Future Austin

[Dominax]

Future Austin

[TheNiche]

Future Austin

These are older conceptual images. Several projects have since been cancelled; more will be cancelled as things progress. Austin is going to be a very very ugly condo and apartment market in the near future.

[Talbot]

Wow it will be interesting to see Austin like that. And also leading up to that point.

[Texas Wahoo]

I don't like that you cannot see the capital building in any of those pictures.

[TXLove]

These are older conceptual images. Several projects have since been cancelled; more will be cancelled as things progress. Austin is going to be a very very ugly condo and apartment market in the near future.

This is simply not the truth.... Several of the projects are on hold and the first picture is actually what Austin is looking like because all of the building are under construction.....It is merely your opinion that its going to be ugly in the future and I disagree!!!!

[barracuda]

There are lots of condo high rises being built or recently completed in downtown Austin. I agree, they don't really do much for the skyline.

[Talbot]

I still hold my statement about it being interesting to see this happen, but the skyline doesn't look very uniform, it looks like something Shanghai-ish with all the different style scrapers.

[KevinFromTexas]

These are older conceptual images. Several projects have since been cancelled; more will be cancelled as things progress. Austin is going to be a very very ugly condo and apartment market in the near future.

First of all, the 2nd image above that I've quoted is quite inaccurate. Because those are copied and pasted renderings of those projects, their arrangement and position in the skyline is incorrect. Not only that, but there are buildings to the far right that shouldn't even been visible from that vantage point.

Actually, none of the buildings in those images have been canceled. Besides what was already built, 6 of those are under construction currently. 2 of those are topped out. 2 more are newly completed. One of the buildings on the right side has been scaled back, not canceled, but scaled back. The building will be reduced from 34 floors to 16. One other project has been retooled. This project has changed locations and actually expanded with an additional tower planned. The main tower has also been increased in height, from 44 floors, to 49 floors. Lastly, the tallest building in the image, the one with the slanted roof, has also been expanded. It has gone from being planned as a 705 foot tower with 47 floors, to an 830 foot tower with 70 floors, plus an additional 420 foot, 32-story tower is being planned adjacent to it. Only two of the buildings in these images are on hold. If I had to guess which one is the least likely to be built, it would be that tallest one there with the angled roof, though it's supposed to be taller than what is shown here, and with a slightly different design. At least this is what we've heard from the developer.

Keep in mind, that the 2nd image isn't very accurate as I mentioned in the positioning of these. This is because these are renderings which only face one way, so their placement on the skyline is rigid and inaccurate.

The first image is much more accurate as to their position on the skyline. That image was created by one of the Austin formers at SkyscraperPage. He took a photo of the skyline and then copied and pasted his Google Sketchup models into the photo to create a pretty accurate rendering of the skyline.

I don't like that you cannot see the capital building in any of those pictures.

The Capitol hasn't been visible from that vantage point in at least 37 years. In those images, the Capitol would be behind that black tower. That building was built in 1975, but there is another infront of it that was built in 1971 that also blocks the view. I do have a postcard from near that location that dates to about 1967, and the Capitol is visible. But it's been a long time since you could see the Capitol from that spot. And this new wave of construction really has nothing to do with it, as the view was already long gone.

Here is a more accurate representation of Austin. I took this unedited photo of Austin last Monday, September 8 from Saint Edward's University.

A panoramic I took of the skyline. Scroll to see it.

[editor]

I've always liked Austin's skyline, and its skyline potential. I think because it's so easy to view it as a city rising from the green hills.

[Disastro]

I've always liked Austin's skyline, and its skyline potential. I think because it's so easy to view it as a city rising from the green hills.

The real question is: Will future Austin still be WEIRD?

[swtsig]

i'm still amazed at all the residential tower going up in downtown austin... i just cant envision the demand for condos downtown even approaching the supply. i've only been gone for 1.5 years and already so much has changed, it's quite a shock. but hanging out downtown watching longhorn football and at a friends place in travis heights reminded me why i loved it here so much.

when the estimated 12,000 downtown condo/apartment units come online in the next year-1.5, i'll definitely be looking at getting one on the cheap

[Disastro]

i'm still amazed at all the residential tower going up in downtown austin... i just cant envision the demand for condos downtown even approaching the supply. i've only been gone for 1.5 years and already so much has changed, it's quite a shock. but hanging out downtown watching longhorn football and at a friends place in travis heights reminded me why i loved it here so much.

when the estimated 12,000 downtown condo/apartment units come online in the next year-1.5, i'll definitely be looking at getting one on the cheap

Will it be weird though?

[banking214]

I love Austin, but hate the idea of those buildings. It would just ruin the skyline.

[TJones]

Will it be weird though?

Disastro, I am here in Austin now. I will do my part.

[TheNiche]

The real question is: Will future Austin still be WEIRD?

Is it still? I grew up in the hill country just outside of Austin, but have spent a lot of time in both San Antonio and Galveston in the past year, and both of those places retain a lot of originality and charm that have been lost in Austin as that city has become overrun with Californians.

Galveston really is weird...lions, tigers, and bears...weird. To draw a comparison, Galveston is a biker chick. She's not much to look at but is a fun ride in more ways than one, rough and two-dimensional on the surface but very complex and even a tad bit schizo--even self-destructive--as you get to know her.

San Antonio is a city with an old soul; Fort Worth's hispanic half-sister. She's the older woman (relative to myself) that I'm always attracted to, genuinely and charmingly uncomplicated. She's a true Type B personality that knows what she really wants, doesn't have to prove anything, and that goes easy on my wallet. Raised as a military brat, she holds down a job in the leisure/hospitality sector.

Austin is a bubblegum degenerate; she is a young, loud, immature, fickle little girl that makes for good eye candy and little else. Dallas is her older sister, far more refined and practiced in the art of materialistic seduction; but then Dallas always had to work at being seductive whereas Austin's natural beauty has made her far more complacent and airheaded. Austin is worth visiting every now and then--she does put on one hell of a party--but there's always a steep cover charge. She fancies herself an artist and as something special. She's not, though, and is only so delusional on account of the endless number of douchebags that will tell her anything in order to get in her pants.

I can't say too much about Houston. She's kind of homely-looking but has a cuteness that's hard to pin down; many people just can't see it and look at me funny when I bring it up. She is an engineer that relocated here for career opportunities, entirely because it was a smart thing to do, not so much because she wanted to be here, per se. She spends most of her time working and likes to visit Austin or Galveston on the weekends. Something about Dallas doesn't sit easy with her, and she just doesn't know that much about San Antonio or Ft. Worth for lack of exposure. But she'd probably like them.

[crunchtastic]

Niche, that's almost..... poetic. Rather accurate, too. Part, anyway.

All is relative. Austin stopped being weird about the time I stopped dropping acid and/or the Butthole Surfers broke up. (note: they are from San Antonio. Which serves to illustrate: Weirdness originates elsewhere and then congregates temporarily in Austin. Not exactly a legacy.)

[TheNiche]

Niche, that's almost..... poetic. Rather accurate, too. Part, anyway.

All is relative. Austin stopped being weird about the time I stopped dropping acid and/or the Butthole Surfers broke up. (note: they are from San Antonio. Which serves to illustrate: Weirdness originates elsewhere and then congregates temporarily in Austin. Not exactly a legacy.)

Try out a few stanzas yourself. I'd like to see Crunch's take with a gender reversal.

[crunchtastic]

Try out a few stanzas yourself. I'd like to see Crunch's take with a gender reversal.

Austin....Austin is tough. I never, technically, or shall I say on a lease or with a mailing address, lived there. I didn't go to school there. But it holds a disproportionate amount of memory. Austin is every cool boyfriend I ever had who wasn't foreign. Austin was on the guest list and in the band. Then he kept bringing his skateboard to his job at the lege, got older, and soon the only thing still cool about Austin was that he knew what bars to go to. Then he just got fat, but he has his principles. Real Austin doesn't pay $ 400 for a wristband to hear Roberto Rodriguez come back home and tell you how cool he is now. Even Austin thinks Austin sucks now, if he'd only admit it.

[N Judah]

People in Austin try really hard to be cool. Same with Dallas but in a different way.

Like others, I am really looking forward to the idea of thousands of units coming to market in Austin during a real estate bust.

[Disastro]

Disastro, I am here in Austin now. I will do my part.

Heh! Anyone with an Obama/Marx graphic on their posts is OK in my book. Nothing weird there! :-)

However, you must feel awfully lonely there in Austin!

[TexasVines]

Austin is still a great place, but the problem is you probably had to live there for a while before now to know how to take advantage of Austin and what it offers and or you need to be making a lot of cash

the lake is great, but unless you want to go and sit on the shore with a bunch of drunken losers you need a boat.....that cost cash.....then unless you want to be out on the water with a bunch of drunken losers you need to either be on the boat on a tuesday afternoon or you need to go WAY up the lake to put in or after you put in and get away from the losers......it cost money to take off on tuesday for most people and going further up the lake cost money too......then you don't just go to the lake and eat sandwiches afterwards....so you want to eat out......but you have to know all the places on the lake are over priced and totally suck......so you have to go somewhere else....but you still spend more money

to have fun at Barton Springs.....forget the weekends......you need either a really good job or a really crappy job or a trust fund to hit Barton Springs on the times it is not crowded

want to toss a round of disk golf and burn a fat one.......if you want any peace and quite you better do it on a wednesday after noon....or maybe wednesday at 11am

want to hit a round of golf and burn a fat one.....you are either going to drive WAY out of town (avoid williamson county) or you are going to go on monday at 11 am........takes a really good job or a crappy job to be off on monday....or a trust fund

going to go down to the Guadalupe to ride a tub and burn a fat one.....if you don't want to be around totally annoying drunken losers you should go on thursday.....got to have a good job or a really crappy job to be off on thursday

you have to know many of the "popular" local places totally suck with crappy food and service that pretends you should praise them for taking your money........takes time to find out the sunset grill, anything on the lakes, chuys, kirby lane, and many others are over priced and really not that great compared to what is out there and compared to putting up with the "in crowd" to get in the place

it takes money to go clubbing every night.....even just to catch a couple of hours at the end of the night....and it takes time and friends to figure out what place is cool and what place is full of tools paying too much for crappy atmosphere and service

to really "live" in Austin it takes money and freedom and or you need to actually LIVE there and then work into your daily mantra getting to some of the better places at the times they can best be enjoyed.....because otherwise you are just surrounded by pretenders acting like dumbasses and crapping the place out for everyone else

[N Judah]

You make it sound really crowded.

[TheNiche]

You make it sound really crowded.

If you had lived there in the late 80's, you would know that it most definitely is.

[N Judah]

I wouldn't be able to remember if I had.

The description of Austin makes it sound like...a college town. No problem taking time off in the middle of the day! Then again, the students might be the "drunken losers" who are messing it all up for everybody.

[TexasVines]

I wouldn't be able to remember if I had.

The description of Austin makes it sound like...a college town. No problem taking time off in the middle of the day! Then again, the students might be the "drunken losers" who are messing it all up for everybody.

actually having lived in Austin and several other college towns I think Austin is not the best college town out there in a true sense of the word

it is hard to call any place in Texas expensive to live, but Austin is definitely at the top of the list in Texas and the real issue is that in this day and time to do most of the "cool stuff" in Austin cost too much for most college students even ones with some cash to spend....plus there is so much to do in Austin and so many cool places to live that you can find yourself living a good bit away from your friends and you find that trying to get them all together is hard because they are either working, studying, or already have plans to do one of the "cool things" that now cost so much money....just putting together a regular college party in Austin is much harder than it seems.....and Austin and UT are so big that if you just toss out too many invites you can find yourself in the middle of a blowout.....and while I love a total blowout party even today I prefer them at someone else's place....preferably someone I don't know all that well

6th street has become beyond stupid on most of the prices to get in and eat or drink and trends change so fast in Austin that any cool place either goes out of style or becomes just another crowded over priced place filled with student pretenders like most on 6th...which means now things have scattered.....5th and 4th....warehouse area.....east of 35.....which scatters the crowds of people that are IMO funner to be at a club with

and now that Austin had a big economy beyond UT and State Gov. it has become a magnet for people that want to flock there and pretend to re-live their college days(I think it always has been, but now they can actually scratch out a living and have an excuse for why they are in a college town)......which crowds it up more and jacks the prices even higher

again it is an awesome place.....if you can afford to do it all and if you can afford to do it all on off peek times.......otherwise you are there with the ACC dropouts and the people that should have moved away for a real job 10 years ago and the students that have not figured out the better times to do the cool stuff

it is like any place....Galveston....the Guadalupe......Lake Conroe......if your goal is to go there spring break or on the weekends and look at drunks and some 99% nude girls and watch people get arrested and vomit then at least you know what you are in for.......but if your goal is to go and have fun and maybe meet some 75% nude girls that are not totally trashed and not have all your stuff stolen then you want to be there some time off peek.......more and more all the cool stuff in Austin is ON PEEK and the prices reflect it and or the times available to do it without a crowd are harder for most to take off from what ever they do for a living....and for the vast majority of people (outside only a few focused skill sets) the wages offered in Austin even if you can have a good schedule don't make it worth living there

they would be smarter to live somewhere else for less cost and have higher wages and a better daily standard of living and then take real vacations to places on the times that are best for MAX enjoyment......even if it is just a vacation to Austin...and they can always crash in the spare bedrooms in Austin of their mega wealthy software friend or on couch of their brokeass former college roommate in his efficiency that manages a sandwich art factory

[N Judah]

Well, whatever...I just think it's bizarre to denigrate the students and then a few sentences later denigrate people who want to "flock there to pretend to re-live their college days."

[TxDave]

Is it still? I grew up in the hill country just outside of Austin, but have spent a lot of time in both San Antonio and Galveston in the past year, and both of those places retain a lot of originality and charm that have been lost in Austin as that city has become overrun with Californians.

Galveston really is weird...lions, tigers, and bears...weird. To draw a comparison, Galveston is a biker chick. She's not much to look at but is a fun ride in more ways than one, rough and two-dimensional on the surface but very complex and even a tad bit schizo--even self-destructive--as you get to know her.

San Antonio is a city with an old soul; Fort Worth's hispanic half-sister. She's the older woman (relative to myself) that I'm always attracted to, genuinely and charmingly uncomplicated. She's a true Type B personality that knows what she really wants, doesn't have to prove anything, and that goes easy on my wallet. Raised as a military brat, she holds down a job in the leisure/hospitality sector.

Austin is a bubblegum degenerate; she is a young, loud, immature, fickle little girl that makes for good eye candy and little else. Dallas is her older sister, far more refined and practiced in the art of materialistic seduction; but then Dallas always had to work at being seductive whereas Austin's natural beauty has made her far more complacent and airheaded. Austin is worth visiting every now and then--she does put on one hell of a party--but there's always a steep cover charge. She fancies herself an artist and as something special. She's not, though, and is only so delusional on account of the endless number of douchebags that will tell her anything in order to get in her pants.

I can't say too much about Houston. She's kind of homely-looking but has a cuteness that's hard to pin down; many people just can't see it and look at me funny when I bring it up. She is an engineer that relocated here for career opportunities, entirely because it was a smart thing to do, not so much because she wanted to be here, per se. She spends most of her time working and likes to visit Austin or Galveston on the weekends. Something about Dallas doesn't sit easy with her, and she just doesn't know that much about San Antonio or Ft. Worth for lack of exposure. But she'd probably like them.

Brilliant!

That is probably one of the best analogies describing the character of the cities in Texas that has ever been written.

Of course there are many exceptions in each case and none of them are that "one dimensional", but you really captured the general spirit of each city in a concise, understandable (and entertaining) manner.

Well done!

[LTAWACS]

looks good.

[Fringe]

Brilliant!

That is probably one of the best analogies describing the character of the cities in Texas that has ever been written.

Of course there are many exceptions in each case and none of them are that "one dimensional", but you really captured the general spirit of each city in a concise, understandable (and entertaining) manner.

Well done!

I agree. TheNiche's post should be in Texas Monthly. So true.

Although I have never lived in Austin, I have lots of friends and relatives there and have spent a lot of time there since the 60's and indeed it has taken on a whole new personna from it's old College Town days. My "South Austin" friends are not real happy with the new Austin, everyone else seems to accept it. I do agree the Californians have ruined the Hill Country by driving up prices and making it almost impossible to take a quite drive into the country any more. Especially on weekends. Maybe I'm just mad because I always wanted to retire to the Hill Country but prices and traffic has made me start to look elsewhere.

[TheNiche]

Maybe I'm just mad because I always wanted to retire to the Hill Country but prices and traffic has mad me start to look elsewhere.