proposals for a high-rise on the block occupied by the downtown post office two blocks north of the potential Austin Museum of Art site.

In a related development, the Pomeroy Investment Corp. of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., recently purchased two downtown towers that it will renovate. The 14-story One Commodore Building at Brazos and Eighth Street, originally built as a hotel and currently used as offices, will be converted into a combination of condos, office and ground-floor retail. The 20-story Capitol Tower at Brazos and Ninth Street will remain office space.

Austin is also getting a new U.S. courthouse on the site of the abandoned Intel project between Fourth and Fifth streets and Nueces and San Antonio streets. The 7-story, $63 million, 211,690-sq.-ft. structure was designed by Mack Scogin Merrilll Elam Architects of Atlanta.

Nearby, the Austin Music Hall entertainment venue at Second and Nueces streets will undergo a renovation that will nearly double its square footage from 22,000 to 42,000 and add a restaurant.

Across Town Lake, Fairfield Residential plans a renovation of the Hyatt Regency hotel to add expanded meeting space, housing and retail and restaurant space. And the Holiday Inn on the southeast edge of downtown was recently sold to Pacific Host Hotels of San Diego, which intends to refurbish the 14- and 11-story towers of the property.