JDawg512

It's a massive stadium as it now. Looking forward to the construction of the south end.

Latest I have heard is in a month or two.

Here are a few photos I took with my phone camera.

And ... for that matter, are there any other significant such places that exist in Austin, other than the Four Seasons and the W? I know others may be in the pipeline, but I just wanna not be misled by the hype.

We have multiple highrise condo and apartment towers in Downtown like the Austonian which at 56 floors is the tallest all residential highrise west of the Mississippi River.

As far as hotels with a residential component, the W and Four Seasons are the only two at the moment, however there are several other high end luxury hotels such as the Driskill and the Intercontinental Steven F. Austin Hotel. The Driskill is a gorgeous building built in the 1890s. Very upscale and Lavish. One of the gems of the city. The Steven F. Austin was built in 1924 and is also a beautiful building. There are also several high end boutique hotels such as Hotel Ella.

The next hotel/residential combos will be a hotel ZaZa and a Hotel called the Van Zandt which is currently going up next to the Shore residential tower in the Rainey Street District.

The condo and apartment high rise market here continues to explode with multiple projects under construction right now and more will start going up later this year.

There has been a rush of Austin as a national feel-good destination. Austin's office market is still low-rise, as you would expect from tech and institutional tenants; and its downtown office market, its office building skyline and its metro area are still smaller than Fort Worth's. Hospitality and residential are the accumulated demand, and they're not pent up from longtime Austin residents but the recently interested. The real pent-up demand is among institutional investors for real estate projects to invest in in a place with good fundamentals like Austin.

Interesting take but Austin has become more than a feel good destination since you posted. Not only in national and international events but also in convention business. So many of the larger conventions have wanted to go to Austin but the lack of hotel rooms kept them from coming. The question of whether Austin can have two convention center hotels is pretty clear now. The JW Marriott is still under construction and it is already booked up through 2020 with conventions. That sends a clear message that Austin can indeed handle another 1,000+ hotel.

The office market in Downtown Austin is the tightest in Texas last I saw although I will verify that to be sure. You are correct for many years our office towers have not been much to look at but we are seeing major movement on office tower construction. Austin is no longer dominated by just high tech and institutional companies. With the huge progress and change we have seen in Downtown Austin over the last decade, Downtown is where everyone wants to be. Tech companies normally located in low rise office parks have relocated into Downtown office buildings, more are on the way. Other economic sectors are rapidly growing pushing the need for talket office towers with more square footage. There are 3 players in particular that will likely add a significant office tower to Downtown in the next 2 years. One the Green Water Site, the second would be Chicago based Magellan which has already indicated they want a tower of at least 50 floors, and the Waller Center Towers. With these new projects on tap, Austin's office tower presence will definitely be more noticeable and more competitive.

Fort Worth may still have some larger office towers compared to Austin right now but there is no competition with comparing our full skylines. Austin wins hands down and is firmly the 3rd top CBD skyline in Texas. Downtown is no longer just a CBD, its a neighborhood with a larger residential population the Downtown Houston's and Dallas's combined. Its the entertainment destination for the city. You can walk in Downtown Austin at 3 a.m. and there's lots of people out and about.

Also Fort Worth would have a bigger metro since its lodged with Dallas. Its the largest metro in Texas.

Austin by 2050 may have the population Houston has now which is what all indicators are telling us but Houston will continue to be the largest city in Texas and that's fine by me. It's not always about size, its about quality and I think that Austin has made huge progress in that area.

Almost fell out of my chair reading the slightly misleading title, anyways that's great for Austin! For some reason I prefer the second rendering of the complex as opposed to the newest or maybe I need new glasses...

Im half and half on the recent renderings. I really think there will be new ones released by summer. This is a huge project with a very prominent location. With this project and the Fairmont across the street, these towers will totally dominate over I-35 coming in from both north and south.

"Back in the Saddle" is the right description to use if you want to get around in the downtown area. Parking is about gone, and lanes dedicated to bus only. Traffic is horrendous. The city council is trying to turn most of downtown into a pedestrian only area with cabs, busses, and trains, and maybe some tunnels and even a subway. It ain't like it used to be!

This is completely false! I go Downtown on a weekly basis and there is plenty of parking. I have no problems at all parking in Downtown.

What is wrong making Downtown more pedestrian friendly? To be a great city it is a must.

The only dedicated bus lanes are on Guadalupe and Lavaca Streets. In fact ALL BUT ONE bus still travels down Congress Avenue which in turn has helped both the traffic and pedestrians that use Downtown's main street.

The Red line for the Metro Rail only goes to the Convention Center which is pretty lame considering it should go through to the west side of Downtown.

There are no tunnels except for the Waller Creek Flood Control tunnel which has been a goal of the city for decades.

The subway proposal is just that, A PROPOSAL with no real backing at this time. Having said that I would love to see a subway system here. Anything to make getting around the city easier is way better than sitting for over an hour on a smog filled expressway.

I really do not understand your comment at all. First get the facts straight. Also why you think Downtown should be a barren wasteland with parking lots everywhere and poor pedestrian and mass Transportation options is beyond me. Cities like that don't have much of a future. Thank goodness "it ain't what it used to be!"

Awesome photo's! Proud of my city.

In that case, I wouldn't know.

Downtown Austin is currently the only area in the city that is zoned for major highrise towers though that will change once the remaining lots open for development are snatched up. There is a series of Capitol View Corridors that radiate from the State Capitol Building. In these areas, buildings are not allowed to be built over 15 floors.

However outside of the CVC's there are lots that have no height limit therefore a developer could build as tall as they deem feasible.

There are also some other specific height overlays such as the Riverfront Overlay which keeps highrises from being built right up to the Colorado River. It is mostly a step back requirement. There is a height limit within the Warehouse District as well.

I used to think these were limiters for tall buildings in Austin but they actually create an environment that requires development to build up rather than out. There CVC's are a great example of this as we have highrises such as the 360 and Spring Towers which part of their lots have are within a CVC. The result being the developers had to build up. Instead of 360 being a 26 floor residential building, it rises to 44 stories. Spring rises to 43 stories, it is actually wedged between two CVCs. There are a couple of CVC's that could be removed but overall they have been beneficial to the city.

The Warehouse District is one of the many entertainment districts within Downtown. The cool thing about the Overlay is it has created an island surrounded by highrises on all sides. You can go to the many rooftop clubs and restaurants and enjoy awesome views of the city.

This is likely not the final design as this project is still being tweeked. A New York City based company has signed on as the financial backer and the tallest tower may still rise over 50 stories.

Austin has specific zoning regulations that keep highrises from being built outside of Downtown which is why Austin's Downtown is growing up so rapidly. This hotel is on track for groundbreaking in a few months.

What? How in the world could you like the first design? It was horrible! Thank goodness that they redesigned it because this is much more elegant and 100 times better than what the originally proposed.